Renting in Manchester

[calnen]

I'm planning on moving to manchester with my gf (then to be wife ) next summer, after finishing Uni. Does anyone live in the city? (I assume there are loads of you on here) I need a hand with renting advice.

She's doing a PGCE (hopefully) which will be based in Didsbury, so our first thought was to look there. Now was it the site I used (fish4), or are prices a lot more than I expected? We were looking at about 450 a month minimum for a one-bedroom unfurnished flat, or 550 for a 2-bed. I thought the north was meant to be cheap :S

Basically I'm wondering what other people pay, and where they live (In and around Manchester) - are there any areas people can suggest that would be easy to reach didsbury from, but would be cheaper? The thing is we dont want to be miles out in the sticks - the whole point of moving there is to try living in a big city for a couple of years.

Ta!

 

[Apopcalyptic]

My fiance and I rent a gorgeous 3 bed semi in Levenshulme, part furnished for 700 a month. It's huge, and as I say gorgeous, but you should be able to stay within your budget. A good friend of mine lives over Didsbury way, so I can attest that Didsbury *is* expensive.

For £550 you should be able to get a whole house, rather than a flat. Take a look in Burnage, Levenshulme, Chorlton, Withington. If your girlfriend drives, it's not a long commute from anywhere in Manchester really. If she was planning on public transport, Didsbury is well catered for, though about 30 minutes from the city centre by bus.

There are a few areas worth staying away from in the Didbsury area. As an example, Wythenshawe is a short way away (over the Mersey), and for want of a better word, is a bit of a dump...

 

[fluiduk]

I am in the city centre, and boy do I pay for it.

My apartment has two bedrooms and 2 bathrooms for 700 a month. Although it is lush!

Cheapest we saw for a 2 bedroom in the city centre was about 600, although it was it a dive.

Aaron

 

[paradigm]

My fiance and I rent a gorgeous 3 bed semi in Levenshulme

My condolences.

 

[Apopcalyptic]

My condolences.

lol. We're on the Didsbury side of Levenshulme, and having moved around the North repeatedly over the past 5 years, I must admit where we're living now is the best of the lot!

It's a very quiet street, we've never had any trouble, no scallies roaming the streets, plus the house is gorgeous

 

[branddaly]

Try using rightmove.co.uk, seems a lot better than fish4. Stick a postcode in and filter it by want you can afford. If you use it in conjunction with upmystreet.co.uk you can find out whether the area the properties are in are a right dive (Wythenshawe already been given as an example of somewhere to avoid), or the up and coming areas.

 

[The Pat]

My fiance and I rent a gorgeous 3 bed semi in Levenshulme

What??? Didn't know anything like that existed. To the OP try looking at Cheadle as it's right next to it and not as bad as some of the other places listed and to a lesser extent Cheadle Hulme, bit further away.

 

[SiriusB]

The flat where my brother used to live in in Didsbury wasn't THAT expensive. It was quite nice actually but admittedly it wasn't anything special and you can probably get better.

As for getting in and out of Manchester you're laughing. There's loads of buses that go into Manchester and Didsbury is also a pretty good night out sometimes.

SiriusB

 

[The Pat]

Yea the buses from Didsbury to Manchester are about every 2 minutes.

 

[philio16]

Yea the buses from Didsbury to Manchester are about every 2 minutes.

Wilmslow Road is the busiest bus route in Europe apparently!

I'm living in West Didsbury at the mo, in 3 bedded house which is £280 p/m furnished (£280 x3 of us obviously....you do the maths ). Didsbury is a very expensive area to live in...always worth checking out Levenshulme, Rusholme, Fallowfield, anywhere along the Wilmslow Road corridor really...and if you can drive then Cheadle, Cheadle Hulme, Heaton Mersey and other areas towards Stockport way are also good to check out (and less studentized).

If you do get along the Wilmslow Road corridor, £4 a week gets you on any Stagecoach or Magic Bus that goes along that road....at least 1 every 4 mins, and valid 24/7!

 

[The Pat]

Wilmslow Road is the busiest bus route in Europe apparently!

It's so useful that when you get out of clubs that buses are still every 2 minutes.

 

[dbmzk1]

I live in Edgeley. I pay £595 a month for a nice 3 bed semi on a quiet street. Its a million times nicer than the **** hole that is Levelsnhulme, where I previously lived for over 15 years. Avoid Levenshulme and surrounding areas at all costs.

Stockport and Edgeley (Cheadle Hulme) are reasonably cheap. Things get really expensive near Cheadle and Didsbury though.

lol. We're on the Didsbury side of Levenshulme

Levenshulme doesn't have a Didsbury side, it's bordered by Rusholme, Longsight, Gorton, Burnage, Reddish and Heaton Chapel. Most of which are also **** holes

Didsbury is about 3 to 4 miles (a 10-15 min drive because of the traffic) from Levenshulme. Right between them is Burnage.

 

[Phoebs]

Im gonna go with pat and big up cheadle hulme or cheadle seeing as i've lived here all my life. The 3 bed semi across the way from my old house was rented out for 650. I think ** budget is achievable you just got to look around surrounding areas and stuff. Transport round here is pretty good so there shudnt be an issue

 

[Hellsmk2]

I pay 600 a month for a 2 bedroom flat. It's in a crummy area though (Longsight). It's an awesome flat: Huge balcony (can fit a good 8 people on it no probs), 2 bedrooms and a living room/ kitchen.

I wouldn't reccomend the area though. We've seen every type of crime from the balcony on quite a regular basis and our neighbour is a crack/ heroin dealer (openly). We choose it because you'd be looking at 850+ for a flat like this in the centre.

I'd reccomend looking in Withington on your budget. It has its fair share of students but there's some classy housing on par with the Didsbury places round there within your budget. It's also right next door to didsbury.

If not there, have a look at Parswood. There's some awesome semi's there within your range and next door to where your missus will be doing her PGCE.

 

[philio16]

Parrs Wood also having the 24hr Tesco, cinema, bowling etc...

 

[kibblerok]

try fallowfield and withington (close to wilmslow road) as alternatives to didsbury...

 

[branddaly]

Methinks too many students are suggesting areas. If driving is an option,try a sideways shift towards Stretford and Sale. Cheadle, as recommended, is nice, Cheadle Hulme nicer. Burnage is ok but ex-council (yes I'm a snob). Most the other areas mentioned are student ghettos with all the plus's (beer, food, transports) and minus's (students, drug addicts, crime, sub standard dwellings suitable for students and crack addicts) normally associated with them. However Didsbury is quite nice, mainly due to all the hospital staff who compete for accomadation (which drives the prices around there).

 

[KingOfAquitaine]

The Victoria Park area has some nice large houses that are quite inexpensive. (about £400 per month).

And Manchester is currently building a lot of new priority-worker housing (on Oxford Raod near the University), so if your wife-to-be does qualify as a teacher, it may be worth looking into