Just to quickly say a massive thanks for all the great posts left by people on here. They have really helped, and this forum is fab! I have read all the threads on this topic going back to 2003 so know a lot more about Sheffield now then when I started.

The most useful bits of info for me were:
Warning of tactics that some Estate Agents can play
Advice to look below our budget maybe or just be firm and not be drawn in
Description of areas by people with local knowledge (both positive and negative points.)

Well onto why i need your help:

I'm from Somerset, hubby is from Kiveton.
In our 30's. No KIDS - and no plans to have any either.
We need to be near Sheffield for work / social.
Can you help us narrow down our list of 10ish poss areas to look at to perhaps 2 or 3 so we can drive round them and gauge some more.

What we'd ideally like:
Min 2 bed det house or bungalow, garden / garage
NOT nr schools, or on school runs
Good area for walking dogs (with dog do bins :) )
Generally quiet area - not near rowdy pubs anyway, or shops where trouble seems to accumulate
Preferably NOT on a family estate
Good Gym in vicinity would be a brucie bonus, on bus route too
Something @ £225, (willing to compromise on size but not location)
Somewhere where outsiders are accepted, and neighbours / people in the street are generally friendly!

I am scoping rightmove website which is great, and I am going to look on 2roost after this post though.
We scope the Property guide on Fridays, but have to say that we have been disappointed with all estate agents in Sheffield - we have registered our details with loads and not had one response back from any!

Do they just expect people to walk thru thiers doors every day!

Rightmove is sending us regular email updates though which is good but i just think some of the better buys have gone before even getting as far as the website!

Areas we like the sound of (just by just reading the posts on here!!!) so far, are:

Crosspool
Dronfield
Meersbrook / Graves park area
Dore
Totley
Walkley
Norton
Woodseats
Millhouses
Greystones
(Ranmoor, Fulwwod, Whirlow perhaps if we win the lottery :) !)

Am I being realistic or am i dreaming!?! Please - any advice / welcome - let me know your honest opinions / thoughts ok.

Please advice, and thanks in advance if you do share your thoughts....

Hi there are alot of really nice areas in Sheffield and around. I have lived in various places including Greystones (7 years), Dronfield Woodhouse/Dronfield/Coal Aston (10 years), Gleadless (1 year) and Meadowhead for a short time. We have recently moved to Norton Woodseats just a stones throw from Graves Park and its really lovely. You are near all the shops, buses to town every 20 mins and a ten minute car drive. Also woodseats nightlife is really quite good and lively. The neighbours have been really friendly and welcoming.

We had a good time at Greystones as Ecclesall Road is a great drinking area and attracts lots of singles and professional couples. The schools are classed as good which means that property prices are quite steep so for £225 you will not get the property you would like. I work at an Estate Agency so know that for sure! For that amount you may just get a semi (if you are really lucky) but most likely a large terraced at Banner Cross area.

It all depends on what is most important to you - you dont need the schools so I think I would go for a nice area but probably abit away from there so you get more house for your money. I loved living in Dronfield and had three different properties over there - only moved away due to divorce and wanting a fresh start! Sometimes regret leaving there. Only problem with Dronfield is its a fortune for the taxi home from a night out in town. You would definitely pick up a nice property for the money you are willing to pay there. The postal codes people always ask for when they come into the estate agency are S10, S11 and S7 (some parts only). But again you will pay hugely for this postal code. Most people requesting these areas have kids and are wanting the catchment area. With you having no kids and not wanting to be too near the schools anyway I would look elsewhere.

If you would like any further advice or putting on the estate agency register where I work please PM me and I will keep a look out for property for you. Are you first time buyers or cash - if so try and get a property now as this is the best time to buy not as many properties but fewer buyers and they dont get bidded up as much. Kind regards

Looks a good list to me, I'd add Beauchief to those as well, specifically the parts around Hutcliffe Wood Road and Abbey Lane. There are 2 gyms within walking distance, you're within walking distance of Woodseats and Graves Park and the woods around the golf course and Millhouses park for walking dogs and you're about as far away from a school as you can get in Sheffield.

Try Crookes - bit studenty but some lovely dog-walking areas and no schools! If you go back far enough you can get away from the students easily. The houses are cheaper too, but harder to get a detatched.

tbh i don't think your money will get you much in dore or totley. it'd do you well in walkley, but unless you want to go to a really stinky old man gym, walkley isn't really for you (i live in walkley, and i love it, but it's not the exciting hub of activity and entertainment that it could be). crookes is full of students, you really don't want to move there if that bothers you at all - obviously there are plenty of non-students, but there are seriously plenty of other areas where the population isn't so skewed in one direction (wiht the associated unkempt gardens/broken bottles/vomity pavements). crosspool in full of 3 bed semis, which you could manage a very decrepit one for 225, but because it's a good catchemtn area the prices are a bit high, although at least it measn there'd be no trouble selling. i haven't looked recently, so don't know how far your money would go, but have you considered something a bit further out, perhaps in S35/32? worth a look, and fantastic for the dog.

actually, 225 for a 2 bed should get you something reasonable in most areas, no?

anyway, good luck and let us know how you get on.

ps yes, all estate agents suck; they're in it for the seller, not you. the better idea of what you want, the more help they're likely to be.

Hi ya guys,

Thanks ever so much for taking the time to give us your thoughts. We really appreciate it. :thumbsup:

I have added the extra areas that you suggested to our list and we are going to do some recce's when we are next in the area over Chrismas / New year.

I think it would be wise for us to drive and walk around the area's first before we rule any out or in! Hopefully if we get a good feel for any particular area, we can narrow our list down that way.

Blinkin' nightmare, so it is!

oh....just to let anyone reading know about this as well - I logged onto www.houseladder.co.uk this morning - they are giving away a free book (they say its worth around £37 on the home page) - I'm printing it of as I type.

I need all the help I can get! It is advertised as a useful guide for people buying, selling or letting.

Just had a quick glance at it and it looks pretty good - maybe it will help in my quest! It has lots of useful links too.

I probably would never have known about the "bidding up" which is unique to Sheffield when buying, if it wasnt for people telling about it on here - I feel a bit more prepared now!

We sold our house which was up in Cumbria, and up there you're lucky to get the asking price!

Also, this morning I can confirm that one of the 10ish+ estate agents that I registered with has finally got in touch to enquire about my current situation, so there is maybe some hope after all!

:thumbsup: to that estate agents in particular for at least getting in touch.

What are all the rest doing???? :huh:

...well, Merry Christmas to you all and a properous New Year :)

not sure if youve checked out this website, www.vebra.com, theyre like rightmove in that they advertise all properties, regardless of estate agents.

We're just in the process of buying a house with Haybrook estate agents, and so far theyve been good! We bought the house at less than the asking price, so they obviously dont try and bid you up. Only problem is that if you enquire about a specific house it may already be under offer, our house is still on the website and it hasnt been updated :(

Good luck anyway :)

I think Ranmoor or Crosspool would suit you, really chilled and quiet nice bars pubs and places to walk and away from all the crap.;)

Except that those areas are ridiculously over-priced for what they are, and hyped out of all proportion by estate agents. And some people choose to live elsewhere not because they are "the crap", as you so charmingly put it, but because they think there is more to life than paying £250,000 for a bog-standard, ugly and poky three-bed semi.

I'm recomending Norton Woodseats, on the 20/20a bus route.

It's a fairly grown up area (no student/post grad share housing), the bus route has the Virgin gym on it's route (best gym in sheffield) also shops/pubs/resteraunts/library are a short walk or bus ride away at woodseats and it's a short walk or bus ride down to meersbrook and heeley where some really interesting bars /resteraunts and shops are starting to pop up. Also Heeley city farm has a great little cafe.

Graves park (best and biggest park in sheffield) will also be on your doorstep for dogwalking, it has a cafe, woodland, ducks, tennis courts, pitch and putt, green bowling and a little farm where you can buy eggs!

Hi guys,

Thanks weenireeni for suggesting the website :thumbsup: , I am going to check it out - never knew about / looked at that one before!

Kitty123 - thx for your suggestions - are these the only two places with dog doo bins then? lol - only joking he he :)

Danielblythe - know exactly where you are coming from! I saw a 2 bed property this morning on the internet, in Dore admittedley, but £275,000!!! OMG !!!! :rant:
The garden was bigger than the property granted, but even so....! Even if i had won the lottery I couldnt justify the price!!! :mad:

...maybe Santa will sort me out with something! :banana: I can dream......:) :D

hey btw, if anyones reading this thread and is selling in Crosspool or other areas listed in my first post between now and the next 6 months or knows of anyone - pm me ok!

I'll keep you all posted on any future developments! :clap:

Cheers Scoop! That sounds right up our street!

Hubby has already spoken about joining the Virgin gym, (even though we havent even found a house yet!!!), so that is really handy to know.

Graves park sounds really nice - will definately be checking that one out when we visit.

Thanks so much for sharing your knowledge! I really appreciate it.

Cheers Scoop! That sounds right up our street!

Hubby has already spoken about joining the Virgin gym, (even though we havent even found a house yet!!!), so that is really handy to know.

Graves park sounds really nice - will definately be checking that one out when we visit.

Thanks so much for sharing your knowledge! I really appreciate it.

Graves Park is fantastic, full of friendly dog walkers (and a few doodoo bins, too).

Found you one snazzlestar!

http://212.50.188.107/cgi-win/vebra.cgi?details1?src=vebra&PropertyCode=1086013/WARMI/57666/13

What about these:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-5519263.rsp?pa_n=2&tr_t=buy

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-7150330.rsp?pa_n=4&tr_t=buy

Find you another one snazzlestar (in fact there's quite a few on this site).

http://www.winkworth.co.uk/propsearch/furtherdet.asp?fCurrPage=2&sArea=S8&sPType=H&sMinRm=2&sMaxRm=3&sMinPrc=150000&sMaxPrc=250000&sSType=Buy&propref=WNKWOD2095&qDetNavByte=1001&currdet=FD

Found you another one Snazzlestar (Cobnar Rd).

http://www.reedsrains.co.uk/search.asp?queryNo=1&txtQuickSearch=sheffield&txtQuickSearch%3ASelectedValue=&ddlContract=1&ddlType=bungalow&ddlSearchArea=0&ddlBedrooms=2&ddlPayMin=100000&ddlPayMax=250000&latestFirst=0&ddlResultsOrder=1&ddlUnderOffer=on&chainid=0001&image.x=133&image.y=18&image=submit

Anywhere that doesn't end in -moor :hihi:

nether edge has some lovely houses, away from students but there are some hotels/bars - not sure that your budget would get you exactly what you want but look for houses in the decent end of nether edge. Anything after or around kenbourne rd

Has anyone suggested Sothall/Beighton/Crystal Peaks are (S20)?? It's very close to Rother Valley-ideal for walking the pooch! And not as expensive as Dore/Whirlow! Good Luck!

I have just moved to Sheffield from Dublin to live with my boyfriend, we used Bloor and Co on Abbeydale Road, they were the only agent we signed up with to actually call us about rental properties and organised a number of viewings for my boyfriend around the Netheredge Area, I would recommend them and also the Netheredge area in general, nice houses, quiet area but also handy to get in and out of town