I had a serious problem this week and the problem was to find a house for my son in Birmingham. He is a proud member of the University of Birmingham and he will study there law and of course I am proud with that, but there was a huge problem with the accommodation in Birmingham, because Hugh decided not to use accommodation services offered by the university, which I heard are very good. As far as I know they offer accommodation in four villages and every apartment there is good enough. For example a single ensuite room is a single room with a bathroom and shared kitchen facilities. Good for me, but not good enough for my dearest Hugh.
That is why I started to search for houses, apartments or flats for rent or even for sale in Birmingham. This became a difficult task and not because finding a house for sale or for rent in Birmingham is hard, real estate agents have done a perfect job and if you just search for houses in Birmingham you will be flooded by many different offers, but it is difficult to find a suitable offer.
The house or apartment must be close to the university, the Metro has to be near, the house should be good enough for Hugh, who doesn't want to stay in the university of Birmingham's houses and apartments and on the top of the list the price must be reasonable for our family's budget.
I checked on Google for houses for sale/rent in Birmingham and found there a nice and informative site, which offers a discount - the first month is free and the house is 650 pounds per month. The house was good enough - a small one with 3 rooms, a kitchen and a small but beautiful garden where Hugh and his friends from the university of Birmingham will have some parties, not too many I hope.
So, my problem was easily solved for the cost of 650 pounds every month. But for safety reasons I decided to check how the houses for sale was going in Birmingham and I used Google again. This time for "Houses for sale in Birmingham", but when I saw the prices there I decided that for those 5 years Hugh is going to stay in Birmingham the idea to buy a house is not worth it at all. Furthermore nobody knows what the prices of houses in Birmingham will be in 5 years and I may lose money which is not good at all.
In a conclusion if you send your child to a university somewhere, rent, do not buy, it is not worth it.