Scottish Student going to work in NYC -Help required please!

Hi folks,

My brother has just been told that he is getting a uni placement in the wonderful NYC from mid August 08%26#39;. Only problem is he has never been before and is only 19 years old. Coming from a quiet subarb in Aberdeenshire Scotland i can image this will be a totally different world. This placement will be for 1 year.

I was wondering if you peeps can help and tell me where to find good apartments to rent for the year in safe areas? If you know anywhere to search for flat sharing? Which areas to stay in/not? Are people in NY friendly and helpful if he would get lost? He would probably be looking to spend anything up to 拢1500 dollars a month for rental.

He is going to be working on 5th Avenue.

Any help is much appreciated because as you can imagine he is scared of coming to a strange country alone! My mum is totally having kittens aswell so ANY help would be much much appreciated!

Thank you

Kim xx

Scottish Student going to work in NYC -Help required please!

kim, I would imagine if he is getting ';a uni placement'; they would help him find housing. Fifth ave. runs several miles, so WHERE on Fifth ave. will make a big difference.

1500 GBP = $3000 and that is a very fair budget for an apartment.

oakwood.com

is an agency that arranges monthly housing in nice buildings and that budget should work for a number of their apartments.

If you mean $1,500, then he will have to share. I would urge he not commit to an apartment until he arrives so he can see it first. He should be able to find temporary housing for a week or two. Yes, people are friendly but there%26#39;s lots he can do online to prepare himself and I suggest you let him do that. :)

Scottish Student going to work in NYC -Help required please!

Firstly, 5th Avenue is very long and almost runs the length of Manhattan. So you might want to find the cross-street of where he%26#39;ll be working.

$1500 a month will certainly get a decent room if he wants to share, or a studio outside of Manhattan, say in Queens or Brooklyn.

New Yorkers are very friendly and always helpful to anyone looking lost!

For flat sharing, he may want to look on www.craiglist.com. You can also find apartments to rent there. If he signs up with a broker to find an apartment, he%26#39;ll probably need to pay a fee equivalent to 15% of the annual rent (a hefty sum). So he should try and find a no-fee apartment, although this is harder work than having a broker help.

Sorry, that should read www.craigslist.com

Hi folks, thanks for the prompt responce!!! He has not been informed if he is getting help finding housing so we thought we would start enquiring early.

His placement is on 551 5th Avenue (hopefully this makes sense to you), is this an ok area? Close to a bus route or train for him to get to work? Can you please advise if its easy to get apartments in this area?

I meant about $1500 should be about 拢1000GBP so he dosent mind sharing, it will be good for him to meet people. Can you find out who you would be sharing with before hand?

I will let him explore himself but im his big sister and im worried already :)because he is SO young!!!

Thanks SO much for the info on the broker people, will defo avoid them!!

Your help is continaully appreciated! Your great!!

Kim :)

Oh i forgot to ask also, as he is only 19 is there alot that he can do in the evenings? Going out to pubs or anything? Can you recommend where is a good place to meet Scottish people aswell?

Kim :) xx

Oh i just found out its between W45/46 - E45/46 btut on the E side of the road. As you probably know already with my previous post.. x

To the excellent advice you%26#39;ve already received, I%26#39;d just add that he is no younger than tens of thousands of other students who come here from around the US and the world. Apartment sharing is, in my experience, an essential part of being a student in this country. I am sure that whatever university he is attending has a department of off-campus housing specifically designed to help people in his situation.

Also, I don%26#39;t think that being from Scotland puts him at a significant disadvantage compared to a 19 year-old from, say Missouri. I%26#39;ve never been to Scotland, much less the suburbs of Aberdeen. But has he ever ridden on the London underground? Does he know how to read a schedule for intercity trains to Edinburgh or Glasgow? If so, he already has ';a leg up'; over many Americans who reach the age of 19 (or older) without EVER utilizing any form of public transit.

He%26#39;ll be fine! Remember, education isn%26#39;t just about what happens in the classroom.

The general rule in NYC is that pubs (and we%26#39;re talking pubs that serve food, not bars) don%26#39;t check your age upon entry during the dinner hours, but they do check your age late at night and if you try to drink. The drinking laws are strictly enforced - NO drinking at 19. Watch out for that.

That said, I%26#39;m sure he%26#39;ll pretty quickly fall in with a bunch of other buddies from his university group! If he wants to find Scots, a good idea would be to check which pubs show Rangers and Celtic games, for instance. There%26#39;s a listing at soccerbars.com.

45th and 5th is Midtown, central to all forms of transportation. He could live in many different neighborhoods and find it pretty easy to get to work. Living on the Lower East Side, for instance, would put him near many young people and a lot of live music and entertainment.

I may have misunderstood. If this is a corporate job he got through a Scottish university, and is not associated with a University in NYC, that%26#39;s a slightly different situation.

Having said that, most universities do have off-campus housing offices, and they may not restrict their listings to enrolled students. That would still be a great resource to put him in touch with others in his same age group and situation.

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