Young person has found a graduate role starting this autumn best place to find rented accommodation

[LimoncelloSpritzplease]

His start date has still to be confirmed but he received a call from HR yesterday. As above anything he/we should consider any pitfalls to look out for. Where is best to look for a rented flat, studio or room i.e. estate agent or elsewhere as really don’t know the area etc. As would like to suss out what is available and what areas would work best for getting to and from work, playing some sport and starting to
build up some sort of social life where he will be living as well as good transport links so he can visit GF, Uni friends and come home etc.

Where is it?

Most of these decisions will be pretty area and budget specific. As a general starting point, try spare room.

I would start by looking on Spareroom and that will help you think about areas and prices and there's often graduate house shares on there that aren't open to undergraduates. Then letting agencies.

Join the Reddit for that town/city and ask for advice on areas/even specific buildings. Dd is moving to Manchester next month and we’ve found that Reddit really good.

DD also has a graduate job starting in central London next week. She is moving in with two of her friends from Uni. She looked on Spareroom and Openrent mainly. Finding affordable housing in central London has not been easy though and they have had to bid on places.

Thank you I hadn’t heard of spare room or Openrent. This post would be in the Warrington area.

Best way to get to know a variety of people quickly is to join a running club. Or football if he's into that.

Lodging is definitely cheaper than renting. Many years ago, I found my lodger on Gumtree and we're still friends 20 years later. In fact, I'm seeing her today 😊

Thanks they have a sport they enjoy and want to get into also encouraging him to take up any work socialising offers etc. He had a fantastic time at Uni and met lots of new friends there but I know its different as everyone in similar boats.

@menopausalmare thats so lovely. Hopefully he will also fall lucky with his accommodation.

Warrington…. I’d be looking at living in Liverpool if was a sociable young graduate….

i worked in Warrington as a graduate and back then everyone tended to live in either Manchester or Liverpool, hardly any of my colleagues lived in Warrington. Does he drive / have a car?

My daughter joined a Facebook group for graduates new to the area she is moving to and that was how she found her accommodation.

I would look on spare room

Thanks he drives but just finished Uni so drives our second car in the holidays as little parking at Uni and everyone walked everywhere.

He didn’t go to Uni in or near Liverpool or Manchester and none of his Uni friends have jobs at either so not sure whether to base himself at either and increase his daily travel time. Some of his friends have jobs in Newcastle, Leeds, York, Cambridge, London, Peterborough, Nottingham etc.

Whereabouts in the "Warrington area"?
If he's commuting by car then traffic can be horrendous in and around Warrington. It's basically a town sandwiched between the M62, M6 and M56!
The two main train stations are on separate lines - Warrington Bank Quay is on the main west coast line (Euston to Carlisle route) and Warrington Central is on the Manchester-Liverpool line.
But if he's not in the city centre he might need to drive to work e.g. the science park at Birchwood is miles from Birchwood station!
PM me if you want, I'm happy to put a "room wanted" notice on our Warrington office site.

Word of warning re Manchester - it’s got so competitive and expensive, will also restrict him if he needs parking. I quite liked Warrington, been a few times. Could the HR department point him in the right direction if others are starting so they could rent together or maybe another employee has a room? Just thinking of the old-fashioned work notice board! (Literally been through same situation last few weeks but Manchester). Good luck, hope he enjoys his new position.

Cross post but fab that putting notices up still exists!

it's a digital notice board @IleftmybaginNewportPagnell !

Yes I kind of thought so but still love that it’s a thing!

Mine found a long term room on Airbnb. Been there very happily for over a year now.

Thanks for the heads up @MiddleAgedDread also a noticeboard lover so may well pm you after speaking to him later. I think he is maybe also going to speak to HR. He is sociable isn’t precious and had a great time sharing house at Uni and had a fantastic social life so a house share could be an option and may also be a link for getting to know people and local knowledge of the area. We also wanted to suss out some areas and look what was out there.

I don’t think the bright lights of Manchester or Liverpool would be a big enough draw with the much higher rent, longer commute and lack of parking and he doesn’t have any school friends, Uni friends or family members living in either. Is Warrington that bad dead?

@MiddleAged AI said that Stockton Heath, Birchwood, Great Sankey or Culcheth might work as a base and areas to avoid were central Warrington, Latchford East, Bewsey, Dallam, Fairfield and Howley? Does any of that sound right or what would people recommend and suggest avoiding?

Yes he would be based at Birchwood Technology Centre by the sounds of it and may have to travel to other sites but not initially.

Stockton Heath is the "naice" bit of Warrington - small "village" area and close to the city centre. Expensive though.
The other areas are very suburban and I can't imagine living there as a young graduate - they're the sort of place you buy a family house in when it's the best place you can afford IMO. Definitely not Culcheth!
Where did he go to uni? (to get an idea of the sort of place he's used to living in)

Blooming AI I will pm you.

I have family in Newton-le-Willows and I think it ticks a lot of boxes, although I’m not sure how many house shares there would be there. It has its own cricket club, local football team, pubs and restaurants, gym and pool, two train stations and probably more affordable than Stockton Heath or Culcheth.

I think there’s still a lively young people scene there too.

I’d stay away from Orford/Longford area too, but I don’t think I’d mind being around the centre of Warrington too much as the town centre itself is quite nice nowadays. Padgate seems nice enough too but I don’t know how close it is to sports etc.

Thanks all. I tried to have a discussion with him about where he might like to live/where he might prefer living or if he wanted me to visit some areas with him and have a look at them and to look at some accommodation but he didn’t seem at all keen to enter into any discussion or be interested in my going down with him to look at areas.

On a positive note HR based in a different town seem to be in frequent contact with him, they seem to have been really proactive and are going to check with last years graduates as to where they are all living and ask for feedback and also ask if anyone has a spare room in a house etc. Although some maybe local so living at home or have decided to still live in their Uni city.