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CS student searching for accommodation

3 points by flowerpot ↗ HN
I am a computer science student from Germany and will be working in Palo Alto for three months, however, I have a problem, I am not able to find accommodation which is in line with the budget the company gave me ($1000). I have been searching on airbnb, but haven't been able to find anything that's in line with the budget without having to rent a car to get to work every day, which would also be too expensive.

Can you recommend a place I can search for other than airbnb, or even better, a place I could stay at? Best location would be anywhere between Palo Alto and Mountain View.

6 comments

[ 3.6 ms ] story [ 22.3 ms ] thread
daniel-cussen
There are a few hacker houses around there, but talk to your employer, the budget they're giving you is completely unreasonable. Show them evidence you can't possibly live there at that price, and they might take that into consideration.

I would also say you don't literally need a car to live in the Bay Area. You can be organised and use a bike and Caltrain, which is what I did.

peggy
If you're interning, consider joining the 2014 Bay Area Summer Interns Facebook group (link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1378139645766413/).

There have been a number of posts by people looking for housing and/or roommates, including some in/near PA and MV.

flowerpot
Technically its not an internship, since I already work for the company here in Germany, but I'll see if I can get into the Facebook group.

edit: I got accepted into the group, I will see if I can get help there, but thank you very much so far!

dylz
The budget your company gave you is absolutely, ridiculously not possible.

We're talking you can't even rent an illegal laundry room closet for that pricing. You need to show your company that you definitely need more.

bendmorris
Depending on where you work in Palo Alto, you might be able to live further away and commute. Union City/Fremont area is much cheaper and there's a bus that will take you across the bay. I'm not aware of anywhere in the area that you could find something for $1000, but maybe with roommates it could work.

You should check with the company and see if there's anything they can do. I really hate that some companies exploit interns by offering such clearly unsuitable amounts for living expenses. If they live and/or work in Palo Alto, they know how expensive it is.

RogerL
I'm not sure I understand the other comments. When I moved here in 2012 I had to rent for several months until I found a house to buy. I ended up in a B&B that I found on craigslist for the price you mentioned. I just went to CL just now and there are a lot of listings for the price you mentioned. I don't think you can really dwaddle on any of this stuff - find something passable, and take it, or someone else will, but it is possible.

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/roo/