Risky Renting in Palo Alto

Pretty much the craziest real estate market in California. It’s even more expensive than living in San Francisco if you have certain base standards of living. One of the options that the Guy* and I originally considering was to rent a BIG 5-6 bedroom house and live with several other people. We heard that it’s fairly common for Stanford students to do that, so it was originally enticing. It’s a matter of trade-offs – a little bit of privacy for having all of the amenities we’re used to and a lot more space! But I think the more we think about it, we’re tossing out that idea… it’s just too risky, and I can see it causing too many potential arguments and frustrations. So, back to the more predictable search for a one or two-bedroom apartment in and around Stanford. So far, the neighborhoods we’ve got our eyes on are Downtown Palo Alto, Downtown Menlo Park and College Terrace (which is essentially right next to Stanford). Rents vary pretty widely but it looks like I can get something in the $2200 range… if Andy and I split, that’s $1100, really only $100 more than what I pay now. So I will try to keep my budget to that, knowing that all of the utilities will likely be more in the end.

In my initial Craigs List searches, it seems like for that budget, we’ll either be able to get a really nice (i.e. what we’re used to) 1BR, or slightly less updated 2BR. Scarily enough, most properties are rented within a month of the move-in date, so I can’t start my serious searches for quite some time. Sigh.


*Footnote: Yes, you deduced correctly… the plan is for the Guy to move out to Cali with me. Yes, that’s right, the plan is actually for him to quit his job and find a new one (he hopes in a different industry) in this market. Right, I know, more evidence of my/our craziness. But he won’t quit his job until he finds another one, and if it doesn’t work out right away… we’ll do distance and be patient!