Housing Needs - Looking for a place to rent from January - Mountain View, CA (San Jose: car rental)

[Sandeep Kancharla]

My name is Sandeep Kancharla. I've recently graduated from Texas A&M University with a Bachelor's in Biomedical Engineering. I will be pursuing medical school beginning in August 2015. Between January and July 2015, I got an internship opportunity with a biotech company in Mountain View, CA. I'm looking for accommodation for 6 - 7 months. Please let me know of any options that I can explore.
I would like to move in from 01/04/2015.

Also, I would like to rent a car for that period of time in Mountain View. Please let me know if you have any car rental options/services that I can look into.

Thank you.

[nightlysparrow]

Try this forum instead:

http://www.city-data.com/forum/san-jose/

[NoMoreSnowForMe]

Will you be in student housing as of August? Is that's why you only need a place for 6 - 7 months?

I suggest you look on Craigslist, if you haven't already. Also, your new college may have a website where students can advertise for roommates or sublets. Many apartments will want a one-year lease, but some will offer 6 months. For anything shorter, you will probably have to pay a much higher rent.

Your name looks Indian, forgive me if I'm wrong. Also, forgive me if your citizenship is US, and I'm assuming you are a foreign student. But, you might check with the International students department of your new school, and also any surrounding universities or colleges. They seem to have more resources than any other student departments.

Also ask the employer you have the internship with, if they have a relocation department or a website or facebook page where you can advertise the need for a room.

I used to be an apt manager in Santa Clara, and rented to a lot of international graduate students. This is how they usually found housing, that I am aware of.

When searching on Craigslist, for apartments in the Mountain View area, you need to search under "peninsula." Since you will have a car, you could also look in the "south bay" section. You will find the "neighborhood" tab on the left, where you choose which cities to search.

Mountain View is nice and safe. You would find decent housing that is in safe areas in Sunnyvale and Santa Clara, too, in the South Bay Area. Anywhere farther north on the peninsula will be really nice and safe, but more expensive. For housing in San Jose, you should ask about specific neighborhoods on the San Jose forum. Some areas are not safe.

Here's just a quick search where I just chose rentals in Mountain View without any other parameters:

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/search/pen/apa?nh=81

As far as renting a car, I'd just Google "Mountain View rent a car," and see your options. The usual companies are Hertz, Budget, Enterprise. Check their websites or call them for the best deal, and see if any of them will deliver the car to you. Some do this. I think Enterprise does. That way you don't have to find a ride to the car rental office.