where to live near Stanford U? (Sunnyvale, Mountain View: apartment, to rent, condo)

[spandya]

We are moving from Troy MI to SF Bay area next year.. my husband will be at Stanford starting next July.

We are aware of the sticker shock when it comes to housing.. we would like to live as close to Standford as possible.. we have heard nice things about Sunnyvale, Mtn View.... we have 10 month old twins so we would like to rent a 2br house if possible with a small yard..

any suggestions?

[memorytheatre]

Menlo Park. You could find a 2 bd. that's a little run down but livable for about $2300- 2600. Palo Alto is around $300 more for similar. Mountain View $200 less. Don't make a mistake of thinking East Palo Alto is just the east side of town. It's a different world altogether.

[humboldtrat]

Go with Mountain View - a nice, safe suburban town that's cheaper than Palo Alto .

[jbunniii]

I second the recommendation for Menlo Park. It's a lot closer to Stanford than Mountain View.

You don't have to spend $2300-2600 for a 2-bedroom place, either. If you look around, you can find places under $2k that are still within walking distance of Stanford via the bike/pedestrian bridges. Example listing from Craigslist today:

Spacious 2 Bedroom on a quiet street (http://sfbay.craigslist.org/pen/apa/1311266269.html - broken link)

[memorytheatre]

They said they want a little house. The previous post is a townhouse or condo or something with common wall neighbors. You can find an apartment or the like in Menlo park for cheaper, but a decent little single family house on the better side of town will run you $2200 at least. Believe me I've been looking.

For what it is worth, I like Menlo Park much better than Mountain View, especially for people affiliated with Stanford. A little place around the Allied Arts neighborhood (http://www.paloaltoonline.com/neighborhoods/alliedarts.php - broken link) would be just what the OP is looking for.