Apartment finding service or broker? *help a newby out* (San Jose: rentals, landlords)

[LaurenIntern]

Hi, I am moving from Missouri to the Bay area in May to take my first "adult" job. Although I previously did a summer internship in the area, I am still lost as to where to find an affordable rental. Here in Missouri you can find a brand new 2 bedroom apartment with amazing amenities for around $500/month... so needless to say my expectations and understanding are a little off...

QUESTION 1: I am visiting the Bay area sometime in the next couple months for about 3 days and I need to find an apartment during that time. Are there any apartment finding services and/or brokers who help find rentals? (my sis lives in NYC and this is how she found an apartment in her price range, plus the broker did all the research and appointment set-up)

QUESTION 2: I am looking for a two bedroom under $1500 (including utilities if possible) somewhere within Palo Alto, Sunnyvale, Cupertino, Mountain View or San Jose... is this even reasonable? If so, where should I look? Any suggestions?

QUESTION 3: While looking on Craig's List I notice that the San Jose area is divided between west, south, north, etc... Which areas are the best? When visiting San Jose last summer I noticed that some areas were beautiful and some were kind of sketchy... I would like to avoid the sketchy areas Any tips?

Thanks in advance for the help!!

[aslowdodge]

It's different here. You don't use an agent to find a rental. Landlords don't pay commisions on leases so realtors don't do that.
Craigs list is your best bet,
Palo Alto, Mountain View are all pretty good areas except for east Palo alto. The other ones are more hit and miss on areas, depends on what you are used to.
You best bet is to name a few streets and maybe someone can chime in.