Si Valley summer intern needs some advice! (San Jose, Santa Clara: extended stay, apartments)

[gog8rs]

Long time listener, first time caller

I'm from the East Coast and I've recently accepted an internship for the summer in the Milpitas area. I know similar questions get asked a lot, but I'm a little worried about finding apartments that will rent out for only 3 months in the area and would appreciate suggestions. I don't really have a limit on how much I can spend on rent, I just want something that fits the criteria of being 1 bedroom and not being in a bad part of town.

Also, since I'm from 3000 miles away, driving my car to California isn't really something I want to do. I haven't heard anyone raving about the mass transit system over there, and so are there any options for getting around San Jose/Bay Area in general?

[shea123]

I interned in the Valley last summer. What I did was stayed in a hotel for the 3 mos I was there. I stayed in the extended stay in Milpitas, which was ok, but some other interns I know stayed in another hotel that I can't recall the name of in Santa Clara, which was really nice. Basically, you would want to find a hotel that specializes in extended stays. The rooms have a small kitchen and are pretty comfortable.

As far as a car, I'm from the east coast as well and I decided to have my car shipped. It costed me about 1k each way. I know another intern who rented a car for about 2k for the entire summer, with this you can avoid the headach of possibly having to wait for delivery.

Hope this helps!

[karwosts]

What company are you working for, or at least what address will you be near?

Depending on your lifestyle I'd consider just picking up a bicycle and living near work, though this depends on where your work is. The weather is pretty nice in the summer and it never really rains except during February-April. I moved here for fulltime work a couple years back and had my car stolen in June, I got around on my bike/VTA for 6 months pretty easily until winter hit and it started raining all the time, then I got a new one. There's a good amount of bike lanes and trails around so I'd say its reasonably rider friendly (the VTA site has a nice bike lane map if you want to look around your location). As for the VTA itself, the mass transit is groan-inducingly slow to get anywhere (plan a 60-90 minute trip to get across town), but for a once a week trip to a mall or nearby supermarket it should get you there without too many headaches, and it has pretty extensive coverage.

If you're concerned about finding a 3-month lease, talk to your employer's relocation specialists, they should be able to help set you up with something. Also if its a large company you may want to consider looking for another intern as a roommate, I've known companies to provide mailing lists for summer interns to help them find people to house with. It will help a lot with expenses (you'll save a lot more of that intern paycheck in the long run), plus maybe you can find someone to car-share with for those days that you need it. Always good to have a friend nearby in a new area too just for fun/camaraderie.

If you really want a 1bed unit, expect to pay probably 1200-1600/month, plus maybe an extra +10-20% tacked on for a short term lease surcharge. You can probably cut that down to 700-900 to split a 2bed/2bath unit with another intern.

Best of luck, and enjoy the area!

[gog8rs]

Please forgive my slow reply as I have been traveling. Thank you both for all your help! I am working at a small company that I'd rather not name. However, it's located right off 880 and some other interstate.

I have checked with extended stay hotels and they are not too bad (~1500/month inclusive). I've also been in contact with other interns to see if they wanted to split rent.

[DowntownVentura]

You could just forget about a car and use a bicycle (weather will be nice) to supplement mass transit. When you want to take a drive, (there are fantastic places all around the area that would be worth seeing while you are there), just rent a car for the day.