Contact email: menlohouseshare@sonic.net

Hello! We are looking for a considerate, responsible, communicative person to share a 3BR/2BA Menlo Park home in a quiet, family neighborhood. Considerate these days includes protecting yourself and your housemates by observing all the precautions that minimize your exposure and the exposure of others that you encounter in your home and your outside life. We take this seriously, and if you needn't take the time to read on.

THE ROOM: There is one bedroom, single-occupancy, available in August. It is a medium size room (about 14' x 10'). There is a double wide window on the longer wall for light and ventilation. There is a large, walk-in closet. Current partial bedroom furnishings include a desk, and a bookcase, a twin bed may be available. (We do allow for an occasional guest if you are considerate about letting your housemate know in advance and are not imposing on shared spaces and facilities.)
The two rented rooms in the house share a full bath off the hallway just outside their doors.

The landlord would like someone planning to stay long term with an initial lease of a year.

Please tell us about yourself as a potential housemate and a person. More is better than less, as we usually get lots of interest when we have a room open. We invite people over who we think would be happy here with us, so any info you care to share will help us decide (ie, Facebook, website, linkedin, etc.).

If you find this ad too long, or are unwilling to write us a reasonable description of yourself and your needs, you are probably not a match for our home. We are not taking calls, texts, or setting up meetings for people with whom we haven't had some reasonable correspondence. We won't respond to one-liners and generic emails that do not pertain to this specific availability.

THE ROOMMATE: Initially, you'll be sharing the house with one other person, a quiet, considerate international postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University. He applied for a place on campus to be near his girlfriend, so you may be welcoming a new housemate a month or two after you arrive.

The owner keeps the third bedroom for his and his wife's occasional use; they have their own bathroom so they won't be sharing yours. They come over for a night or two at random times. Things could vary, but with their current jobs, they only stay on rare occasion. The landlords are easy to get along with, and very helpful. If they are around, they enjoy sharing a meal or morning coffee and a chat with lodgers. As they don't work locally they are usually staying near work. So, effectively, only two lodgers share the house most all the time.

Traditionally, the house has been occupied by mature graduate and post-doctoral students or other academic types (frequently by internationals) who like a reasonably quiet home and working environment, with a nice backyard to relax. We'd like to keep that tradition going. Bring in some of your culture if you want to--we've had housemates from all over the world.

Sorry--no smokers (of anything), heavy drinkers, couples, or pets. These things are not negotiable. Please don't take your time, or ours, telling us about how nice, unique, or trouble-free your pet is, etc.
In the past, we have welcomed an occasional short-term guest visiting you from afar with prior arrangement (within limits defined in the rental agreement). However, during the pandemic lockdown, we need to suspend this arrangement indefinitely, as well as indoor gatherings involving persons that don’t live in our house.

THE HOUSE AND NEIGHBORHOOD: The home is a 1950s style stucco one story on a large lot; there's a huge back yard with room for your vegetable garden. The house has hardwood floors, tile baths and kitchen, a fireplace, a laundry, as well as most usual kitchen and entertainment amenities. The kitchen is 1950s tile and glass brick; it features a new gas stove but there's no dishwasher/disposal. The house is furnished and the garage is already stuffed, so expect no extra storage area available.

Common areas of the house are professionally cleaned twice a month (no extra cost). Since the landlords are usually not in residence, they expect and appreciate help with minor house responsibilities like watering the lawn, raking, garden keeping, sweeping, taking trash and recycling to the curb, etc.

Off-street parking is very limited; Menlo Park enforces a prohibition of overnight on-street parking except for short-term guests by pre-arranged permit. There is an off-street parking place in front of the house; but, to keep it simple, we prefer to have at most one renter with car. Many previous tenants have been bike commuters only (and that is our preference when possible). If for any reason there are two vehicles temporarily parked off street for overnight parking, the vehicles must be parked one car in front of the other. The landlords' off-street parking space is reserved for their use at all times.

The neighborhood is friendly and convenient. It is about a 15-20 minute bike ride to Stanford (3 - 4 miles depending where you are going on campus), or less than a 10 minutes bike ride to Caltrain. Grocery stores, cafes and both the Menlo Park and Palo Alto downtown areas are within easy biking distance as well.

There is a broadband WiFi connection in the house.

UTILITIES: In addition to the rent, you are responsible for a share of the utilities (gas, electric, wireless DSL Internet including phone) based on occupancy. As the landlord is not in most of the time, the renters each pay 40% of these charges. The landlord pays all of the water, sewer, and regular trash collection cost. In past years the per/room gas and electric charge has ranged from about $50 in a warm month to around $100 in a cold month. This has trended higher over time; of course it really depends on your usage habits.

Please read this listing carefully, and then contact us to follow up. IMPORTANT: please write at least a few sentences to introduce yourself personally and professionally, and tell us about your living style and housing needs. It saves us all time if there is a mutual fit before arranging a showing. We'd like to have local rental references if possible (newly arrived international students excepted).

The room will be available in August; showing will requires some advance coordination to arrange with the landlords and the housemates. As a precaution, if we decide to meet and show the home after our email exchanges, we will start with a virtual visit, whether you are local or currently living at distance. We will do our best with more pictures, email, Skype, Zoom, or phone to answer your concerns.

Contact email: menlohouseshare@sonic.net