185ft2 - Large quiet room in shared furnished home with huge yard

Hello! We are looking for a considerate, responsible, communicative person to share a 3BR/2BA Menlo Park home in a quiet, family neighborhood.

THE ROOM: There is one bedroom, single-occupancy, available for June. It's a good size room (about 17' x 11'). There are two wide windows for good light and cross ventilation. Current partial bedroom furnishings include a desk, a dresser, and a bookcase, a bed may be available from the previous renter. (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 always 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: Normally, you'll be sharing the house with one other housemate, a quiet, friendly, and considerate person with a professional position at Stanford Medical. Her work usually starts at early hours, so we would like a housemate who can observe quiet late evening hours.

The owner keeps the third bedroom for his own use and has his own bathroom. He, and sometimes his wife, come over for a night or two at random times. Of course things could vary, but with their current job locations they only stay on rare occasion. The landlord is easy to get along with, and very helpful. If he's around, he enjoys sharing a meal or morning coffee and a chat with the tenants. But he is seldom at the house because he does not work locally and usually stays near work. So, effectively, only two people share the house almost all the time.

Traditionally, the house has been occupied by mature people of various ages and backgrounds 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 have had renters 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.

THE HOUSE AND NEIGHBORHOOD: The home is a 1950s style stucco one story on a large lot; there's a huge back yard with several trees. 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 no extra storage area will be available.

Common areas of the house are professionally cleaned twice a month (no extra cost). Since the landlord is usually not in residence, he expects and appreciates our 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 not generally available for this rental; Menlo Park enforces a prohibition of overnight street parking except for short-term guests by pre-arranged permit. So this rental is best for bike commuters.

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 10 minutes 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 fast 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 around $40 in a warm month to about $90 in a cold month. 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 June, or possibly in very late May if needed; showing will requires some advance coordination to arrange with the landlords and the other housemate's schedules. If you are an international student and unable to visit the room in advance, we can look for some more pictures and do our best by email, Skype, and phone to answer your concerns.