Mattan from One Month here, happy to discuss and answer people's questions candidly if you've got any.
if you apply to yc and get accepted into their program and your startup happens to be physically located in another part of the country, how difficult is it to find a place to work out of and/or a house to rent? or does yc or the yc alumni network help with finding accommodations too.
Finding space to rent is 1/1000th as hard as the rest of starting a startup. Sublets are sometimes announced on the alumni mailing list, and some companies get together to share a big house, but most just use Craigslist.