3 ms·
It's kind of a no dogs kind of city, as well. I see people with dogs around San Francisco and the bay area, but I don't know where they're living. When I lived
by SwellJoe 10y ago
It's kind of a no dogs kind of city, as well. I see people with dogs around San Francisco and the bay area, but I don't know where they're living. When I lived there I had to search for ages to find a place that allowed dogs, and it was a house, a lot more expensive than I'd hoped to spend on housing (I took it and lived there for three years...never moving to a cheaper place even when my girlfriend moved out and I was covering rent by myself).
The search for an apartment around the bay area when you have a dog goes something like this:
1. Search by size, location, price range. Get back hundreds of results.
2. Narrow search with a filter: Allows pets. Get back two dozen results.
3. Oops. Many of these don't allow dogs, only cats and goldfish. Narrow search again, allows dogs. Now, we've got eight to choose from in the entire region.
4. Notice that many have a size limit...dogs under 25 pounds. Ok, read every ad through to the end to find out whether they allow real dogs, or only barking cats. Great. Two options, both more expensive and farther away from the train and a downtown than I really wanted.
Not that I'm bitter. But, I don't live in the valley, anymore.
At least if you have kids, you're protected by law. Landlords cannot prevent you from renting because you have children. But, they can refuse to rent to someone with a dog.
- jessaustin 10y ago...they can refuse to rent to someone with a dog. Thank goodness, although one wonders how much longer we'll be spared from that.
- SwellJoe 10y agoOh, I'm not suggesting the law should change. I'm just saying that housing is a sellers market in the bay area, to an extreme degree; sellers can set whatever ridiculous terms they want, and someone will still buy. What needs to change in the bay area is the housing supply. There just needs to be a lot more of it, so landlords stop being so picky and charging so much. It can cost several thousand dollars to move in the bay area, right now, by the time you cover deposit, first and last months rent, etc. And those are the kinds of terms you find on housing in the bay area. It's just an absurdly lopsided market, where renters have so little negotiating power. Every rental market is a little tougher for dog owners, but nowhere have I seen such an extreme disparity as in the bay area. That's really all I'm saying.
- jessaustin 10y agoWell then, of course you're right. To solve the problems you cite, supply would have to increase drastically. The current situation, however, solves the problems that actually interest TPTB.
- arjie 10y agoThere are 15 dogs every 100 people in SF. I don't think it's a no-dogs city. It's also very generous with enforcement of off-leash ordinances and whatnot.