5 ms·

Ask YC: What is the best area in SF Bay Area for startup hackers?

• jwilliams 18y ago
  This probably doesn't answer your question directly, but (if you haven't already) I'd recommend taking a look at: http://www.paulgraham.com/marginal.html http://www.paulgraham.com/marginal.html (and his other essays)
  • ojbyrne 18y ago
    Except that's old news (at least the real estate part of it). All that marginal space has been turned into paying real estate. Not only in SF but in just about every slightly expensive city in North America. There was an article last week in the NYT about garages and what they add to the value of a property in Manhattan. Its in the millions. Chances are, if you pay a million extra for a garage, at the very least, you're parking a car there. Admittedly, if you go far enough out in the suburbs, its not the case. But then you're in the suburbs, which has other challenges (transportation, etc). All that aside, SOMA is where everything happens. If you can't afford to live there look incrementally further south until you find a place that you can live.
    • yrashk 18y ago
      Thanks! I am currently in a hotel in SOMA, but think to move a little bit southwest I guess — I don't want to spend more than $500/wk for rent, and housing is really a bit crazy in SF ;)
      • martian 18y ago
        You can definitely find a place cheaper than $500/wk in SF. I live in the city, and pay way less than that.
        • ojbyrne 18y ago
          Yep. I lived (alone) in a studio in Potrero Hill, $1050 a month.
        • yrashk 18y ago
          Short term rentals seems to be more expensive than long-term ones
      • rms 18y ago
        I would recommend roommates. 3/4 bedrooms are a lot cheaper per person than 1 bedrooms and you get a porch. If you post that you're looking for roommates here I expect you will find some. Or http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/roo/ http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/roo/
        • jwilliams 18y ago
          I agree completely - contingent on getting good roommates of course. 1. Keeps you sane having other people about. 2. Means you're in a big place. Staying and working in a studio would be claustrophobic. 3. You will probably meet other people. 4. It's loads cheaper... Course, if the flatmates aren't the right people then it would be hell on earth. You should probably be upfront if you're planning on working from home - wouldn't suit everyone.
• gibsonf1 18y ago
  Last night Yahoo! YUI engineers hosted a meetup for the new 3.0 version at the Brickhouse in Soma. There was also another geek gathering at Cnet and all headed afterwards over to the 21st Amendment Brewery also in Soma. Our office is in Soma, as is Justin.tv and many other startups, so Soma is probably a good area to look around.
• mriley 18y ago
  The Mission has a pretty high concentration of young people, and a lot of the startup people I know live around there. Rent in the area may be more reasonable than elsewhere but not by much, given its popularity. If you aren't here permanently you might try the Sublets/Temporary Housing section of Craigslist - I had good luck there, and you should be able to find something for less than $500/wk.
  • breck 18y ago
    500 per week?? so less than 2k per month? that seems pretty pricey...about to move into the mission and paying 800/mo.
    • DabAsteroid 18y ago
      500 per week?? The high rents in SF are caused by rent control. http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-274.html http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-274.html
      • rms 18y ago
        Supply and demand also may be a factor.
        • DabAsteroid 18y ago
          Does rent-control decrease supply/demand?
          • rms 18y ago
            Sure. My point is that the major factor in the pricing of San Francisco housing is that it is one of the most desirable housing markets in the USA. With or without rent control, prices would be high because it is a relatively small city where a whole lot of people want to live.
            • DabAsteroid 18y ago
• jonmc12 18y ago
  Meetup.com is good resource for events, also sf.garysguide.org - helped to give me a feel for what goes on where.
• Frocer 18y ago
  We just moved our startup to the Bay Area a couple of weeks ago :) My partner and I found a temporary place in Mountain View for the next few weeks while we look for a more permanent place -- but everyone has recommended us to either live in SF or Palo Alto. We should meet up some time once you are settled!
  • yrashk 18y ago
    I hope I'll be settled by Monday ;)
  • yrashk 18y ago
    Done. I am settled and would love to meet with people around :)
• iamelgringo 18y ago
  I host a Meetup called Hackers and Founders in Sunnyvale every month. It's been growing a lot though, so we might end up going to every other week. We have 30 people planning to attend on September 18th, and I'm holding off on allowing more RSVP's because the bar we have it at gets pretty crowded. If you wanted to crash the party around 7:30 or 8pm it would probably clear out by then. There is another one scheduled for October 1st. It's a low key event which consists of having a burger and a beer with hackers and people interested in startups. Our Meetup page is here: http://entrepreneur.meetup.com/1737/ http://entrepreneur.meetup.com/1737/ As far as where to go to meet Hackers.... In the Bay Area, just strike up a conversation with people. 1 out of 10 people living in the area are engineers. You're bound to meet someone.
• iamelgringo 18y ago
  If you're looking for places to live, I really like San Jose. Sure, it's not, The City(tm), but down town does have a lovely little, urban lite feel to it. There are plenty of working class people and plenty of hackers in the area. It's not the sexy place to live, but heck, for what people are paying for a one bedroom apartment up in SF, I'm getting a 4 bed/2 bath house with a yard and an office big enough for 3 people. And, if I want to go up to Yoshi's and hear some really great jazz, it's only 80 minutes away.
  • dmpayton 18y ago
    +1 on this. I recently took a job at a startup in Campbell, and the San Jose area is really nice. It's not as expensive at SF, but it's still "bay area".
• tlrobinson 18y ago
  Either San Francisco proper (especially SOMA), or around Palo Alto / Mountain View would be my suggestions. Most of the meetup type events I've been to have been in SF. Lots of startups are based in SF too (of the winter 2008 YC companies I think only a handfull are still in the valley, the rest are in SF or elsewhere). Startups seem to congregate in or near SOMA in particular. The three SF JS meetups I've been to have been in SOMA: Hi5, SlideShare, and Serious Business. Also: Twitter (and their old office's new residents, Get Satisfaction), Engine Yard, and numerous YC companies like Disqus, SnapTalent, Xobni, Justin.TV. And lots of others I would probably know about if I actually lived up there. But the valley is great too. Of course there's lots of startups there as well. Palo Alto and Mountain View are both quite nice. But be careful because there are lots of boring suburban and strip mall type areas in Silicon Valley.