7 ms·

How to find an apartment in San Francisco during the tech boom

87 points by jevanish 14y ago

HaloZero 14y ago
http://www.creditkarma.com/ http://www.creditkarma.com/ is a better service for credit reports than freecredit.com
- Caerus 14y ago
  While great, creditkarma.com only provides your score. If you're looking for a complete credit report, there is no reason to not use https://www.annualcreditreport.com/ https://www.annualcreditreport.com/. It is the official site set up by the three reporting agencies, as mandated by the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act.
- otterley 14y ago
  CreditKarma doesn't provide a real FICO score. Do a Google search for "creditkarma fako" and you'll see just how inaccurate it can be.
nooooooo 14y ago
As a non-US person moving to SF later this year, I don't have a US credit rating yet. How do I go about looking for places?
- georgieporgie 14y ago
  You probably look to rent in Oakland instead. Rockridge and Lake Merritt are very nice areas (Rockridge being my preference, as there seems to be less property crime, and I lived there for six years).
- steve8918 14y ago
  It's going to be very tough because you will be competing against a ton of people with a US credit rating. The best chance is to go with a larger apartment rental company like Avalon that has the capacity to check a foreign country. You will pay a lot more, but that's likely your best bet. If you have a hard time getting a place, you should also strongly consider places outside of SF.
- gatsby 14y ago
  I'd recommend either finding a sublet or a group of people with an existing lease who are seeking a new roommate. This will give you some time to build your credit score and learn the neighborhoods before you sign your own lease.
- bishnu 14y ago
  It's not that hard. I just did it and didn't have a problem. Bring proof of employment (offer letter) and be prepared to pay a higher deposit.
  - husted 14y ago
    That's what I did back in 2000 when I moved to SF. Also be prepared to pay a deposit on utilities. My biggest issue turned out to be cellphones where I had to go pre-paid. Not sure if this is still the case.
    - jarek 14y ago
      My partner has had Comcast flat out refuse to offer internet service in Seattle because of lack of credit history. Qwest/CenturyLink didn't seem to mind quite as much.
- deleted 14y ago
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- encoderer 14y ago
  1) No credit is way better than bad credit. 2) Get a secured credit card so you at least have a file when they run your credit check. I'm sure you can find guides on how best to do this as a foreign citizen. If you don't have family or close friends here you could be out of luck. But if you do, you could easily have the card shipped to them and allow them to use it for things occasionally to help you get a credit rating. US Credit ratings (FICO scores) are heavily weighted on revolving (credit card) accounts, not so much installment accounts, so don't worry about those. Doing these things will help you immeasurably. Pulling credit is as much about identity verification as it is credit risk. If you can't, remember: There are a TON of people with bad credit everywhere. They're not homeless. You will just have to be tenacious about it.
  - WildUtah 14y ago
    >>No credit is way better than bad credit.<< When you are trying to rent an apartment, yes. If you are trying to buy a cell phone or get a Mastercard or buy a car or a house, it's just the opposite: there's nothing worse than no credit.
    - encoderer 14y ago
      Respectfully, I disagree. If you have no credit, you can get a secured credit card and have a 650-700 fico in a few months. You'll have a thin file so don't expect a mortgage or anything, but in a year or two even that will be no problem. Bad credit? You can do a lot to clean it up before the 7 years are up, but ive seen this in my own family and it's really a waiting game for bad entries to age off your report. And anecdotally, which would you prefer to lend to: somebody with no track record, knowing the average American has a 650+ credit score, or somebody who has bad credit and a proven history of not repaying obligations. It is subjective though, and ymmv.
      - WildUtah 14y ago
        I have no credit report, in spite of living 35 years in the USA. My friends with bad credit and bankruptcies can buy cell phones, rent expensive things, get apartments, get mortgages, and deal with other life activities much more easily than I can. So there's your answer: you'd rather lend money to the known deadbeat than someone with no credit history.
- adi92 14y ago
  I had the same problem a year ago. For the apartments you really like, send in a cover letter with your application explaining your situation and offering more references and a larger deposit. I was really desperate and even put in my resume into the application (which had a bunch of fancy sounding NLP/CS terms). Ended up getting a studio in Pacific Heights.
- transitorykris 14y ago
  I did this in October 2008 so the economic climate was radically different. But, a property management company did accept a copy of my Canadian Equifax report and my offer letter. Get your credit established as soon as you can, easiest was a secured credit card.
- zem 14y ago
  I had the same problem. I eventually got a place by (a) having a good offer letter in hand and (b) agreeing to sign a two year lease. Oh, and I had already agreed (along with a few other applicants) to an extra $100/mo over the original price quoted on craigslist. It was the 2 year lease that tipped the balance for me, since I assume anyone who didn't have the credit history disadvantage turned that down flat.
- usaar333 14y ago
  I could be wrong, but I suspect if you offer to pre-pay for an entire year you should be in the clear.
- mahyarm 14y ago
  -Citibank has a immigrant credit card with proof of employment, ~$3000 ish in a US bank account for ~3months OR ~$5000 in a non us account for 5 months, and an SSN. It gives a good credit limit. -Capital One has a 'newcommer' card that gives a $500 limit with any near blank new SSN online, instantly. -Bank of america has one for canadians, most retail bankers don't know about it. The one by stanford mall did.
rwmj 14y ago
Missing option: (11) work remotely and live wherever you want. Red Hat's virtualization team is based all around the world, in offices but also many remotees. I'm one of them and I like nothing more than sitting in my cottage garden on a sunny day with a laptop and wifi connection. It's a great place to think.
- ericabiz 14y ago
  Agreed. I lived in the Bay Area for 10 years and while it's nice there, there are other places that are equally nice without the hassle of having to pay so much in rent. Think of it this way: Even if you cash out rather nicely from a startup (as I did), you still won't be able to afford to buy a house outright unless you want to go back to work right away. I left for Austin, TX and I truly love it here. I'm running a tech company here, too, and so far we haven't had any problems finding talent--even a Python developer! I wrote an article about living outside of the Valley, and whether it's worth it for you, here: http://www.erica.biz/2012/austin-vs-silicon-valley/ http://www.erica.biz/2012/austin-vs-silicon-valley/ Nearly 2,000 people have read it, and there is some interesting discussion in the comments.
citricsquid 14y ago
> He who hesitates, is lost. I tried to be the super flexible tenant recently. I needed to move 200 miles and I found the PERFECT place (http://imgur.com/a/XpksU http://imgur.com/a/XpksU) so I contacted the letting agency and asked for a viewing, they gave me a date a couple of days later so I booked my train tickets. Day of the viewing I get a call that it's cancelled, that sucks but we can re-arrange, so we re-arrange for a few days later and I swallow the loss on my train tickets (about $150) and order some more (this time paying a premium for refundable tickets) and again they cancel, so I re-arrange (and get a ticket refund, yay!), this time the viewing is for a day later so the tickets I needed were going to be $400 for ordering so late and so I decide whatever I'll go first class; it's only $100 extra and I can work from the train. Next day I go to the station, collect my tickets and board the train: finally I'm going to get to view my new home! My heart was set on the apartment... anyway 10 minutes into the journey I get a call, the viewing is cancelled and the apartment has been withdrawn from the market and unless I'm willing to buy it for $1m I can't live there... so I'm sitting in first class on a train using $500 tickets for no reason. Hurrah! Anyway moral of the story is renting sucks and moving long distance also sucks, good article, next time I move a long distance I think I'll follow the advice and stay in the new place and look for apartments, much easier than travelling the entire distance frequently just to view.
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georgieporgie 14y ago
SF just isn't worth it anymore. The fog (I know there are fog-free areas, but much of SF is foggy-to-super-foggy), the filth, the homeless, and the insane landlords and rents are out of hand. Also, I'm of the opinion that SF culture peaked in the 90s.
- SkyMarshal 14y ago
  > Also, I'm of the opinion that SF culture peaked in the 90s. Could you elaborate on that? I'm very new to the Bay Area, still absorbing it all.
  - georgieporgie 14y ago
    SF in the 90s was an awesome place for punk and industrial music, cyberpunk visions of the future, ratbikes, raves, and a lot more arty types mixing with the nerds. As things cleaned up and gentrified, a lot of what I consider to be the cool culture was replaced by trustifarians and graphic designers who like to cultivate the image of a bicycle messenger or blue-collar worker. SF still has a lot to offer, but it just feels very fake and flooded with money to me. When everyone in the room is making six figures, it's hard to take the person in the thrift-shop shirt and tattoos seriously.
    - ITSABUBBLEGUYS 14y ago
      i guess it's too mainstream for you
- njharman 14y ago
  Dude! The fog is what makes sf cool. Agree with the 90's though.
- jes5199 14y ago
  I agree about the filth. I've recently been in NYC and Seattle and both times I was shocked by how clean everything seemed compared to SOMA.
jboggan 14y ago
This is a welcome and timely article since I'm about to pull up stakes in Georgia and move to SF in late July (cue Otis Redding). I am planning on couch-surfing with friends for the first few weeks while I find a good sublet for a few months. Hopefully after that I can get an apartment when I have a job and know the neighborhoods a little better. Are rents really accelerating upward so quickly that I'm better off finding an apartment as soon as possible?
- jevanish 14y ago
  I just looked at rents after posting this article and it looks like things are going up about $100/mo at least in the areas I had saved on PadMapper. My advice would be to wait and find a place you'll like and just realize once you get a full lease (ie- 1 year or more) you'll be there a while because in a year, rent will definitely be way higher.
pemulis 14y ago
If you don't have any friends you can stay with in San Francisco, a good alternative is booking a bed in a hostel for a few weeks. They're cheap (as low as $25/day, if you're willing to share a room with a few people), centrally located, and sometimes offer perks like free breakfast and coffee. You should take a few extra precautions with your valuables -- I keep my laptop, wallet, and phone next to me when I sleep, instead of putting them in the locker -- but most of the people who pass through are young travelers. There are plenty of options to choose from in the Tendernob, which is basically a hostel/student district, and not nearly as bad as this blog post makes it sound.
- jarek 14y ago
  Unless you are a very light sleeper, it's way easier to steal a laptop out of your arms than out of a locker if you have in-room lockers.
  - ricardobeat 14y ago
    Assuming he sleeps simply hugging his laptop, which is unlikely. He probably keeps stuff in a bag, with a padlock, either tied to the bed or strapped around an arm. That's what I do when I don't trust the lockers, it's not unusual for them to be made of flimsy corrugated-board.
  - pemulis 14y ago
    I sleep in the top bunk with my backpack between my body and the wall, which would make it really difficult to steal anything without waking me up. I don't totally trust the lockers, since every lock small enough to fit them is trivial to pick or just slice through with bolt cutters when the room is empty. Honestly, though, most of the people who pass through the hostel are rich young people on backpacking trips. The only thing I have to worry about them stealing is stuff I leave unattended in the bathroom.
- njharman 14y ago
  This is how I move. Itis excellent. The staff and sometimes guests are wealth of local information.
steve8918 14y ago
Renting in SOMA right now is crazy, and 1 brs in the heart of SOMA near 4th and King are going for over $3000/month. If cost is an issue, places like SOMA, PacHeights, etc, are not good choices because it's super expensive. The danger with renting in SOMA is that unless you're moving into an old apartment, there is no rent control. If rent prices go up next year, you could find yourself paying $500+/month more next year. Nob Hill, etc, has terrible, terrible parking. I have a good friend that lives there that I no longer visit unless it's in the middle of the day on Saturday, because of the terrible parking, you could literally spend 1 hr looking for parking after 6pm. If parking is not an issue (no car or get a scooter), then it's a viable option, but not having a car in the Bay Area ends up being severely limiting. There are plenty of other cost-effective places on the west side of SF that can go for less than half the price of SOMA. For someone new moving into the area, my advice would be to get a cheap single place in Outer Sunset with hopefully a short-term lease, and then once you meet more people, you can band together with people that you know well and rent a bigger apartment somewhere else in the city. Signing a lease with someone that you don't know has tremendous long-tail risk, so I would take the hit in terms of moving a bit further away when you first move to SF, and do a lot of due diligence and get to know the city and your potential roommates better. Another viable option is to not live in the city, especially if you don't work in the city. Places along the peninsula are much cheaper, and if you do work in FiDi or SOMA it's probably more cost effective to rent a place outside of SF and Caltrain it in. My own strategy is: 1) Check Craigslist once an hour, or more depending on how much web surfing I'm doing. 2) If I find a place in an area that I like, I immediately contact them and ask for a showing that day or as soon as possible. 3) I come with all my documentation ready, including my checkbook. 4) If I like the place, I immediately submit an application. 5) Continue looking at other apartments, because they're no guarantee that I will get this one. I've never personally heard of the law that says that you have to rent to the first qualified applicant, and it sounds unenforceable, so I wouldn't count on it. How do you determine who is "qualified"?
- ratsbane 14y ago
  For parking near Nob Hill, the Sutter-Stockton garage is the best I've found so far at $350/month. It's close to the Financial District and doesn't smell as bad as some places around here. SF may have some advantages for tech businesses but there are a lot of very good reasons to not open an office here.
base698 14y ago
You can also use Amtrak to ship your stuff to the Oakland station. It's by far the most cost effect way to move long distances. http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer?c=Page&pagename=am%2FLayout&cid=1241267371736 http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer?c=Page&pagen...
- encoderer 14y ago
  To ship boxes, yes. But honestly if you're an engineer taking a job at a bay area tech company, you will be getting a relo package. If you move here on your own dime you're doing it wrong.
  - base698 14y ago
    I sold everything at the other end and used the relo to buy new stuff. If you move your old worn out stuff you're doing it wrong. :)
    - encoderer 14y ago
      That depends entirely on how expensive are your tastes. A full service mover took us 2800 miles to sf for about 12k which is about (ballpark estimate) what we paid for our living room furniture, mattress and kitchen tools. When you're young, though, especially right out of school, you're entirely correct.
    - lazerwalker 14y ago
      While this is a great strategy (I did just that when I moved cross-country a few months ago), it's worth recognizing that it's predicated on owning suitably cheap furniture. As you move beyond the stage in your life where your apartment is outfitted solely by Ikea, this gets less and less viable.
wyclif 14y ago
Seriously, can someone in the know please explain "bro central" to me? I know what a "brogrammer" is (I think), but maybe I missed the "bro" meme.
- notatoad 14y ago
  Think brogrammer minus the programmer. Frat boys and whatnot. (named because the tend to call everybody 'bro')
jjNford 14y ago
Thanks, this will help greatly, I leave for SF in 2 days!
otterley 14y ago
You might also want to consider living in Oakland instead of San Francisco and taking BART to the city to work. My rent is 1/3 less and my commute (20 minutes door-to-door) is much shorter than that of many of my colleagues who live in the city. Oakland is a big, heterogeneous city, with really nice districts that offer great dining, bars, and the usual city trappings.
- gammarator 14y ago
  Seconded. Rockridge and Temescal in Oakland are great, Berkeley has some fine areas as well.
- jsprinkles 14y ago
  Not just Oakland. The majority of the Bay Area exists to support commuting to San Francisco. The peninsula tech companies are actually a newer phenomenon.
  - georgieporgie 14y ago
    As a former Oaklander, I take offense at your statement. :-) Oakland exists as an industrial hub. Emeryville, on the other hand, exists as a suburb of San Francisco (though I think that with recent business expansion, it's becoming its own city). As far as I know, this is still the case, and more people live and work in Oakland than live in Oakland and commute into SF.
    - mlinksva 14y ago
      Emeryville is a small employment hub, per http://www.census.gov/hhes/commuting/data/daytimepop.html http://www.census.gov/hhes/commuting/data/daytimepop.html Employment/residence ratios Emeryville 4.36 San Francisco 1.40 Oakland 1.06 and a few others FWIW Berkeley 1.30 Dublin 1.05 Mountain View 1.47 Palo Alto 2.54 San Jose 0.88 (qualifying it as largest suburb in the US, IMO)
  - mmagin 14y ago
    Newer? Are you aware of the 50-year history of semiconductor and defense companies in the area between Palo Alto and San Jose?
philp 14y ago
Read this post right up to the following line, "There’s also huge differences from neighborhood to neighborhood as you are unlikely to find someone interested in the Mission (hipsters, homeless and immigrants)" Pretty repulsive point of view IMHO. EDIT: I am a recent immigrant to the United States
- sentiental 14y ago
  Yes, I also found this disgusting. You know, the people he's calling immigrants are actually the people that have lived there for generations.
  - wyclif 14y ago
    There's actually no negative connotation to the noun "immigrant."
    - philp 14y ago
      You're absolutely right. But reading this article the author seems to imply a negative connotation by saying you'd be hard pressed to find somebody willing to live in the mission because of "hipsters, homeless and immigrants".
      - trefn 14y ago
        My interpretation of that paragraph was that no single person was likely to be interested in all three of the neighborhoods mentioned because they're all so different.
        wahnfrieden 14y ago
        No, they're portrayed as undesirables. If he had said the neighborhood was diverse, that would be a positive light. Instead he's lumping them together with homeless and hipsters (a derogatory term).
- _delirium 14y ago
crcsmnky 14y ago
You put a lot of work into this article and wrote quite a few great tips when looking for a place to live in SF. Unfortunately you undermined the entire post with your "immigrants" comment. In fact you made yourself look like a huge bigot. That sucks because it was otherwise well written and useful. It's sad that this is going largely unnoticed by the rest of the comments on this post.
- wyclif 14y ago
  Perhaps it went "unnoticed" because there's actually no negative connotation to the word "immigrant" in and of itself.
  - potatolicious 14y ago
    The relevant quote: > "There’s also huge differences from neighborhood to neighborhood as you are unlikely to find someone interested in the Mission (hipsters, homeless and immigrants)" This does seem to be used in a derogatory way, and I did miss it the first time around. I don't think this is an innocent use of "immigrant" at all. And hell, for a neighborhood that nobody's interested in, the Mission is one of the most expensive of them all. Go figure!
    - natrius 14y ago
      Context matters. The point was that it's hard to find someone interested in the Mission and the Marina and the Sunset. There are many immigrants in the Mission. Should he not have mentioned it at all? Should he have phrased it differently? Why is no one taking offense to the "hipsters" or "homeless" parts? Those are also terms that are usually viewed negatively, but there are many people who are looking for exactly that in a neighborhood. Immigrants are a plus for many people too.
- dudeguy999 14y ago
  Haha. I hadn't realized that PC has come so far that you are no longer allowed to recognize or comment on immigrant neighborhoods. There's lots of poor people and Spanish speaking people in the mission. This is good if you like Taquerias, bad if you dislike grime. If you don't fit in with homeless, hipster, or Latin culture, you will feel like an outsider. Some people may like it, some people may not. But if you don't like it, you are no longer allowed to say so! I'm guessing that his offense is not embracing Latin culture. It is okay to dislike homeless culture, because everyone does, or hipster culture, since it is predominantly White. But you aren't allowed to dislike Latin culture, since it is non-European and therefore protected. Interesting.
jarek 14y ago
"Move mid-month so that you can look for places starting the first of the next month; I moved out on March 14th and moved into an apartment then starting April 1st." I would have guessed all the really good apartments would be spoken for by March 5th. Odd.
jkincaid 14y ago
Obviously there's a lot of demand in SOMA, but one suggestion to anyone thinking of living there: spend some time wandering around, both during the day and during the evening, and see if you like the vibe of the neighborhood (this advice holds true for any neighborhood, really). I say this because I lived in an area that seemed desirable — about 5 minutes away from the 4th & King Caltrain, at 4th and Brannan, and, while it didn't seem so bad at the time, in hindsight I've come to realize that I really wasn't very happy there. It's very convenient for work, but it doesn't feel like a neighborhood at all. Everything seems to close around 8pm and most of your friends probably aren't going to be hanging out around there. Yes, there are a handful of cafes around and you can find a few blocks that are busier, but in general it just feels like a generic chunk of tall buildings — I found it pretty gloomy.
- aliston 14y ago
  I couldn't agree more. SOMA is a terrible place to live if you're under 30 and want urban nightlife. SOMA has some cool places with a bit of character... District, 25 Lusk and 21st Amendment, but on the whole it feels either very sterile or very industrial. If I had it to do over again, I would have braved the 20 minute commute and lived in somewhere that had more culture... the haight, mission, pac heights or (gasp) marina.
  - usaar333 14y ago
    There's always SW SOMA (11th st) which is quite different from 2nd/3rd.
azylman 14y ago
I'm looking to make this move in August and some of the advice here won't work for me. For instance, I can't get a reference from a past landlord or a list of past landlords - I'm just graduating college and have lived in on-campus housing my whole time. I'm hoping having a very good credit score and a very good offer letter in hand will solve this issue, but I'm not sure. Additionally, I can't move out mid-month and look for an apartment starting at the beginning of the next - my job starts mid-month and I've moving out at the beginning. Any advice for how to deal with these situations? Thanks!
- gatsby 14y ago
  Try to get a reference letter from your RA or director of campus housing. Most landlords are flexible on recommendation letters, but something is better than nothing. If you can't move in at the beginning of the month, it's not the end of the world. Tons of people in SF move out of their apartments mid-month, and you'll rarely see a shortage of housing inventory for mid-month move-ins. The key is moving in on them quickly and being willing to sign an application or lease on the spot. If all else fails, you can always do a short term sublet or Airbnb from the 15th through the 30th and use that time to find a lease that begins on the 1st.
- borski 14y ago
  You won't have a problem. Exceptions are made for students provided they have great credit and a great offer letter.
- potatolicious 14y ago
  There are several ways to resolve your situation, few of which you will find palatable... which really sucks: - Rent a less desirable place. Desirable places in SF will have easily 20 people lined up out front, with the landlord taking his/her pick of the crowd based on income, credit, and references - and as a recent grad you will lose on all 3 counts. - Seek roommate situations. Houses are more flexible about all of the above criteria and care more about personality, this is where you might have an edge (I don't know, I don't know you at all). - Live outside the city. This is going to be a real bummer sometimes - your friends will want to hang out in the Mission till the crack of dawn, but you'd have to hop the BART or Caltrain before midnight to get home. But places outside SF proper experience far, far, far less competition. And here's the one that works, but really stinks: - Offer to pay more than face value of apartment. This is just insult upon injury - but it does work. Odds are, if you have a Unreasonably Wealthy Startup Guy(tm) viewing the apartment with you, he/she will bid the apartment up. It's become more and more common, and that's incredibly depressing.
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jsprinkles 14y ago
I pay $2,000/mo for three very spacious bedrooms in Dublin, and I'm to work in SoMa in about an hour on BART (with an empty inbox!). Not to mention Dublin is an absolutely wonderful place to live for suburban types, like married couples. It's really depressing that discussions like this revolve around the city only. There is an entire world of commuter residences all around San Francisco, and people figured out how to commute to San Francisco long before the tech boom (and most people wanting to live in the city) existed. Dublin/Pleasanton is the extreme, but there's also Castro Valley on my same line, a whole shitload of Oakland like Lake Merritt, and if you take the Pittsburg/Bay Point a whole bunch up there, too. Take off the San Francisco blinders and take advantage of the commute options that were built long before this industry. It feels like people moving to San Francisco now treat it like New York City, where living in New Jersey and commuting in tends to suck. So most people focus on the boroughs, and landlords take advantage of them. San Francisco's out-of-town situation is far better, and I don't regret choosing a place an hour out of town at all.
- joejohnson 14y ago
  I want to work in SoMa and not spend 10 hours a week commuting. I can empty my inbox at work, where I'm paid to do it.
  - jsprinkles 14y ago
    So you'd rather spend 10 hours a week commuting inside SF?
    - joejohnson 14y ago
      No, I'd rather live close to work. Currently I have a 5-10 minute walking commute.
- devs1010 14y ago
  Agreed, I commute into sf from the east bay, my commute is longer than I'd like now so am planning to move closer but not into the city. Sf is so dense that it can often be the same commuting length in terms of time coming from across the bay as if you lived in the city
lsiebert 14y ago
Two things: First, the bart shutting down at midnight doesn't mean there is no public transit. You can almost always take the bus. Second: You can move near SF state, either in the city or in Daly City, and have an ok roommate/rent situation with managable transit options. Especially if you are willing to bike a bit.
prodigal_erik 14y ago
You don't have to support YC's favorite spammers to land a short-term place. There are some month-to-month apartments in the city (e.g., Landmark, who I'm using now, basically wants a pulse and a credit card for the rent) and motels on the peninsula with weekly rates that are about the same as renting a studio but with utilities, parking, and cleaning included.
- kevinsd 14y ago
  Hi, the short-term option sounds very interesting to me. Will definitely check out landmark. Meanwhile, do you have any particular motels in mind?
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- jevanish 14y ago
  Deepak, Totally right. The goal with the way I talked about the Tenderloin was more to forewarn people. If you know what you're getting yourself into and follow the street-wise tips you provide, it can be a great place to work and an easy walk to the Financial district or SoMA where many work. Thanks, Jason
mahyarm 14y ago
Ack. I want to move from the south bay to SF for young single person reasons, but now this is making me reconsider.
- ppz 14y ago
  No reason to stress if you're already settled in the Bay Area -- you've got a natural launching pad for the apartment search, which makes it so much easier. Rely heavily on contacts in the city to get the inside track on an apartment, and it shouldn't be too tough.
xiaoma 14y ago
This is very interesting. I just moved to San Francisco from Beijing, myself! I got here at about the beginning of the month, stayed 3 days in a hostel, 4 more days at a friend's place in Oakland and then signed a lease for a place in the heart of Chinatown. It's a fairly small room and the kitchen and showers are shared, but at $500/month all my acquaintances are saying I got a fairly good deal. My trick was I got the landlord's number from a friend in Beijing the week before I left. Having friends in Oakland was just total luck. I'd met them years ago in Taiwan! All in all, Chinatown is pretty nice. It's safe, there's a ton of fresh produce to buy all over the place and things are cheap. The two things which would be downsides for some are the hilliness and the Cantonese speaking community. I hated the hills when I was carrying my stuff across town, but now I generally appreciate the exercise while walking and the fun while on wheels. I do have a huge advantage being literate in Chinese characters, and Mandarin is more useful than English in a lot of areas, which mitigates some of the issues being surrounded by Cantonese. I'm not working yet, but I've been going to a lot of Ruby and JS meet-ups, and it's generally a sub half-hour walk to any of their offices. All in all, I like it. I just have to avoid the Tenderloin when coming back from the Adobe/Zynga area. So far the only difficulties I've had have been general country adjustment things (having spent nearly my whole adult life abroad), not SF things. To be honest, I'm amazed at how friendly and helpful everyone is!

87 points by jevanish 14y ago

HaloZero 14y ago

http://www.creditkarma.com/ http://www.creditkarma.com/ is a better service for credit reports than freecredit.com

Caerus 14y ago
While great, creditkarma.com only provides your score. If you're looking for a complete credit report, there is no reason to not use https://www.annualcreditreport.com/ https://www.annualcreditreport.com/. It is the official site set up by the three reporting agencies, as mandated by the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act.
otterley 14y ago
CreditKarma doesn't provide a real FICO score. Do a Google search for "creditkarma fako" and you'll see just how inaccurate it can be.

nooooooo 14y ago

As a non-US person moving to SF later this year, I don't have a US credit rating yet. How do I go about looking for places?

georgieporgie 14y ago
You probably look to rent in Oakland instead. Rockridge and Lake Merritt are very nice areas (Rockridge being my preference, as there seems to be less property crime, and I lived there for six years).
steve8918 14y ago
It's going to be very tough because you will be competing against a ton of people with a US credit rating. The best chance is to go with a larger apartment rental company like Avalon that has the capacity to check a foreign country. You will pay a lot more, but that's likely your best bet. If you have a hard time getting a place, you should also strongly consider places outside of SF.
gatsby 14y ago
I'd recommend either finding a sublet or a group of people with an existing lease who are seeking a new roommate. This will give you some time to build your credit score and learn the neighborhoods before you sign your own lease.
bishnu 14y ago
It's not that hard. I just did it and didn't have a problem. Bring proof of employment (offer letter) and be prepared to pay a higher deposit.
- husted 14y ago
  That's what I did back in 2000 when I moved to SF. Also be prepared to pay a deposit on utilities. My biggest issue turned out to be cellphones where I had to go pre-paid. Not sure if this is still the case.
  - jarek 14y ago
    My partner has had Comcast flat out refuse to offer internet service in Seattle because of lack of credit history. Qwest/CenturyLink didn't seem to mind quite as much.
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encoderer 14y ago
1) No credit is way better than bad credit. 2) Get a secured credit card so you at least have a file when they run your credit check. I'm sure you can find guides on how best to do this as a foreign citizen. If you don't have family or close friends here you could be out of luck. But if you do, you could easily have the card shipped to them and allow them to use it for things occasionally to help you get a credit rating. US Credit ratings (FICO scores) are heavily weighted on revolving (credit card) accounts, not so much installment accounts, so don't worry about those. Doing these things will help you immeasurably. Pulling credit is as much about identity verification as it is credit risk. If you can't, remember: There are a TON of people with bad credit everywhere. They're not homeless. You will just have to be tenacious about it.
- WildUtah 14y ago
  >>No credit is way better than bad credit.<< When you are trying to rent an apartment, yes. If you are trying to buy a cell phone or get a Mastercard or buy a car or a house, it's just the opposite: there's nothing worse than no credit.
  - encoderer 14y ago
    Respectfully, I disagree. If you have no credit, you can get a secured credit card and have a 650-700 fico in a few months. You'll have a thin file so don't expect a mortgage or anything, but in a year or two even that will be no problem. Bad credit? You can do a lot to clean it up before the 7 years are up, but ive seen this in my own family and it's really a waiting game for bad entries to age off your report. And anecdotally, which would you prefer to lend to: somebody with no track record, knowing the average American has a 650+ credit score, or somebody who has bad credit and a proven history of not repaying obligations. It is subjective though, and ymmv.
    - WildUtah 14y ago
      I have no credit report, in spite of living 35 years in the USA. My friends with bad credit and bankruptcies can buy cell phones, rent expensive things, get apartments, get mortgages, and deal with other life activities much more easily than I can. So there's your answer: you'd rather lend money to the known deadbeat than someone with no credit history.
adi92 14y ago
I had the same problem a year ago. For the apartments you really like, send in a cover letter with your application explaining your situation and offering more references and a larger deposit. I was really desperate and even put in my resume into the application (which had a bunch of fancy sounding NLP/CS terms). Ended up getting a studio in Pacific Heights.
transitorykris 14y ago
I did this in October 2008 so the economic climate was radically different. But, a property management company did accept a copy of my Canadian Equifax report and my offer letter. Get your credit established as soon as you can, easiest was a secured credit card.
zem 14y ago
I had the same problem. I eventually got a place by (a) having a good offer letter in hand and (b) agreeing to sign a two year lease. Oh, and I had already agreed (along with a few other applicants) to an extra $100/mo over the original price quoted on craigslist. It was the 2 year lease that tipped the balance for me, since I assume anyone who didn't have the credit history disadvantage turned that down flat.
usaar333 14y ago
I could be wrong, but I suspect if you offer to pre-pay for an entire year you should be in the clear.
mahyarm 14y ago
-Citibank has a immigrant credit card with proof of employment, ~$3000 ish in a US bank account for ~3months OR ~$5000 in a non us account for 5 months, and an SSN. It gives a good credit limit. -Capital One has a 'newcommer' card that gives a $500 limit with any near blank new SSN online, instantly. -Bank of america has one for canadians, most retail bankers don't know about it. The one by stanford mall did.

rwmj 14y ago

Missing option: (11) work remotely and live wherever you want. Red Hat's virtualization team is based all around the world, in offices but also many remotees. I'm one of them and I like nothing more than sitting in my cottage garden on a sunny day with a laptop and wifi connection. It's a great place to think.

ericabiz 14y ago
Agreed. I lived in the Bay Area for 10 years and while it's nice there, there are other places that are equally nice without the hassle of having to pay so much in rent. Think of it this way: Even if you cash out rather nicely from a startup (as I did), you still won't be able to afford to buy a house outright unless you want to go back to work right away. I left for Austin, TX and I truly love it here. I'm running a tech company here, too, and so far we haven't had any problems finding talent--even a Python developer! I wrote an article about living outside of the Valley, and whether it's worth it for you, here: http://www.erica.biz/2012/austin-vs-silicon-valley/ http://www.erica.biz/2012/austin-vs-silicon-valley/ Nearly 2,000 people have read it, and there is some interesting discussion in the comments.

citricsquid 14y ago

> He who hesitates, is lost. I tried to be the super flexible tenant recently. I needed to move 200 miles and I found the PERFECT place (http://imgur.com/a/XpksU http://imgur.com/a/XpksU) so I contacted the letting agency and asked for a viewing, they gave me a date a couple of days later so I booked my train tickets. Day of the viewing I get a call that it's cancelled, that sucks but we can re-arrange, so we re-arrange for a few days later and I swallow the loss on my train tickets (about $150) and order some more (this time paying a premium for refundable tickets) and again they cancel, so I re-arrange (and get a ticket refund, yay!), this time the viewing is for a day later so the tickets I needed were going to be $400 for ordering so late and so I decide whatever I'll go first class; it's only $100 extra and I can work from the train. Next day I go to the station, collect my tickets and board the train: finally I'm going to get to view my new home! My heart was set on the apartment... anyway 10 minutes into the journey I get a call, the viewing is cancelled and the apartment has been withdrawn from the market and unless I'm willing to buy it for $1m I can't live there... so I'm sitting in first class on a train using $500 tickets for no reason. Hurrah! Anyway moral of the story is renting sucks and moving long distance also sucks, good article, next time I move a long distance I think I'll follow the advice and stay in the new place and look for apartments, much easier than travelling the entire distance frequently just to view.

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georgieporgie 14y ago

SF just isn't worth it anymore. The fog (I know there are fog-free areas, but much of SF is foggy-to-super-foggy), the filth, the homeless, and the insane landlords and rents are out of hand. Also, I'm of the opinion that SF culture peaked in the 90s.

SkyMarshal 14y ago
> Also, I'm of the opinion that SF culture peaked in the 90s. Could you elaborate on that? I'm very new to the Bay Area, still absorbing it all.
- georgieporgie 14y ago
  SF in the 90s was an awesome place for punk and industrial music, cyberpunk visions of the future, ratbikes, raves, and a lot more arty types mixing with the nerds. As things cleaned up and gentrified, a lot of what I consider to be the cool culture was replaced by trustifarians and graphic designers who like to cultivate the image of a bicycle messenger or blue-collar worker. SF still has a lot to offer, but it just feels very fake and flooded with money to me. When everyone in the room is making six figures, it's hard to take the person in the thrift-shop shirt and tattoos seriously.
  - ITSABUBBLEGUYS 14y ago
    i guess it's too mainstream for you
njharman 14y ago
Dude! The fog is what makes sf cool. Agree with the 90's though.
jes5199 14y ago
I agree about the filth. I've recently been in NYC and Seattle and both times I was shocked by how clean everything seemed compared to SOMA.

jboggan 14y ago

This is a welcome and timely article since I'm about to pull up stakes in Georgia and move to SF in late July (cue Otis Redding). I am planning on couch-surfing with friends for the first few weeks while I find a good sublet for a few months. Hopefully after that I can get an apartment when I have a job and know the neighborhoods a little better. Are rents really accelerating upward so quickly that I'm better off finding an apartment as soon as possible?

jevanish 14y ago
I just looked at rents after posting this article and it looks like things are going up about $100/mo at least in the areas I had saved on PadMapper. My advice would be to wait and find a place you'll like and just realize once you get a full lease (ie- 1 year or more) you'll be there a while because in a year, rent will definitely be way higher.

pemulis 14y ago

If you don't have any friends you can stay with in San Francisco, a good alternative is booking a bed in a hostel for a few weeks. They're cheap (as low as $25/day, if you're willing to share a room with a few people), centrally located, and sometimes offer perks like free breakfast and coffee. You should take a few extra precautions with your valuables -- I keep my laptop, wallet, and phone next to me when I sleep, instead of putting them in the locker -- but most of the people who pass through are young travelers. There are plenty of options to choose from in the Tendernob, which is basically a hostel/student district, and not nearly as bad as this blog post makes it sound.

jarek 14y ago
Unless you are a very light sleeper, it's way easier to steal a laptop out of your arms than out of a locker if you have in-room lockers.
- ricardobeat 14y ago
  Assuming he sleeps simply hugging his laptop, which is unlikely. He probably keeps stuff in a bag, with a padlock, either tied to the bed or strapped around an arm. That's what I do when I don't trust the lockers, it's not unusual for them to be made of flimsy corrugated-board.
- pemulis 14y ago
  I sleep in the top bunk with my backpack between my body and the wall, which would make it really difficult to steal anything without waking me up. I don't totally trust the lockers, since every lock small enough to fit them is trivial to pick or just slice through with bolt cutters when the room is empty. Honestly, though, most of the people who pass through the hostel are rich young people on backpacking trips. The only thing I have to worry about them stealing is stuff I leave unattended in the bathroom.
njharman 14y ago
This is how I move. Itis excellent. The staff and sometimes guests are wealth of local information.

steve8918 14y ago

Renting in SOMA right now is crazy, and 1 brs in the heart of SOMA near 4th and King are going for over $3000/month. If cost is an issue, places like SOMA, PacHeights, etc, are not good choices because it's super expensive. The danger with renting in SOMA is that unless you're moving into an old apartment, there is no rent control. If rent prices go up next year, you could find yourself paying $500+/month more next year. Nob Hill, etc, has terrible, terrible parking. I have a good friend that lives there that I no longer visit unless it's in the middle of the day on Saturday, because of the terrible parking, you could literally spend 1 hr looking for parking after 6pm. If parking is not an issue (no car or get a scooter), then it's a viable option, but not having a car in the Bay Area ends up being severely limiting. There are plenty of other cost-effective places on the west side of SF that can go for less than half the price of SOMA. For someone new moving into the area, my advice would be to get a cheap single place in Outer Sunset with hopefully a short-term lease, and then once you meet more people, you can band together with people that you know well and rent a bigger apartment somewhere else in the city. Signing a lease with someone that you don't know has tremendous long-tail risk, so I would take the hit in terms of moving a bit further away when you first move to SF, and do a lot of due diligence and get to know the city and your potential roommates better. Another viable option is to not live in the city, especially if you don't work in the city. Places along the peninsula are much cheaper, and if you do work in FiDi or SOMA it's probably more cost effective to rent a place outside of SF and Caltrain it in. My own strategy is: 1) Check Craigslist once an hour, or more depending on how much web surfing I'm doing. 2) If I find a place in an area that I like, I immediately contact them and ask for a showing that day or as soon as possible. 3) I come with all my documentation ready, including my checkbook. 4) If I like the place, I immediately submit an application. 5) Continue looking at other apartments, because they're no guarantee that I will get this one. I've never personally heard of the law that says that you have to rent to the first qualified applicant, and it sounds unenforceable, so I wouldn't count on it. How do you determine who is "qualified"?

ratsbane 14y ago
For parking near Nob Hill, the Sutter-Stockton garage is the best I've found so far at $350/month. It's close to the Financial District and doesn't smell as bad as some places around here. SF may have some advantages for tech businesses but there are a lot of very good reasons to not open an office here.

base698 14y ago

You can also use Amtrak to ship your stuff to the Oakland station. It's by far the most cost effect way to move long distances. http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer?c=Page&pagename=am%2FLayout&cid=1241267371736 http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer?c=Page&pagen...

encoderer 14y ago
To ship boxes, yes. But honestly if you're an engineer taking a job at a bay area tech company, you will be getting a relo package. If you move here on your own dime you're doing it wrong.
- base698 14y ago
  I sold everything at the other end and used the relo to buy new stuff. If you move your old worn out stuff you're doing it wrong. :)
  - encoderer 14y ago
    That depends entirely on how expensive are your tastes. A full service mover took us 2800 miles to sf for about 12k which is about (ballpark estimate) what we paid for our living room furniture, mattress and kitchen tools. When you're young, though, especially right out of school, you're entirely correct.
  - lazerwalker 14y ago
    While this is a great strategy (I did just that when I moved cross-country a few months ago), it's worth recognizing that it's predicated on owning suitably cheap furniture. As you move beyond the stage in your life where your apartment is outfitted solely by Ikea, this gets less and less viable.

wyclif 14y ago

Seriously, can someone in the know please explain "bro central" to me? I know what a "brogrammer" is (I think), but maybe I missed the "bro" meme.

notatoad 14y ago
Think brogrammer minus the programmer. Frat boys and whatnot. (named because the tend to call everybody 'bro')

jjNford 14y ago

Thanks, this will help greatly, I leave for SF in 2 days!

otterley 14y ago

You might also want to consider living in Oakland instead of San Francisco and taking BART to the city to work. My rent is 1/3 less and my commute (20 minutes door-to-door) is much shorter than that of many of my colleagues who live in the city. Oakland is a big, heterogeneous city, with really nice districts that offer great dining, bars, and the usual city trappings.

gammarator 14y ago
Seconded. Rockridge and Temescal in Oakland are great, Berkeley has some fine areas as well.
jsprinkles 14y ago
Not just Oakland. The majority of the Bay Area exists to support commuting to San Francisco. The peninsula tech companies are actually a newer phenomenon.
- georgieporgie 14y ago
  As a former Oaklander, I take offense at your statement. :-) Oakland exists as an industrial hub. Emeryville, on the other hand, exists as a suburb of San Francisco (though I think that with recent business expansion, it's becoming its own city). As far as I know, this is still the case, and more people live and work in Oakland than live in Oakland and commute into SF.
  - mlinksva 14y ago
    Emeryville is a small employment hub, per http://www.census.gov/hhes/commuting/data/daytimepop.html http://www.census.gov/hhes/commuting/data/daytimepop.html Employment/residence ratios Emeryville 4.36 San Francisco 1.40 Oakland 1.06 and a few others FWIW Berkeley 1.30 Dublin 1.05 Mountain View 1.47 Palo Alto 2.54 San Jose 0.88 (qualifying it as largest suburb in the US, IMO)
- mmagin 14y ago
  Newer? Are you aware of the 50-year history of semiconductor and defense companies in the area between Palo Alto and San Jose?

philp 14y ago

Read this post right up to the following line, "There’s also huge differences from neighborhood to neighborhood as you are unlikely to find someone interested in the Mission (hipsters, homeless and immigrants)" Pretty repulsive point of view IMHO. EDIT: I am a recent immigrant to the United States

sentiental 14y ago
Yes, I also found this disgusting. You know, the people he's calling immigrants are actually the people that have lived there for generations.
- wyclif 14y ago
  There's actually no negative connotation to the noun "immigrant."
  - philp 14y ago
    You're absolutely right. But reading this article the author seems to imply a negative connotation by saying you'd be hard pressed to find somebody willing to live in the mission because of "hipsters, homeless and immigrants".
    - trefn 14y ago
      My interpretation of that paragraph was that no single person was likely to be interested in all three of the neighborhoods mentioned because they're all so different.
      - wahnfrieden 14y ago
        No, they're portrayed as undesirables. If he had said the neighborhood was diverse, that would be a positive light. Instead he's lumping them together with homeless and hipsters (a derogatory term).
_delirium 14y ago

crcsmnky 14y ago

You put a lot of work into this article and wrote quite a few great tips when looking for a place to live in SF. Unfortunately you undermined the entire post with your "immigrants" comment. In fact you made yourself look like a huge bigot. That sucks because it was otherwise well written and useful. It's sad that this is going largely unnoticed by the rest of the comments on this post.

wyclif 14y ago
Perhaps it went "unnoticed" because there's actually no negative connotation to the word "immigrant" in and of itself.
- potatolicious 14y ago
  The relevant quote: > "There’s also huge differences from neighborhood to neighborhood as you are unlikely to find someone interested in the Mission (hipsters, homeless and immigrants)" This does seem to be used in a derogatory way, and I did miss it the first time around. I don't think this is an innocent use of "immigrant" at all. And hell, for a neighborhood that nobody's interested in, the Mission is one of the most expensive of them all. Go figure!
  - natrius 14y ago
    Context matters. The point was that it's hard to find someone interested in the Mission and the Marina and the Sunset. There are many immigrants in the Mission. Should he not have mentioned it at all? Should he have phrased it differently? Why is no one taking offense to the "hipsters" or "homeless" parts? Those are also terms that are usually viewed negatively, but there are many people who are looking for exactly that in a neighborhood. Immigrants are a plus for many people too.
dudeguy999 14y ago
Haha. I hadn't realized that PC has come so far that you are no longer allowed to recognize or comment on immigrant neighborhoods. There's lots of poor people and Spanish speaking people in the mission. This is good if you like Taquerias, bad if you dislike grime. If you don't fit in with homeless, hipster, or Latin culture, you will feel like an outsider. Some people may like it, some people may not. But if you don't like it, you are no longer allowed to say so! I'm guessing that his offense is not embracing Latin culture. It is okay to dislike homeless culture, because everyone does, or hipster culture, since it is predominantly White. But you aren't allowed to dislike Latin culture, since it is non-European and therefore protected. Interesting.

jarek 14y ago

"Move mid-month so that you can look for places starting the first of the next month; I moved out on March 14th and moved into an apartment then starting April 1st." I would have guessed all the really good apartments would be spoken for by March 5th. Odd.

jkincaid 14y ago

Obviously there's a lot of demand in SOMA, but one suggestion to anyone thinking of living there: spend some time wandering around, both during the day and during the evening, and see if you like the vibe of the neighborhood (this advice holds true for any neighborhood, really). I say this because I lived in an area that seemed desirable — about 5 minutes away from the 4th & King Caltrain, at 4th and Brannan, and, while it didn't seem so bad at the time, in hindsight I've come to realize that I really wasn't very happy there. It's very convenient for work, but it doesn't feel like a neighborhood at all. Everything seems to close around 8pm and most of your friends probably aren't going to be hanging out around there. Yes, there are a handful of cafes around and you can find a few blocks that are busier, but in general it just feels like a generic chunk of tall buildings — I found it pretty gloomy.

aliston 14y ago
I couldn't agree more. SOMA is a terrible place to live if you're under 30 and want urban nightlife. SOMA has some cool places with a bit of character... District, 25 Lusk and 21st Amendment, but on the whole it feels either very sterile or very industrial. If I had it to do over again, I would have braved the 20 minute commute and lived in somewhere that had more culture... the haight, mission, pac heights or (gasp) marina.
- usaar333 14y ago
  There's always SW SOMA (11th st) which is quite different from 2nd/3rd.

azylman 14y ago

I'm looking to make this move in August and some of the advice here won't work for me. For instance, I can't get a reference from a past landlord or a list of past landlords - I'm just graduating college and have lived in on-campus housing my whole time. I'm hoping having a very good credit score and a very good offer letter in hand will solve this issue, but I'm not sure. Additionally, I can't move out mid-month and look for an apartment starting at the beginning of the next - my job starts mid-month and I've moving out at the beginning. Any advice for how to deal with these situations? Thanks!

gatsby 14y ago
Try to get a reference letter from your RA or director of campus housing. Most landlords are flexible on recommendation letters, but something is better than nothing. If you can't move in at the beginning of the month, it's not the end of the world. Tons of people in SF move out of their apartments mid-month, and you'll rarely see a shortage of housing inventory for mid-month move-ins. The key is moving in on them quickly and being willing to sign an application or lease on the spot. If all else fails, you can always do a short term sublet or Airbnb from the 15th through the 30th and use that time to find a lease that begins on the 1st.
borski 14y ago
You won't have a problem. Exceptions are made for students provided they have great credit and a great offer letter.
potatolicious 14y ago
There are several ways to resolve your situation, few of which you will find palatable... which really sucks: - Rent a less desirable place. Desirable places in SF will have easily 20 people lined up out front, with the landlord taking his/her pick of the crowd based on income, credit, and references - and as a recent grad you will lose on all 3 counts. - Seek roommate situations. Houses are more flexible about all of the above criteria and care more about personality, this is where you might have an edge (I don't know, I don't know you at all). - Live outside the city. This is going to be a real bummer sometimes - your friends will want to hang out in the Mission till the crack of dawn, but you'd have to hop the BART or Caltrain before midnight to get home. But places outside SF proper experience far, far, far less competition. And here's the one that works, but really stinks: - Offer to pay more than face value of apartment. This is just insult upon injury - but it does work. Odds are, if you have a Unreasonably Wealthy Startup Guy(tm) viewing the apartment with you, he/she will bid the apartment up. It's become more and more common, and that's incredibly depressing.

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jsprinkles 14y ago

I pay $2,000/mo for three very spacious bedrooms in Dublin, and I'm to work in SoMa in about an hour on BART (with an empty inbox!). Not to mention Dublin is an absolutely wonderful place to live for suburban types, like married couples. It's really depressing that discussions like this revolve around the city only. There is an entire world of commuter residences all around San Francisco, and people figured out how to commute to San Francisco long before the tech boom (and most people wanting to live in the city) existed. Dublin/Pleasanton is the extreme, but there's also Castro Valley on my same line, a whole shitload of Oakland like Lake Merritt, and if you take the Pittsburg/Bay Point a whole bunch up there, too. Take off the San Francisco blinders and take advantage of the commute options that were built long before this industry. It feels like people moving to San Francisco now treat it like New York City, where living in New Jersey and commuting in tends to suck. So most people focus on the boroughs, and landlords take advantage of them. San Francisco's out-of-town situation is far better, and I don't regret choosing a place an hour out of town at all.

joejohnson 14y ago
I want to work in SoMa and not spend 10 hours a week commuting. I can empty my inbox at work, where I'm paid to do it.
- jsprinkles 14y ago
  So you'd rather spend 10 hours a week commuting inside SF?
  - joejohnson 14y ago
    No, I'd rather live close to work. Currently I have a 5-10 minute walking commute.
devs1010 14y ago
Agreed, I commute into sf from the east bay, my commute is longer than I'd like now so am planning to move closer but not into the city. Sf is so dense that it can often be the same commuting length in terms of time coming from across the bay as if you lived in the city

lsiebert 14y ago

Two things: First, the bart shutting down at midnight doesn't mean there is no public transit. You can almost always take the bus. Second: You can move near SF state, either in the city or in Daly City, and have an ok roommate/rent situation with managable transit options. Especially if you are willing to bike a bit.

prodigal_erik 14y ago

You don't have to support YC's favorite spammers to land a short-term place. There are some month-to-month apartments in the city (e.g., Landmark, who I'm using now, basically wants a pulse and a credit card for the rent) and motels on the peninsula with weekly rates that are about the same as renting a studio but with utilities, parking, and cleaning included.

kevinsd 14y ago
Hi, the short-term option sounds very interesting to me. Will definitely check out landmark. Meanwhile, do you have any particular motels in mind?

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jevanish 14y ago
Deepak, Totally right. The goal with the way I talked about the Tenderloin was more to forewarn people. If you know what you're getting yourself into and follow the street-wise tips you provide, it can be a great place to work and an easy walk to the Financial district or SoMA where many work. Thanks, Jason

mahyarm 14y ago

Ack. I want to move from the south bay to SF for young single person reasons, but now this is making me reconsider.

ppz 14y ago
No reason to stress if you're already settled in the Bay Area -- you've got a natural launching pad for the apartment search, which makes it so much easier. Rely heavily on contacts in the city to get the inside track on an apartment, and it shouldn't be too tough.

xiaoma 14y ago

This is very interesting. I just moved to San Francisco from Beijing, myself! I got here at about the beginning of the month, stayed 3 days in a hostel, 4 more days at a friend's place in Oakland and then signed a lease for a place in the heart of Chinatown. It's a fairly small room and the kitchen and showers are shared, but at $500/month all my acquaintances are saying I got a fairly good deal. My trick was I got the landlord's number from a friend in Beijing the week before I left. Having friends in Oakland was just total luck. I'd met them years ago in Taiwan! All in all, Chinatown is pretty nice. It's safe, there's a ton of fresh produce to buy all over the place and things are cheap. The two things which would be downsides for some are the hilliness and the Cantonese speaking community. I hated the hills when I was carrying my stuff across town, but now I generally appreciate the exercise while walking and the fun while on wheels. I do have a huge advantage being literate in Chinese characters, and Mandarin is more useful than English in a lot of areas, which mitigates some of the issues being surrounded by Cantonese. I'm not working yet, but I've been going to a lot of Ruby and JS meet-ups, and it's generally a sub half-hour walk to any of their offices. All in all, I like it. I just have to avoid the Tenderloin when coming back from the Adobe/Zynga area. So far the only difficulties I've had have been general country adjustment things (having spent nearly my whole adult life abroad), not SF things. To be honest, I'm amazed at how friendly and helpful everyone is!