5 ms·

The rent comparison isn't exactly fair - you are looking at the rent in the city of SF vs the entire Greater Washington area. There are certainly cheaper places

by jcdavis 13y ago

The rent comparison isn't exactly fair - you are looking at the rent in the city of SF vs the entire Greater Washington area. There are certainly cheaper places than SF to live in the Bay Area. Also, almost all apartments in SF proper have rent control meaning that rent pretty much never goes up.

GeneralMayhem 13y ago
You can find apartments for that much in DC proper. Maybe not the average, but certainly present. And it gets better even staying on the Metro lines out into NOVA and (more so) MD.
eli 13y ago
$1,400 isn't going to get you your dream apartment, but it's a reasonable budget for a one bedroom apartment that's in DC and not in a bad neighborhood. It's also pretty common to live outside the city and commute in on Metro (DC's Metro is built more like a commuter rail than a urban subway system).
- upquark 13y ago
  I wouldn't say 1.4k is a reasonable rent in DC, not in my experience at least. Not even if you move out to the nearby suburbs.
  - eli 13y ago
    I agree that it's below average for a one bedroom in DC, but apartments do exist at that price. I've lived in DC for 9 years and I've never paid more than that. (Granted, my wife is a wizard-level Craigslist user.) I think the tricky part is that there really aren't many apartment buildings in DC to begin with, aside from the recently built and very overpriced luxury condo conversions, so the supply of one bedroom apartments is low. If you can stand to have roommates, you're much better off with a 2 bedroom English basement or a 3-4 bedroom little rowhouse.
    - viscanti 13y ago
      $1.4k is below average (but possible) in DC. I don't know anyone in SF who is paying $2.7k a month for a place (the high end condos go for that, but they're generally split by couples). The vast majority of people I know in SF pay under $1.4k a month for rent. The rent is higher in SF, but the tradeoff is that you can walk or ride a bike everywhere, year round. It's possible to get by in SF without a car at all. In DC (or elsewhere) you're paying for parking, gas, insurance, and a monthly car payment. That starts to add up pretty quickly. There's not an $11k a year difference without that ($1.4k vs $2.7k isn't realistic), but factoring it in, SF really closes that gap, or likely becomes cheaper.
  - IAmScumbagSteve 13y ago
    I currently live in the DC suburb of Fairfax. My rent is $675. I'm renting a room in a 4 bedroom 3.5 bathroom house. I had a friend that came down from New York to visit. He joked that my kitchen was the size of his apartment.
    - Zhenya 13y ago
      I don't get arguments like this. You live in DC. He lives in one of the greatest cities on the face of the earth. So what. Market has spoken. His rent is X and your rent is X-market discount for living in DC.

by jcdavis 13y ago

GeneralMayhem 13y ago

You can find apartments for that much in DC proper. Maybe not the average, but certainly present. And it gets better even staying on the Metro lines out into NOVA and (more so) MD.

eli 13y ago

$1,400 isn't going to get you your dream apartment, but it's a reasonable budget for a one bedroom apartment that's in DC and not in a bad neighborhood. It's also pretty common to live outside the city and commute in on Metro (DC's Metro is built more like a commuter rail than a urban subway system).

upquark 13y ago
I wouldn't say 1.4k is a reasonable rent in DC, not in my experience at least. Not even if you move out to the nearby suburbs.
- eli 13y ago
  I agree that it's below average for a one bedroom in DC, but apartments do exist at that price. I've lived in DC for 9 years and I've never paid more than that. (Granted, my wife is a wizard-level Craigslist user.) I think the tricky part is that there really aren't many apartment buildings in DC to begin with, aside from the recently built and very overpriced luxury condo conversions, so the supply of one bedroom apartments is low. If you can stand to have roommates, you're much better off with a 2 bedroom English basement or a 3-4 bedroom little rowhouse.
  - viscanti 13y ago
    $1.4k is below average (but possible) in DC. I don't know anyone in SF who is paying $2.7k a month for a place (the high end condos go for that, but they're generally split by couples). The vast majority of people I know in SF pay under $1.4k a month for rent. The rent is higher in SF, but the tradeoff is that you can walk or ride a bike everywhere, year round. It's possible to get by in SF without a car at all. In DC (or elsewhere) you're paying for parking, gas, insurance, and a monthly car payment. That starts to add up pretty quickly. There's not an $11k a year difference without that ($1.4k vs $2.7k isn't realistic), but factoring it in, SF really closes that gap, or likely becomes cheaper.
- IAmScumbagSteve 13y ago
  I currently live in the DC suburb of Fairfax. My rent is $675. I'm renting a room in a 4 bedroom 3.5 bathroom house. I had a friend that came down from New York to visit. He joked that my kitchen was the size of his apartment.
  - Zhenya 13y ago
    I don't get arguments like this. You live in DC. He lives in one of the greatest cities on the face of the earth. So what. Market has spoken. His rent is X and your rent is X-market discount for living in DC.