Suggestions needed to see Rent House/Apt in Bay Area, San Francisco (Los Angeles: for rent)

[SharanShanks]

Hi All,

Currently We are in Los Angeles, California.
My husband got a job in Financial District in San Francisco.
We have to move there in 2 weeks.

Please let me know your suggestions on the following points.

1) Looking for a Decent House/Apt for Rent between $1300 to $1800
2) It has to be in a safe place as I may be working from home some days so should be in a secured place.
3) It Should be in reasonable distance to access shopping, emergency services, etc.,
4) Can you suggest any good moving company who can help in moving our furniture from LA to SFO for a reasonable price.

Let me know your suggestions on which city or place is best to move in.

Thanks,
SharanShanks

[mayorhaggar]

Depends on what weather you want and whether you want to live in a city or a suburban area and how long you want his commute to be. There are dozens and dozens of cities and towns in the Bay Area so you are going to have to narrow it down some.

$1800 is probably too low to rent a house but maybe you could get one in an outer suburb.

In San Francisco a 1 bedroom goes for about $1400 on the very low end and that will be a small place that might be a little decrepit. $1800 would get you a nicer 1 bedroom. Prices are usually lower in most suburbs though some suburbs can be more expensive than SF. You could get a 1 bedroom for around $1100-1200 in the East Bay and no doubt a nice 2 bedroom for $1200 to 1800 for example.

SF is very dense and can be loud and crowded, also it is generally chillier than the rest of the Bay Area. Public transit is not great but it's better than anywhere else in the Bay Area, also there is a denser collection of restaurants and shops and so on.

The East Bay is more spread out but still fairly dense in parts that are near the bay. Berkeley and the nice parts of Oakland like Rockridge are pretty nice and have weather that is similar to SF but it usually gets warmer during the day. If you go further east to places like Walnut Creek and Lafayette the weather is much warmer, like 100F when it is 65F in SF or Oakland. Areas like Walnut Creek are more suburban and spread out than Berkeley and the area around Lafayette is more so. If you live in the East Bay then you can take BART to work. I take it from Rockridge to downtown SF and it takes me about 35 minutes between walking and the 20 minute long train ride.

The Peninsula is the area south of SF. It seems a bit wealthier than the East Bay and has warmer weather than Berkeley but it's not as hot as around Walnut Creek, also it starts merging with Silicon Valley further south. If you take public transit to SF you generally have to take Caltrain which is pretty reliable but I don't like that it drops you off in SF about a 20 minute walk from downtown.

Also there is Marin but it is really expensive to live there and kind of a hassle to get to downtown SF.

Anyway let us know if you'd rather live within SF or in one of the other geographic areas like the Peninsula or East Bay and then we can narrow it down a bit.

[SharanShanks]

Thank you for your reply. This helped me think what we need.

How about San Francisco area? Can you give me suggestions both on bay area and San Francisco area?
Most important thing is it should be a safe place to be with and it shouldn't be a lonely place.

We are just 2 of us so mostly good with 1 bedroom for this rent $1300 - $1800, either way fine for us.
We need for a short term may be 6 months at first.

Please let me know on the cities where I can look for the house/apt ..

[mayorhaggar]

I don't know what you mean by the "San Francisco area." San Francisco is just one small part of the Bay Area. Are you asking about neighborhoods inside of San Francisco or are you asking about the suburbs around SF that would be convenient for your husband to commute from to downtown SF?

Again, pick an area like San Francisco, the Peninsula or the East Bay and we can give you better advice, I tried to tell you what the advantages of each area was.

I really urge you to read this wikipedia page and get more familiar with the Bay Area's geography, it describes what each region is like and might give you an idea of what it is like and whether you think you'd prefer one area to another.

San Francisco Bay Area - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Also here is a map of the Bay Area so you can see what it looks like, it's a little small but shows where the major suburbs are.