Moving from Long Island, NY to SF Bay Area. Advice?
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If you do not have a car, and still want to be within a quick commute to The City, you might want to consider anything on the BART lines. Oakland, Berkeley, El Cerrito in the East Bay (20 min); or Downtown South San Francisco and Millbrae on the Peninsula (20 min) but all peninsula towns are pretty sleepy when you think about the "nightlife".
I'd be a little hesitant about going for a 2BR at $1200. That just seems too low. Knowing how things are in NY, prices like that are usually in the not-so-good areas. From what I hear, getting across the bridge during rush hour (should I choose to drive to work) can up to double the commute time.
The more research I do, the more I like the Peninsula area. The question, though, would be where. Like I stated in a previous post, I'm kinda leaning towards an apartment complex over a private apartment. Unfortunately, I haven't seen any good ones in Burlingame or Millbrae. San Mateo seems to have a few.
Just for the hell of it, does anyone have any rough prices for a 1BR apartment in SF proper?
I'd be a little hesitant about going for a 2BR at $1200. That just seems too low. Knowing how things are in NY, prices like that are usually in the not-so-good areas. From what I hear, getting across the bridge during rush hour (should I choose to drive to work) can up to double the commute time.
$1200 goes pretty far in Oakland. You'll be in a nice neighborhood with tons of amenities. The east bay is way cheaper than SF, and you'll live in a much nicer neighborhood for the price. There also isn't a huge price premium on 2 bedrooms either (especially 2bed/1bath). Anyway, transit is a pretty consistent 20 minutes from most parts of Oakland. The drive can be as short as 15 minutes and up to 40. From cheaper neighborhoods in SF, transit will take 40 minutes. Parking is pretty expensive as well, downtown is $20-35 per day and $300-$400 per month.
I'd be a little hesitant about going for a 2BR at $1200. That just seems too low. Knowing how things are in NY, prices like that are usually in the not-so-good areas. From what I hear, getting across the bridge during rush hour (should I choose to drive to work) can up to double the commute time.
The more research I do, the more I like the Peninsula area. The question, though, would be where. Like I stated in a previous post, I'm kinda leaning towards an apartment complex over a private apartment. Unfortunately, I haven't seen any good ones in Burlingame or Millbrae. San Mateo seems to have a few.
Just for the hell of it, does anyone have any rough prices for a 1BR apartment in SF proper?
Interesting, most singles are the compete opposite as you - they want to live in SF and commute to the Peninsula (that's why Google send buses to SF to pick up their workers).
Anyway, some things you might like to know, Fibus - First, $1,200 for a 2br is pretty expensive by Oakland standard. Rockridge is a good area, $1,200 is probably on the low end, the really nice 2 Br goes for $1,400 or more.
Second, morning traffic on the Bay Bridge is hell and yes it will double your commute time. But rush hour traffic on the 101 to SF is equally hellish and yes, expect the commute time to double that of normal hours.
Third, for reasons that I can't figure out, there is always a bottleneck around Milbrae on the 101. Keep that in mind.
Fourth, 280 is a much better freeway for commuters.
Fifth, if you really like suburban, don't forget to check out Brisbane, South San Francisco (no, S. SF is not part of SF, it's its own city), or Daly City. They're closer to SF and they're cheaper than Milbrae, Burlingame, or San Mateo. Naturally, there are good and bad areas within each town.
Sixth, there are plenty of suburban neighborhoods within San Francisco. It's a myth that you have to go outside of SF to be away from the city. In fact rent in these neighborhoods tend to be cheaper.
Seventh, if you want a place in SF, get it soon or wait til fall. Summer is peak rental season in SF and places are snatched up quicker than you can say, "Wa..."
A friend of mine had a 2br in Rockridge near Hudson and Claremont that was $1250. Not the greatest building but the apartment itself was decent, with exposed beams which was kind of nice. In my building there were 1br's going for $1100. I have a studio for $850.
In SF, prices don't really vary a lot from neighborhood to neighborhood unless you're somewhere really crappy like the Tenderloin. A studio in a nice area is around $1000 to 1200, a very basic 1br starts around 1400, and a basic 2br would be around $1900 or so. So you can see the price difference between SF and Oakland, and again prices are even cheaper than Rockridge in other parts of Oakland. I'm not too familiar with prices on the Peninsula since I've never lived there or looked for anything there, but I think they're a less than within SF but not by a lot.
As for bridge traffic, make up your mind if you want to take BART or not or if you even want a car. If you were only driving, then yes Millbrae would be very easy. If you weren't driving, then the East Bay might be better mainly because rent would be less. But if you did want to drive from somewhere like Oakland, traffic is actually not that bad usually. I do the casual carpool from Rockridge where drivers pick up two passengers so they can use the carpool lane and the bridge toll drops from $6 to $2.50 for the driver (keep that bridge toll in mind if you are thinking about the East Bay, it adds up though it's not as much as taking BART even at $6 a day). Then the driver drops you off in downtown SF--you could look into doing that as a driver or passenger, it really saves money for everyone and can save time for the driver. Traffic can be bad but most of the time it moves along pretty well. It seems like about 80% of the time it takes about 20 minutes from Rockridge to downtown SF which is exactly the same amount of time it takes to ride BART. Sometimes it takes less than that if there's low traffic. Sometimes there will be a bad accident that causes horrible delays--it happens when it rains a lot--that can be bad and lead to it taking 45 minutes instead of 20. But BART, Muni and Caltrain can often get screwed up too. In any case I check 511.org in the morning to see if there are any issues, if there is a bad accident reported I'll go take BART instead of the carpool.
I think I'm going to change my game plan a bit though. To ease some of the stress of moving and starting a new job, I'm going to look for a temporary, furnished apartment for the first 1-2 months. During that time, I will look for a more permanent place to live and then have family ship the rest of my stuff.
So, the new question I pose, can anyone recommend a furnished apartment or apartment complex with furnished units? Not looking to spend more than $1700 (loose limit) and must be near a BART or Caltrain station.
I believe all the Archstone complexes offer furnished accommodations. They're not always the most pleasant places to live in, but they're newer and have some of the luxury touches.
I think I'm going to change my game plan a bit though. To ease some of the stress of moving and starting a new job, I'm going to look for a temporary, furnished apartment for the first 1-2 months. During that time, I will look for a more permanent place to live and then have family ship the rest of my stuff.
So, the new question I pose, can anyone recommend a furnished apartment or apartment complex with furnished units? Not looking to spend more than $1700 (loose limit) and must be near a BART or Caltrain station.
Try Trinity Management Services. They have furnished apartments in the city. However, they were very small as far as I remember
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