Moving to the Bay Area next week. Housing advice?

[jade408]

Originally Posted by redhotoliveoil

Hi Mayorhaggar,

Oh it didn't occur to me that that's what BV/HP meant. Thanks!

Is the Oakland rental scene as competitive in the sense that if I went an open house in Cleveland Heights or Rockridge, will I be there with 30 other interested parties?

TIA!

Apartments are generally easier than houses. Sometimes it is easy, sometimes it is hard. But not 30 people hard.

@mayorhaggar: you had the best timing ever. Rents are rarely that cheap in Rockridge. That was a downturn related. Over the past 5 years I haven't seen much inventory under $1000 in Rockridge ever. 1-2 Crappy places right next to the the freeway off-ramp.

@ OP: generally there is a good amount of pretty good inventory in Oakland.

[etoile_filante]

It's much easier to find an apt. in Oakland, definitely not 30 people showing up to a viewing.

[capoeira]

Originally Posted by Yaso

I have a lead on a room in a house near Broadmoor Village. $750. Any opinions on Broadmoor?

Broadmoor is a safe area. It is also convenient to both Daly City Bart and Colma Bart. It takes 12 minutes from Colma Bart to the airport. You can be in SF in 10 minutes or less via the 280 freeway(entrance on Washington Ave). There's convenient shopping in Westlake with a Safeway and Trader Joes nearby. Also it is close to many restaurants,especially good Asian restaurants. Since it is close to the ocean it is also a foggy area.

[Yaso]

Thanks all. The information is very helpful.

Can someone help me understand what streets (more or less) mark "decent" parts of Oakland vs dodgy? (I guess I'd define decent/dodgy as where you'd feel comfortable living yourself)

From what I've read, most of Rockridge would fall under decent as well as Temescal up to west of Telegraph. Then there are decent/dodgy parts around Lake Merit. Do I have that right? I'm just trying to get some sort of clue as I filter through listings. Any particular areas/streets/maps that can help me out?

Thanks again.

[mayorhaggar]

Anywhere called Rockridge is perfectly fine. The northeastern Temescal really isn't any different from Rockridge. Anything west of Telegraph is pretty seedy...some blocks are better than others but it's best if you don't live west of Telegraph. Telegraph itself has some cool trendy restaurants near 51st for a couple blocks but once you get to around 45th it gets pretty seedy and stays seedy all the way down to downtown Oakland. The Piedmont Ave area I don't think has any really crappy areas around it.

As for areas around the lake, the areas Southeast, South, West and Southwest of the lake are pretty crappy especially once you get a few blocks away from the lake. Adam's Point and Cleveland Heights should be fine.

Also if you want to open up your search a bit you could look into Albany, Alameda and areas of Berkeley like North Berkeley. Albany and Berkeley tend to be more expensive than Oakland though, I'm not really sure about Alameda.