Apartment Hunting in SF! In this rental market?! (Oakland, Richmond: neighborhood, living)

[mdwstrnkid]

Wasn't the rental market as bad as it is now during the summer of 2008? I seem to recall that the rental market was really hot since home purchases were slowing (due to the beginnings of the mortgage crisis), but that there was still a lot of money floating around (since the broader economy had not yet collapsed).

Is my memory off or is it really worse now? I remember looking at a lot of crap apartments that were asking for $3500+ for a 2BR/2BR unit back then.

[ragnarkar]

It's really that bad? In the hotter sections of town? My friend (who was unemployed at the time and looking for IT jobs) has no problem securing a place with no job in the Sunset district and moved twice in a year within the same neighborhood.. granted, he was only looking for Room Rentals (not 1br) on Craigslist for about $500-700/mo.

[gone down south]

Originally Posted by 511pf

I just find this amazing. Would love to live in the city, but having to come up with $15,000 in cash to secure an apartment is pretty crazy.

No need to panic, that is NOT the norm.

[mayorhaggar]

Originally Posted by mdwstrnkid

Wasn't the rental market as bad as it is now during the summer of 2008?

Probably about as bad but now rents are rising a bunch. I had to find an apartment in September-October 2007 and spent about 2 months looking, going to viewings every day and there'd be a flood of people. Prices were pretty steady but it was impossible to get a landlord to decide to give you a place even if you had a good job and good credit. I tried finding roommates too but nobody would ever respond to my replies to their ads...finally I got a studio at a fair price just because I was the 2nd person to show up at the viewing. When I'd looked for apartments or roommates in SF in the years before that it was always competitive but nowhere as difficult.

In late 2007 the economy was still pretty strong so the market in SF was strong too, and through most of 2008, the economy didn't really take a dump until around September 2008 IIRC, after that everything slowed down a ton.

[mdwstrnkid]

Originally Posted by mayorhaggar

In late 2007 the economy was still pretty strong so the market in SF was strong too, and through most of 2008, the economy didn't really take a dump until around September 2008 IIRC, after that everything slowed down a ton.

We were looking in July 2008, before the market dumped. A year later, after the economy tanked, we were able to renegotiate with our landlord to drop our rent by $500/month.

[Manatea]

Originally Posted by The Informers

Up front 6 months? That's insanity. You probably could have found something in the inner Richmond.

Or in the Sunset, sure, but that's not where we want to be.

[mdwstrnkid]

Originally Posted by Manatea

Or in the Sunset, sure, but that's not where we want to be.

We could have found cheaper housing when we were looking as well, but we figured that if we lived in the city, we really wanted to be in the heart of the city experiencing urban life, not isolated in some suburban part of the city, like in the Sunset or Richmond. Otherwise, we could have just moved into the 'burbs and saved ourselves some money.

[Manatea]

Originally Posted by mdwstrnkid

We could have found cheaper housing when we were looking as well, but we figured that if we lived in the city, we really wanted to be in the heart of the city experiencing urban life, not isolated in some suburban part of the city, like in the Sunset or Richmond. Otherwise, we could have just moved into the 'burbs and saved ourselves some money.

Bingo!

[sonarrat]

Originally Posted by mdwstrnkid

We could have found cheaper housing when we were looking as well, but we figured that if we lived in the city, we really wanted to be in the heart of the city experiencing urban life, not isolated in some suburban part of the city, like in the Sunset or Richmond. Otherwise, we could have just moved into the 'burbs and saved ourselves some money.

I like the Sunset.. but it always seemed to me like a misnomer as seeing an actual sunset is a miracle.

[mdwstrnkid]

Originally Posted by sonarrat

I like the Sunset.. but it always seemed to me like a misnomer as seeing an actual sunset is a miracle.

Nothing against the Sunset (we actually spend a fair amount of time in the area); it was really a matter of us wanting to live in an area that felt like it was in a big city. Neither the Sunset or the Richmond, for the most part, feel like that to us.