Where to live on rent for $1k - $1.3k if working in downtown SFO? (San Francisco: for sale, real estate)

[IamRav]

I am going to shift to SFO in October'12 with my wife and 9 months old kid. I am going to work in downtown and willing to pay $1000 - $1300 for 1 bed. Close proximity to BART is desirable with 30 minutes commute to downtown. What are the candidate neighborhoods I can consider for renting?

I understand that prices are sky-rocketing in SFO and I am OK to move to areas like Oakland, Richmond but need suggestion whether getting 1 bed in this price range is reasonable or I am not making sense at all and I need to increase my budget.

Please comment if you can guide me towards finding a right place. If possible, please make some recommendations of websites that provide genuine listing of apartments.

[marilyn220]

You will find NOTHING for that amount in SF for a one bedroom.

NOTHING.

[gone down south]

Craigslist is basically it for apartment rentals.
And for that price, you're going to be at least an hour out of the city!

[jade408]

Originally Posted by gone down south

Craigslist is basically it for apartment rentals.
And for that price, you're going to be at least an hour out of the city!

Not at all. There are plenty of apartments at that price in nice areas of Oakland around the Lake or in North Oakland.

OP focus your search to "Grand Lake" "Adams Point" "Piedmont Ave" and "Temescal" (stay east of Shattuck). You can either walk or bus to BART or just take the Bus to downtown SF. Even with a bus transfer to BART, it is around 30 minutes to downtown SF. I live in the Piedmont Ave area, and the commuter bus to SF takes 17 minutes.

[IamRav]

Thank you so much for quickly responding. Different opinions, but looks like I'll be able to find apartments in my range in SFO. It is possible.

Venom - you're right, these websites does quote the price in my range but it is confusing when I compare it with other apartments in same area. Anyways, I hope the price which is quoted is the price I'll get when I meet them in person and meeting them is not going to happen till October.

What's your view on this link below and the neighborhood, the commute is around 30 minutes from Bart:
http://hotpads.com/search#lat=37.701...uad=24]HotPads - Real Estate, Apartments, Homes for Sale and for Rent, Rental Houses, Sublets, Roommates

I liked couple of above suggestions, however, if there are other options available, please do respond. I really appreciate your true guidance.

[HockeyMac18]

Originally Posted by Venom Point

No, this person asked about cheap places, you are all making it seem impossible to find a place in that range IN SF which is NOT true. I'm providing useful info. Without researching you immediately just go to OAKLAND. Ignoring the fact there are places in SF in that range.

It is possible to find stuff in the upper end of the range, but they're pretty much always going to be in less desirable areas of SF far away from downtown.

For the same money (or less), one could look in a decent area of Oakland and be much closer (commuting time wise) to downtown SF than these farther out areas of SF.

[IamRav]

And what are those decent areas of Oakland? Can you name them? One of the biggest question is - are they safe? I heard Oakland's crime rate is very high; ranked at #4 in US, so am little worried from that fact.

[jsba]

Rockridge comes up often and is a very safe area, Jack London area is also very safe. Uptown is also safer by city standards but not as safe as the previously mentioned areas. Peidmont Ave. area is also very safe as well as the Grand Lake area. These are all areas that are close enough to transit to make a short trip to San Francisco. I would also throw in Lakeside apartment area in downtown. Fairly safe and walkable to BART but seems much more desolate than it really is.

I would also look at parts of Alameda. They have a ferry there that drops you in San Francisco as well as buses that cross the bridge. You can also connect across the estuary to an Oakland BART station via bus as well and the commute shouldn't be too long.

Oakland is not as bad as the stats seem to show. Crime is really isolated to pockets in east and west Oakland and doesn't drift out of those areas much. It is however a city so common sense is a must, but in reality your no more likely to fall victim to crime here than in any other city. Best of luck to you.

[jade408]

Originally Posted by IamRav

And what are those decent areas of Oakland? Can you name them? One of the biggest question is - are they safe? I heard Oakland's crime rate is very high; ranked at #4 in US, so am little worried from that fact.

Safe areas are safe, and non-safe areas are not. Most stories about Oakland focus on the non-safe areas, and pretend the safe ones do not exist. There are quite a few threads on "good areas" of Oakland, and it comes up frequently in most threads, including this one.

OP focus your search to "Grand Lake" "Adams Point" "Piedmont Ave" and "Temescal" (stay east of Shattuck). You can either walk or bus to BART or just take the Bus to downtown SF. Even with a bus transfer to BART, it is around 30 minutes to downtown SF. I live in the Piedmont Ave area, and the commuter bus to SF takes 17 minutes.

[Malloric]

Originally Posted by IamRav

And what are those decent areas of Oakland? Can you name them? One of the biggest question is - are they safe? I heard Oakland's crime rate is very high; ranked at #4 in US, so am little worried from that fact.

Reasonably so. Oakland is a very diverse city, and it's not like San Francisco is all peaches and cream either. The $1000 in-law apartments posted were in Excelsior/Mission Terrace. Both are bad neighborhoods of San Francisco, although not horrible ones. The same applies even more so to Oakland, however. The neighborhoods around Lake Merritt are marginal neighborhoods, and I mean that in the most literal sense. They aren't good neighborhoods and they aren't bad neighborhoods -- they're marginal. They're more desirable than Excelsior/Outter Mission in many respects. You're closer to restaurants, bars, bookstores, and what have you around Lake Merritt than you are likely to be living in Excelsior which is pretty much all residential. On the other hand, you'll be paying more. BART from Mac Arthur to Embarcadero is going to run $6.70 a day (or $2.40 w/ $150 Clipper pass) just to commute whereas a MUNI pass is $64/74 per month depending if you want to take BART, which you probably will. That's basically $125 or so more, assuming you want the Clipper pass for local transit Alameda County, which isn't exactly insignificant... any additional weekend trips to San Francisco are only going t increase the amount.

There's pros and cons to both. You're commute won't really be any longer living in Oakland and there's more to do around where you live, especially if you live up by Adam's Point/Grand Lake/Temescal/Shafter which is within walking distance of Piedmont Ave (which would probably be outside of your price range). I'd lean towards paying a bit more for transit. The total rent + transit cost may be more than living in Excelsior or Outer Sunset, but the weather is better and there's more to do in walking range. Tarval Street isn't bad (south Sunset) and Irving street (north Sunset) have a fair amount to do (more on Irving in Inner Sunset which will be outside $1000), but if you're stuck in the middle there's basically nothing to do and no transit except on Irving and Traval, so you'll be doing a lot of walking in the fog to take transit to do anything besides stare at lots of cement and ugly houses.