District Recommendation - Moving to SF (San Francisco, Oakland: apartment, rentals, condos)

[Mephistorian]

Hey all,

I am 26 years old, professional, single male. I am moving to SF next week and looking for a safe district to live. Here are ground rules:

1- Should be safe.
2- Shouldn't be far from Market Street, since my office is there.
3- Shouldn't be too expensive, < $2k.

I am open to your recommendations, which district would you recommend me?

[WF76]

If you are looking for your own apartment, 2000 a month is not enough to live in San Francisco proper, certainly not enough to live in a safe neighborhood. If you must live in San Francisco, you will probably want to look for roommates. Unfortunately, nowhere near Market is both safe and affordable. I would look in the east bay (Oakland, Berkeley, Alameda, etc.) near the BART (commuter rail line) or a Transbay bus stop. If you live near a BART station, you will be able to get to an office on Market faster than you can from most of San Francisco. If you are looking for safe, Alameda might be a place to try; it is a pretty, quiet island off of Oakland with Transbay buses, BART stations a quick bus or bike ride into Oakland, a sandy beach and a lot of Victorian houses...kind of sleepy though.

[Mephistorian]

Thank you for this information. I really want to live inside SF, so probably will exceed my budget a little bit.

[jade408]

Originally Posted by Mephistorian

Thank you for this information. I really want to live inside SF, so probably will exceed my budget a little bit.

If a bit means about $2700 go for it.


I am on my phone, please forgive the typos.

[fred89]

I'm really liking the inner sunset and it's a short train ride into town. My place was also within your budget (but, I'm not saying it'll be easy to find a place in your budget).

[qxrt]

I recently signed a lease for a studio near the Panhandle for ~$1500, and I was aware of a couple others around that range in that area. It's definitely possible, though difficult, to find a decent single-resident place in SF proper for sub-$2000. I don't know if you'd be willing to go for a studio, but if you're on a budget, it's definitely worth a look.

[Mephistorian]

@qxrt I am definitely willing to go for a studio.

[Ruth4Truth]

There are some good deals being offered in apt. buildings on Rincon Hill, in the Market area. Those are new developments, and owners are trying to fill the buildings. Some are selling as condos, but there are some rentals there, too.

[loloroj]

Good luck. Best thing you can do is negotiate a higher salary. And stop worrying about safety, unless you're running around at 3 AM in Hunter's Point, trying to sell crack, you'll be fine.

If you can't get more money, then you'll be very hard pressed trying to find anything for what you want to pay. Either put up with the idea of multiple roomies, or go live far away and commute. Kind of defeats the purpose though....