Moving to San Francisco - Need Some Suggestions-THX (San Jose, Fremont: apartments, renters)

[BrandonP170]

My fiance and I will be leaving Florida for San Francisco and we are currently looking to rent an apartment with full amenities, primary concern being safety. We've been researching the Redwood City area as well as the Pacifica. Are there any other areas where we could rent a decent size 1/1 (700 ft plus) for around $1800-$2000 a month? We are currently paying $1800 for an 1100 sq ft apt and while I'm finding our price range; the apartments are much smaller. We are looking for a newer building, anything built after 2006-2007 as it seems they have more amenities in the building as well as the apartment. As mentioned earlier, we are concerned with respect to safety as I hear good and bad about the two areas I've mentioned. ANY suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I will be working the Financial District while also attending Stanford to finish up on my Masters Degree. We want to be located between the two and have done extensive research on commuting as well. We do have cars and it looks like driving is going to be the most feasible way to go.

We aren't moving until 1st June and have ample time to fly and see what we might like and I'm hopeful that some of you could advise on decent areas with ability to walk up to the market, take our dog to the park and do things that we do here now in Florida? I am literally a 10 minute walk to my current job and have grocery stores and restaurants all around us.

Lastly, we were looking into the Riva Terra Apartments online and while there website have over 300 positive reviews; once we dug deeper, we found that there are many dissatisfied renters who have moved out because of all the "nickle and diming"; something I am not interested in dealing with.

Thanks in advance for any and all suggestions.

[jade408]

The short answer is that you probably won't find many things in your price range with what you are looking for. You might find a handful of units in San Mateo or Foster City at the top of your budget. Most likely higher.

Most of the new buildings, and there are not that many of them, all over the Bay Area, rent for north of $1800.

You could look in Walnut Creek or Pleasant Hill, which probably has options. But you won't find on the peninsula unless you check off amenities from your must have list.

In a nutshell, most places with newer apartments are not walkable. And newer apartments are very pricy because the Bay Area hasn't built much in the last 30 years, particularly in the more walkable places.

[ilkhd2]

The only places between Stanford and SF would be Fremont, Union City and Newark or something on peninsula, close to train and Stanford. Everywhere else commute will be difficult (because of traffic). And parking in Financial District is
expensive. Most of them are not walkable (Fremont is somewhat walkable close to BART station).

Traffic in the Bay Area is _extremely_ bad, so public transportation will bring you to the place often much faster.

[humboldtrat]

Originally Posted by BrandonP170

My fiance and I will be leaving Florida for San Francisco and we are currently looking to rent an apartment with full amenities, primary concern being safety. We've been researching the Redwood City area as well as the Pacifica. Are there any other areas where we could rent a decent size 1/1 (700 ft plus) for around $1800-$2000 a month? We are currently paying $1800 for an 1100 sq ft apt and while I'm finding our price range; the apartments are much smaller. We are looking for a newer building, anything built after 2006-2007 as it seems they have more amenities in the building as well as the apartment. As mentioned earlier, we are concerned with respect to safety as I hear good and bad about the two areas I've mentioned. ANY suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I will be working the Financial District while also attending Stanford to finish up on my Masters Degree. We want to be located between the two and have done extensive research on commuting as well. We do have cars and it looks like driving is going to be the most feasible way to go.

We aren't moving until 1st June and have ample time to fly and see what we might like and I'm hopeful that some of you could advise on decent areas with ability to walk up to the market, take our dog to the park and do things that we do here now in Florida? I am literally a 10 minute walk to my current job and have grocery stores and restaurants all around us.

Lastly, we were looking into the Riva Terra Apartments online and while there website have over 300 positive reviews; once we dug deeper, we found that there are many dissatisfied renters who have moved out because of all the "nickle and diming"; something I am not interested in dealing with.

Thanks in advance for any and all suggestions.

You can get a 1/1 for $1800-$2000 on the peninsula but it will be an older, smaller building with no amenities, not even a in-unit washer/dryer. Large apt complexes with gym, pool, etc. will cost you more.

Check out San Mateo, San Carlos and Redwood City which have nice downtowns with shopping, restaurants and nearby apt. buildings making everything walkable. Also these downtown areas have train stations. caltrain.com is the commuter train between San Francisco and San Jose. All these places are very safe.

I would forget the above suggestion about Walnut Creek and Pleasanton. Too far away and the commute would be terrible.