SF Neighborhoods question (San Francisco, Daly City, Berkeley: apartments, rentals, condo)

[Meowen]

Relocating to SF from LA. I keep hearing a lot about rampant crime and constant car break-ins. Not sure how much truth this is or how much different it will be than LA. But what I'm looking for is a relatively safe neighborhood where I can rent a house with a small back yard for the dog and a garage for the car(s).

Is inner sunset a good option? Any other neighborhoods come to mind? My budget is about <$6000.

Thanks!

[blameyourself]

Originally Posted by Meowen

Relocating to SF from LA. I keep hearing a lot about rampant crime and constant car break-ins. Not sure how much truth this is or how much different it will be than LA. But what I'm looking for is a relatively safe neighborhood where I can rent a house with a small back yard for the dog and a garage for the car(s).

Is inner sunset a good option? Any other neighborhoods come to mind? My budget is about <$6000.

Thanks!

Why listen to a bunch of internet posters on this one when the information is readily available?

https://www.sanfranciscopolice.org/s...rime-dashboard

Plenty of neighborhoods come to mine (I happen to think the Sunset is a good option). If you're worried about a car break-in, park in the garage when you're home and take public transportation (that will limit the amount of chances for your car). If the crime stats above scare you, you shouldn't move to San Francisco. Admittedly, I'm thinking the crime wouldn't be worse than LA or any big city. Certain category have actually come down (and burglary was one of them if I recall).

[TheTimidBlueBars]

Originally Posted by Meowen

Relocating to SF from LA. I keep hearing a lot about rampant crime and constant car break-ins. Not sure how much truth this is or how much different it will be than LA. But what I'm looking for is a relatively safe neighborhood where I can rent a house with a small back yard for the dog and a garage for the car(s).

Is inner sunset a good option? Any other neighborhoods come to mind? My budget is about <$6000.

Thanks!

Yeah, I'd say the safest parts of SF would be the Inner and Outer Sunset (excluding the area around Stonestown Mall and SF State U), the Inner and Outer Richmond, West Portal, Noe Valley, Twin Peaks, Bernal Heights, and Ingleside/Westwood Park. In any of these areas, I wouldn't feel too nervous leaving my bike unlocked while going inside a cafe for a few minutes, if that says anything.

FWIW, there really isn't anywhere in SF, maybe besides a couple times in the Tenderloin (which is very far from anywhere you're looking), where I've felt the need to be "on guard" at all. Even in the Mission where I'm currently living --- although I wouldn't leave my bike unlocked here and I have had my car broken into once --- I go on walks every night at 1 or 2 am, and I've never felt unsafe.

[capoeira]

Originally Posted by Meowen

Relocating to SF from LA. I keep hearing a lot about rampant crime and constant car break-ins. Not sure how much truth this is or how much different it will be than LA. But what I'm looking for is a relatively safe neighborhood where I can rent a house with a small back yard for the dog and a garage for the car(s).

Is inner sunset a good option? Any other neighborhoods come to mind? My budget is about <$6000.

Thanks!

Inner Sunset is a good option if that is the type of neighborhood you are looking for. The advantages are walkability, many trendy restaurants, proximity to Golden Gate Park and ok public transit going downtown on the N line. However there will fewer actual entire houses to rent there. It will be mostly apartments and flats.

Here is a listing 5 long blocks away from the start of the action in the Inner Sunset. This is a safe neighborhood with easy parking.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1...15111778_zpid/


Forest Hill and West Portal would be my two top choices but one is unlikely to find a house there for under 6K.

Parkside is a good affordable choice. This is the area near Taraval. It is much easier to find parking there compared to the Inner Sunset. Its close to West Portal and it is an easy to exit from SF to the south. There are many restaurants along Taraval with an emphasis on authentic Chinese food. Currently there is a bus on Taraval to connect to the trains at West Portal. Taraval will get its train back sometime in late 2024 after construction is completed.

Forest Knolls, Midtown Terrace and Lakeside are good choices if one is looking for safe and not too walkable. This is where I would look in your price range. Lakeside might be ideal if you want to walk to Lake Merced with your dog.

Inner and Outer Richmond are also good choices if you want a walkable area with buses going downtown. Laurel Heights is a superb choice if you can find a place there in your price range. Here is one from Zillow.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/3...16143407_zpid/

In general the less walkable a neighborhood is the safer it will be. This condo off of Brotherhood Way is walkable to almost nothing but it should be very safe.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/5...57692610_zpid/

The western area of the city is generally much safer than the more crowded areas east of Divisadero St. I also recommend avoiding Bayview and Oceanview.

If you are looking for a bright, sunny and warm neighborhood, skip all of the above suggestions and try to find a house in Potrero Hill, Bernal Heights or somewhere in the East Bay.

[Ruth4Truth]

Your money will go a bit farther in Bernal Heights, which is a family-oriented neighborhood with parks. And since you're looking to rent an entire house, check RE property management companies, as well as the usual rental websites. Zillow and Trulia have rental listings, and there are local property management companies, too.

[Meowen]

Thank you for all the helpful replies already, I am also interested in Potrero Hill, last time I was there was around 2009 and it didn't seem great but I'm sure things have changed there as everywhere.

[davdaven]

What other neighborhood characteristics are you looking for? Which part of SF are you going to be commuting to?

I am in Ingleside and it's perfectly fine around here. Too cold for my liking, but it works for the time being. I lived in Potrero Hill when I first lived in SF (in 2004), and it was nice even then. Weather is better too. Maybe you're thinking of Dogpatch, or the very southern edge near the projects?

I also lived in the mid-Richmond and Outer Sunset back in the day, before moving to the East Bay. Spent 15 years in Berkeley and Richmond. They all have pros and cons, including the East Bay. Like, if you work near the Embarcadero, you could live in Alameda and be a 20-minute ferry ride away, which is much better than a lot of places in the City.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by davdaven

I am in Ingleside

Spent 15 years in Berkeley and Richmond. .

Wait, what? You're no longer in your 4-br. place in Richmond on a double lot, with a well, zoned agriculural? What happened?

[Meowen]

Originally Posted by davdaven

What other neighborhood characteristics are you looking for? Which part of SF are you going to be commuting to?

I am in Ingleside and it's perfectly fine around here. Too cold for my liking, but it works for the time being. I lived in Potrero Hill when I first lived in SF (in 2004), and it was nice even then. Weather is better too. Maybe you're thinking of Dogpatch, or the very southern edge near the projects?

I also lived in the mid-Richmond and Outer Sunset back in the day, before moving to the East Bay. Spent 15 years in Berkeley and Richmond. They all have pros and cons, including the East Bay. Like, if you work near the Embarcadero, you could live in Alameda and be a 20-minute ferry ride away, which is much better than a lot of places in the City.

Thanks for the reply. My priorities are a small back yard for my large aging dog (65 pounds) within a 45 minutes commute of my job (Sansome and Broadway) I guess that would be considered downtown SF? It does look farily close to the ferry building. I live in Hollywood in LA now (not the hills) and the crime rate and homelessness are pretty moderate to serious issues so I'm used to that but I don't want to live in a neighborhood that is consistently dangerous to go for a walk in. Daly City / San Bruno / SSF are areas I'm considering too but don't know much about them. The ferry option may be good if there are neighborhoods in the east bay that would fit the bill. I went to Albany long ago and liked it, but not sure about ferry access.

Thanks![/quote]

Thanks!

[davdaven]

Originally Posted by Meowen

Thanks for the reply. My priorities are a small back yard for my large aging dog (65 pounds) within a 45 minutes commute of my job (Sansome and Broadway) I guess that would be considered downtown SF? It does look farily close to the ferry building. I live in Hollywood in LA now (not the hills) and the crime rate and homelessness are pretty moderate to serious issues so I'm used to that but I don't want to live in a neighborhood that is consistently dangerous to go for a walk in. Daly City / San Bruno / SSF are areas I'm considering too but don't know much about them. The ferry option may be good if there are neighborhoods in the east bay that would fit the bill. I went to Albany long ago and liked it, but not sure about ferry access.

I like Albany, but there is no ferry. However, there is the AC Transit Transbay bus (G and L lines) that takes you to Salesforce Transit Center. Unfortunately it's a bit of a walk from there to where your office is.

I would no characterize Sansome & Broadway as downtown, but rather I would think of it as the far north end of the Financial District. There are offices north of there at Levi's Plaza, but that's not even the Fi Di at that point.

Your office should be walkable from the Ferry Building and BART, but it's a bit of a walk from Salesforce. I think the walk along the Embarcadero is nicest, but there are a few days each winter where the ferry commute will be miserable. Work from home those days.

South SF and San Bruno are nice overall. Daly City gets really cold and foggy. You'll likely have to deal with street parking if you live in SF itself, unless you look at a higher price point (but still well within the range you stated). Parking in the East Bay should be a non-issue in any place worth living in. I would be more concerned about the size of your dog, as many/most rentals have a strict weight limit.

Golden Gate Transit commute buses drop off at Battery & Broadway in the morning and pick up at Sansome & Pacific in the afternoon, so you could easily commute by (very nice) bus (with high-back upholstered reclining chairs with reading lights, etc.) from either the Marina District of SF or the North Bay (Mill Valley, etc.). Much more semi-rural experience once you cross over the GGB. And second to the ferries, I think the GGT buses offer the nicest commuter option in SF. No riff-raff or anything on those commuter buses (unlike BART).

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

Wait, what? You're no longer in your 4-br. place in Richmond on a double lot, with a well, zoned agriculural? What happened?

Nope, I just sold it! I bought it when I was single, but now I'm married with a kid on the way. So we are taking it easy with the in-laws in SF for now, and will begin looking for our "forever home" soon. We looked into remodeling and adding an ADU to future-proof the Richmond house, but it penciled out to 6 figures for either endeavor. Frankly the schools in Richmond are so bad that it wasn't worth the investment for us.