Read 100's of posts... Specific Questions about SF (San Francisco, Napa: apartment complexes, rentals)

[Steph22679VA]

Hello, everyone! I have been enjoying the threads here for many months. I am a 29yo single female with 10 years of solid work experience and I'm graduating in December with my Bachelors. I have been doing research, comparisons, etc for months trying to determine where I see my life after graduation. I currently live in Virginia Beach, Virginia and know that I want to move. I have considered cities such as Atlanta, Charlotte, Houston, Chicago.

I visited SF in August and loved so many things about it. I am a very openminded person, looking for an area of the same. I love art, wine, fitness, cultural diversity, ethnic foods, etc. I have had to rule out many cities because of the lack of fulfillment in these areas.

I would like to ask some specific questions about living in SF. I see that someone has started a thread asking about the possibility of living on $50k. I did some research last night on apartmentguide.com and I didn't think it was absolutely outrageous for a small apartment there. I looked up the areas these apartments are in, as well as just seeing them says to me they can't be in a ghetto. I see here a lot of people say that many are sharing apartments, I was wondering why this is necessary when I see that some apartments can be rented for $1300-1600 a month on salaries that can start greater than $46,000. I'm just wondering if many references to "cost of living" are referring to housing (single family or purchases)? Because from my research it seems as though apartment living is "doable.'

Also, I saw cars and transportation mentioned. I know it is expensive to park in the city, but are your auto insurance rates high? Do you have personal property taxes there on vehicles? I can't imagine ever living without a vehicle, for many reasons. I would be willing to communte 15-20 mins from outside the city (15-20 on a good day I mean, I know it will be higher in rush hour). WHen I visited in August, I got caught on the Bay Bridge (I believe that's what it was) in rush hour and I didn't think it was that horrendous. We definitely don't have the traffic of a huge metro area here, but we have some serious traffic issues and I was not put off by the congestion I saw around 530-6pm in SF. What are your typical rush hours there?

I thought of a million questions today I wanted to post and of course now I am drawing a blank. I believe this covers the important things. Housing and transportation are at the top of my list to cover before I make any decisions!

Thank you!

Stephanie

[hsw]

Agree...rents in SF aren't too onerous...notably (?30%+) cheaper than Manhattan for similar quality apts...in newer, more suburban regions like Dall, etc rents are cheaper b/c many apts are newer w/air conditioning, pkg, in-apt W/D, etc etc....many of the older, less expensive rentals in SF/NYC/Chic, etc are essentially slums, though in charming yuppie neighborhoods...

May want to carefully think about need for car in SF if on limited budget and work in SF, not SiliconValley. Many in SF choose to use ?FlexCar, etc when they need a car for a few hrs.

As a car addict, would observe that SF is one of world's easiest, most pleasurable regions in which to have a car if one has a >$100K income....but need a more upscale apt (?>$3500/mo) w/a well-guarded pkg garage; key office bldgs in SF's financial dt have excellent garages (but can cost $500-$1000/mo)....

Traffic in SF region is arguably fastest, most efficient of any major urban region in world....the East Bay/Marin have worst traffic of region, as they have chokepoints at bridges and tunnels, but these regions are fairly economically irrelevant....most of SF region's high-income jobs are in SiliconValley, about 40-60mis S of SF....freeways on SF Peninsula move rather briskly; even in rush hr, vast distances are covered rapidly

My sense is rentals on Peninsula aren't much cheaper than similar stuff in SF...Peninsula suburbs nr PaloAlto may be great for families, but offer less of an interesting social atmosphere for singles....perhaps why many singles who work in SV choose to live in SF and drive the 40-60mis each-way to office

Would encourage any single to consider living in regions like SF, Chic or NYC...lots of highly educated, intelligent, ambitious young people in these towns....many supposedly cheaper places like Dallas aren't all that cheap when one values QOL of these regions....and lack of economic and social opportunities of more powerful regions like SF/NYC/Chic

[Steph22679VA]

HSW- Thank you so kindly for your response. I am taking to heart any information that I get. Some posts I tend to rule out only because I can tell the lack of credibility by the writing, but definitely not in this case. I appreciate your take on the importance of QOL in someone of my age and situation. Like I said in the post, art, culture, wine, etc are very important to me and a social scene would be nice as well. I think my biggest concern with no car is (a) convenience but also because (b) I will be bringing with me 2 dogs who have Addison's Disease and do frequent the vet. I'm sure that I could find a living arrangement where it's feasible for me to walk them to the vet. Some of the apartments I saw online last night looked to be newer, like the ones you were speaking of but they did tend to be 8-23 miles outside of the city. I would have no problem not having a car there if I could catch some type of public transport from near my apartment to the city to work. Do you think this is possible? Also, would it be feasible for me to house my car at my apartment (if I were to live just outside the city in a complex that had a free parking lot for residents) and just commute by public transport to work everyday? I did fail to mention another reason why I have to figure the transportation thing out is because I currently lease my car. You can turn in early, but there is usually a decent size penalty ($3000-5000) so I would have to be sure that the cost of turning it in and paying that penalty would be quickly recooped when I wasnt paying for parking, gas, etc. It could take quite a while to recoop that kind of money if we're talking only a slight increase in insurance, if I take public transport to work, etc. Have you ever lived in Chicago? I have considered it but wasn't sure about the brutal winters and the wind... I can't imagine anything more annoying than Virginia humidity except for constant wind! As far as NYC, I have ruled it out because I looked at the living arrangements there and knew I couldn't handle living in something that costs almost $2,000 with rusted out plumbing fixtures and the size of one of my closets now. I found there to be more apartment housing in complexes that were newer and more upscale in SF that were somewhat affordable. The only other concern I have is earthquakes, but I've lived around hurricanes my entire life, so I know I will learn to accept the risk. Thanks again!! Stephanie

[humboldtrat]

Originally Posted by Steph22679VA

I think my biggest concern with no car is (a) convenience but also because (b) I will be bringing with me 2 dogs who have Addison's Disease and do frequent the vet. I'm sure that I could find a living arrangement where it's feasible for me to walk them to the vet. Some of the apartments I saw online last night looked to be newer, like the ones you were speaking of but they did tend to be 8-23 miles outside of the city.

I don't see why living 8 to 23 miles from SF would be a problem. I live 25 miles from SF and it's a 40 minute train (Caltrain) commute to SF. The downside to living in the suburbs is that there is not much in the way of art, culture, etc.

The downside to living in SF is the lack of parking - there is very little of it and what there is can be expensive. If you rent in SF, make sure a parking space comes with the apt. Parking is no problem when renting in the suburbs. Also having 2 dogs might be an issue for many landlords. Also, with a few exceptions, rents tend to be a little cheaper in the suburbs than in SF.

I say keep the car. You may want to explore the area and drive along the coast, visit the Napa/Sonoma wine country or go to Lake Tahoe from time to time. But take public transit when going into SF.

When people talk about "cost of living", they mean everything such as rent, food, gas, utilities, taxes, etc.

[sonarrat]

I quoted out insurance rates with my old company, AIG, in San Francisco, and some areas were higher than others. Some, like the 94132 ZIP, weren't any higher than South San Francisco. Areas like the Bayview, 94124, and the downtown core, 94104, are as much as 50% higher.

[Steph22679VA]

Thanks, Sonarat! I was wondering because I am trying to figure out if it is feasible for me to keep my car. I am willing to keep it parked at an apartment in the outskirts, but I need to be sure I can still afford to hold down the payment along with insurance if it was highly elevated. Right now in Va Beach, VA I pay $515 every 6 months for a 2008 VW Eos Convertible.

[sonarrat]

Well, without asking an uncomfortable amount of questions I won't be able to tell you if you'll pay more. Call your insurance agent and ask for a quote for a middle of the road ZIP - 94107, or Potrero Hill, should give you an idea of whether you're in for some mega sticker shock.

[rah]

Originally Posted by sonarrat

I quoted out insurance rates with my old company, AIG, in San Francisco, and some areas were higher than others. Some, like the 94132 ZIP, weren't any higher than South San Francisco. Areas like the Bayview, 94124, and the downtown core, 94104, are as much as 50% higher.

That's because the Bayview and downtown are probably some of the worst areas in SF in terms of stolen cars and car break-ins (I would imagine stolen cars more so for the Bayview).

[alohakat]

You've gotten some good advice above. As far as whether you'll want a car here, if you can swing it, only SF has the amazing public transportation. Outside the City, there are some places where the train stops in a good fun area to see or spend a day, and otherwise you'll need your car because it is California after all. You'll probably want to see so many things outside the City -- this state is tremendously huge and has so many different sides to check out.

We do have annual vehicle registration fees tied to the value of your car. If you don't have a car in the City you may be more restricted on grocery shopping for value prices. And that commute traffic you saw in August was probably lighter than normal, people off on their last vacations before the kids needed to be back in school. My commute in a car can vary from 45 minutes if I leave by/before 5:30 am to 2-3 hours on a rainy day leaving at 6:45 a.m. The commute is different in areas where big companies have employees on flex scheduling, like some areas of the South Bay. But it looks like you are set on SF?

[Steph22679VA]

Sonarrat-

Hi! Sorry that I can not "quote" your post about the insurance so you can refer back to it. The computer wouldn't let me quote you for some reason. I'm writing back in reference to your suggestion to call into my ins co with a "middle of the road zip" 94107. I did that this morning and was pleasantly surprised. The zip came up San Francisco City, so I'm hoping it was an accurate quote (sometimes the closer to a big city, the higher so hopefully it was higher rather than lower -- don't want any big surprises!). They quoted me $653 every 6 months which is only a bit over $100 more than what I pay now. So for a year, I probably look at around $250 more. I didn't think that was bad at all! I would definitely keep my car for that small increase. I think it's $30-35 more a month. So I guess I really can't complain! I have been trying to lock down more on the idea of coming there since getting this quote and trying to budget out some things. I may try to come out there in a few weeks to look at apartments so i can line something up for Dec. Someone sent me a few areas that are great, so I guess I will try to stick with some that I know are great. If anyone has any suggestions of places with nice community/apartment complexes within 8-20 mins outside of the city (closer the better-no more than 20 mins -- not in rush hour or by train i mean, just on a normal day). Also, somewhere that can offer me the ability to use the train going into work everyday. Thanks so much!! Steph