Possibly Moving to San Francisco - Where to live? (Oakland: for sale, apartment)

[jent85]

I am a 25 year old single girl possibly relocating to SF from South Florida.
My current employer has offered me a position in SF, salary will be around $60,000/yr, which after the increased cost of living is actually a paycut (meh)

I would be working from home and traveling for sales calls alot, so I'd prefer to be within 30 minutes of the airport. However, I would like to live walking distance to restaurants/nightlife, maybe even grocery store/coffee shop (downtown sort of thing)

Suggestions for somewhere to live?
Also, since I will be working from home, how easy is it to meet people?

I'm deciding between taking this job or moving to Portland (Oregon of course!). I have friends in Portland, but no job... Decisions decisions....

[andyadhi01]

Originally Posted by jent85

I am a 25 year old single girl possibly relocating to SF from South Florida.
My current employer has offered me a position in SF, salary will be around $60,000/yr, which after the increased cost of living is actually a paycut (meh)

I would be working from home and traveling for sales calls alot, so I'd prefer to be within 30 minutes of the airport. However, I would like to live walking distance to restaurants/nightlife, maybe even grocery store/coffee shop (downtown sort of thing)

Suggestions for somewhere to live?
Also, since I will be working from home, how easy is it to meet people?

I'm deciding between taking this job or moving to Portland (Oregon of course!). I have friends in Portland, but no job... Decisions decisions....

In the Mission with a roommate.

[mayorhaggar]

60K in SF at 25 is pretty good, I don't know where people get these jobs right out of college especially in this crappy economy.

Anyway a studio in a decent part of SF is around $1000-1200, a very basic and small 1br is about $1400-1500 at least. If you see anything cheaper than those price ranges it's probably in a crappy area like the Tenderloin or Bayview. So figure out how much you want to spend on rent, you can spend around $700-1000 and up on living with roommates depending on how big of a room you want. Towns in Northern San Mateo County are more suburban than SF and slightly cheaper and it's where the airport is, but you'd want a car there which would eat into any rental savings--in SF it's easy to get by without a car plus it's really hard to park. Pretty much anywhere in the East Bay like Walnut Creek or Oakland are a lot more affordable than SF or San Mateo County but that would put you like an hour from SFO, though the Oakland airport would be fairly convenient, but it doesn't have that many destinations compared with SFO.

Anyway I would decide if you want to be in SF which is very dense and urban and can be stressful. Being near BART would be good for getting to the airport, look into the area around Dolores Park which is a cool area. Glen Park is a bit more spread out but has a BART station. Or you might prefer somewhere like Millbrae near the airport, a lot of the suburbs on the Peninsula have a small downtown area that might work for you as far as urban amenities.

As far as meeting people, it's a big urban area so people have their guards up, it's not a small midwestern town where everyone knows one another. Meeting friends at work can be good if you work with interesting people but I guess that's out for you. Roommates can be a good way to meet people if they are outgoing and can introduce you to other people, but finding good roommates can be hard.

[carigennarelli]

San Francisco compared to most large cities is an easy place to live. Decent (not stellar) public transportation and it's relatively small so you can get anywhere in the city in 20-30 minutes. Traffic and density are definitely issues.

Each neighborhood has it's own flavor so it really depends on your interests. At 25 you have a lot of choices, many walkable areas and I find people are pretty friendly. I moved to SF in my early 20's and never left. Have been here since 1987 and now have a 14 yr old that went through the public school system so I know the city pretty well. I lived in The Richmond District, lower Pacific Heights, and Cow Hollow and worked in the Mission, Potrero Hill, Downtown, Richmond District and in Marin.

If you can afford it and can find a roommate Cow Hollow/Marina probably has the largest population of under 30's. It is a bit Frat party ish sometimes so if you are looking for a more alternative crowd then the Mission/SOMA/Potrero Hill are better and closer to the airport.

I don't know much about Portland but I have heard it's family oriented.

To give you an idea of rents in Cow Hollow, I manage a 17 unit apt building and my studios go for $1,300-1,600 and one bedrooms around $1,800-1,900.

You should definitely talk with someone that lives here at length and visit if possible so you can check out the different areas.

Feel free to send me a DM or email me if you want to chat. cari@starmafia.com.

Good luck!

[jade408]

Originally Posted by carigennarelli

If you can afford it and can find a roommate Cow Hollow/Marina probably has the largest population of under 30's. It is a bit Frat party ish sometimes so if you are looking for a more alternative crowd then the Mission/SOMA/Potrero Hill are better and closer to the airport.

I feel like it is so Frat boy there, you almost stick out if you aren't white with blonde hair. It is definitely one of the least diverse areas of town.

[Jasmine658]

I second Marina district. That's where I started out $650/mo studio there with separate eat in kitchen, huge closets same goes today for $1400. You can walk to Crissy Field, and over to Aquatic Park area.

Whatever you do don't get an apartment facing bars. I had first apartment on Chestnut St at Scott with great view of wall and sky from top floor, and it was quiet. Moved over to Greenwich and Fillmore and the 2am drunks, car alarms, etc were ridiculous and broke my lease to get out.

This is great area to start and explore city. I had no trouble just using Super Shuttle for airport, 30 bus downtown, or 22 bus to Mission District.

[jent85]

Thanks for all the replies.

From reading about the Marina district elsewhere on this forum, I'm not sure I'd like it much. I'm leaving south florida and wanted to head west to get away from the frat boys I haven't accepted my company's offer yet, but planning a work trip to SF soon to help me decide.

I forgot to mention in the first post that I'd like to not HAVE to have a car. Yet another reason I'm leaving south florida, to get away from the sprawl that makes having a car a necessity.

So, areas to visit:

Cow Hollow/Marina district (just in case)
Mission
SOMA
Potrero

Pacific Heights area - maybe too expensive?

For rent I'd like to pay less than $2,000/month.

Any more must see areas on my trip?

Thanks!

[mayorhaggar]

I would avoid the Marina myself, too fratty/sorority-ish although I think people overblow its obnoxiousness a bit. Plus it's way up at the northern tip of SF so it would take a bit of a while to get to BART compared to other areas.

If you want an area with young people maybe look into the Nob Hill area, it has a lot of young people making decent money but it still has a cool urban sort of feel to it, and it's fairly close to Civic Center BART. It's up to you if you like it or not.

SOMA I just do not like. The eastern end has a lot of new condo-style buildings near the ballpark. They are expensive but it means you're more likely to have stuff like a dishwasher or a washer/drier which are pretty rare in SF which is mostly older buildings usually with a w/d in the basement of a building. The western 2/3rds of SOMA is mostly warehouses with a mix of apartment buildings. The streets are wide one-way feeders into 101 and 280 and the Bay Bridge so there's always a lot of noisy traffic. There's not a lot of shops and restaurants on the streets so it just doesn't feel like a normal walkable SF neighborhood. Some areas like around 6th St. are just plain ghetto.

Potrero Hill feels kind of remote from the rest of the city even though it's pretty close to downtown, public transit isn't great there either. It's pretty quiet and also doesn't really feel like a normal SF neighborhood.

The area near Dolores Park (basically the western part of the Mission) is hands down my favorite part of SF. The park is really nice and that whole area west of Valencia and near the Castro and Duboce Park has a ton of great places to eat and drink and shop, and it's flat and super walkable. You're near the Muni Metro and BART isn't too far away either. The area of the Mission on or east of Mission St. is just really grimy and fairly crime-ridden so I would stay west of Mission and Valencia. Also definitely check out Noe Valley which is similar if a bit more stroller mom-ish (but people overblow this imo), it's centered around 24th and Church and is pretty close to 24th St. BART.

Lower Pacific Heights is a bit snooty feeling but has a cool neighborhood sort of feel to it. Fillmore has a nice mix of places to wine and dine, and the Japantown Mall is nearby at Geary and Fillmore and has a ton of good Japanese and Korean places. I would look at Lower Pac Hts rather than Pac Hts itself. You can take the 22 bus to 16th St. BART to get to the airport or you could just take a short taxi ride to BART.

Other areas you could look into are the Inner Sunset and Cole Valley but they get a lot more fog than the other areas I listed. Glen Park again is a possibility to be near BART.

[mdwstrnkid]

Originally Posted by mayorhaggar

Lower Pacific Heights is a bit snooty feeling but has a cool neighborhood sort of feel to it. Fillmore has a nice mix of places to wine and dine, and the Japantown Mall is nearby at Geary and Fillmore and has a ton of good Japanese and Korean places. I would look at Lower Pac Hts rather than Pac Hts itself. You can take the 22 bus to 16th St. BART to get to the airport or you could just take a short taxi ride to BART.

I don't get any snooty feeling in Lower Pac Heights. It's one of the a more upscale neighborhoods, but I have never felt any pretentiousness in the time that I've lived here. In addition to Fillmore and Japantown, it's also a short walk over to the restaurants and bars on Divisadero.

As for BART access, I would recommend taking either the 2 or 3 downtown instead of the 22. You'll get to the Powell or Montgomery BART station in about half the time it would take you to get the the 16th Street station on the 22 and you'll have a much more pleasant ride.

[mayorhaggar]

Snooty's not really the right word...compared to the mansions of Pac Heights proper, it's pretty down to earth. Compared to the Mission, yeah it's a bit more yuppied out, but it still has kind of an old school SF neighborhood feel that places like SOMA really lack. La Mediterranee is a really great funky place to eat and there are some other cool local places there too.