Moving Phoenix --> San Francisco (Fillmore: apartment, rental, movers)

[Kooze]

Hello,

To start I will be trying to rent an apartment in lower Pacific Hieghts.

How feasible is it to move yourself from out of state using a penske or uhaul truck? The part I am concerned about is arriving in San Francisco and unloading my belongings. Do I need a special parking permit? Do I need to reserve a space / time with my landlord? I just don't want to overlook something I take for granted here in the suburbs of the Phoenix area.

Also, will most elevators fit things like a mattress or a small couch?

Thanks in advance for any and all help!

[SunDevil1212]

Welcome - I also moved from Phoenix. You will like it here.

As for moving in - it can be a pain. Honestly, I just double-parked the Uhaul I had out front of my apartment building and tried to move as quickly as possible. I didn't get a permit - I figured if by some chance I got a parking ticket, well, it was part of the costs of moving. I'm sure if you actually applied for a parking permit it would cost you a ton of money and you'd have to deal with the hassle and red-tape that goes along with dealing with the City. Probably more trouble then its worth. I'm guessing most cops would look the other way unless you are causing a traffic jam or its clearly an unsafe situation.

I had the keys to the truck in my hands at all time, so if someone needed me to move the Uhaul (either a neighbor or the police), I could right away. But that never happened. I traveled light so I was able to get moved-in in less than 30 minutes.

I think this is fairly normal - you see U-hauls, delivery trucks, etc...double parked all the time. I highly doubt most of these people get permits. But it kind of depends on your street. My street doesn't get a whole lot of traffic, and was wide enough that cars could get around the truck. Try to figure out ahead of time if parking a truck there is gonna cause a traffic jam. Your landlord should be able to tell you if your apartment has a freight elevator.

Good luck. I live on the third floor, no elevator, with the only access being a narrow, spiral staircase. I was so exhausted when I was done. I love living in a dense city environment, but every now and then it can be a huge pain. Moving is one of those times.

[gone down south]

Not a lot of buildings in that neighborhood will have elevators to begin with.

[mdwstrnkid]

As mentioned by SunDevil1212, you can get a permit (which I believe runs around $50) or run the risk of a ticket. If you are interested in getting a permit, note that they are issued by SFPD, not the MTA (Municipal Traffic Agency) which is usually responsible for parking permits.

Depending the street, you might be able to park without much of an issue. Note that Pine, Bush, and California, Gough, Franklin, Fillmore, and Divisadero are all major roads in Lower Pac Heights with lots of traffic so you might want to consider a permit if you are moving in on one of those streets. You might be able to get away without a permit on other, less heavily trafficked streets.

Also, if you are moving into a walk-up, note that older buildings have narrower staircases and hallways so your move might take longer than you might expect.

[California Vagabond]

You have my sympathy; I remember being concerned about just those issues when I planned a similar move. Good luck!

The U-Haul was easier to drive than I had thought it would be. The first forty-five minutes were uncomfortable, but after that, I adapted. The automatic transmission made a difference.

I suggest researching motels and hotels in advance, and calling ahead to ask about space in their parking lots for a rental truck, and parking lot security. Of course, you could just drive all the way without a sleep break ... but then you'd be plenty tired when you got here, and would have to handle the most taxing parts of the move (parking, dealing with the movers, etc.) while in less than ideal shape. I found that I could push myself to keep working -- packing, taping shut boxes, etc. -- when tired, but couldn't manufacture the attentiveness I would have had with a good night's rest. So, I stayed in a motel the night before, and was alert and refreshed enough to deal with the moving in the next a.m.

Your landlord should have information on what the elevator can handle.

I can't too strongly recommend Bay Area Checkbook, at checkbook.org. They have a section on moving, and rate individual movers. (And also rate many, many other businesses in the bay area: supermarkets, dentists, you name it) The $34 for two years is the best investment I made since I moved here. Yes, there's Yelp, but Yelp reviews are so easily faked.

Corrib Moving is a good outfit, or was, but there are others. I suggest making your reservation as far in advance as you can. Moving companies can book up quickly.

I double parked, but you're moving to a busy part of S.F., which sounds harder. I did make an effort to arrive at a little trafficked time of day, and am glad I did.

And finally: I wouldn't drive the 152 at night in a rental truck. During the day, fine, but not at night.

[Isebiel]

Just a thought --

I flew in with a couple suitcases full of essentials (clothes, medicines, shoes). Small valuable stuff (mostly computers and electronics) was shipped FedEx ground. I bought new furniture from IKEA. Both FedEx and IKEA know how to make deliveries and brought my stuff in!

It has been very nice having not much, and what stuff I have being all new.

The first two nights were kind of rough, not having a bed yet, but I managed. To anyone trying this method, I suggest packing and shipping one box full of daily essential things: toiletries, towels, house cleaning stuff, TP, etc.. While those things are easy to replace and not very valuable, it's a huge pain to figure out how to buy everything simultaneously in an unfamiliar area.

[Kooze]

Thank you everyone all of the feedback is easing my nerves about the move!

I think I will try the double parking method since we're trying to get rid of as much of our stuff as we can right now and just unload as fast as possible. I'll look into the ground shipping option too, I never thought of taking that route.

"And finally: I wouldn't drive the 152 at night in a rental truck. During the day, fine, but not at night."

Why should I avoid driving this at night, I'm not that familiar with it, is it due to fog?

[SunDevil1212]

I'm curious too...from what I recall the 152 is two lanes on each side with a median. I don't remember it being that difficult of the drive.

Regardless, a lot of people would take the 5 to 580 anyway. The bonus payoff being a drive across the Bay Bridge with awesome views of the city and the bay to welcome you to your new home.

Another option is to use one of those moving cubes/pods, like: The Best Moving & Storage Idea Ever for Self Storage, Portable Moving and Storage Solutions | PODS

I looked into it, it was a bit more than I wanted to spend...plus they required you to get a permit with the city to drop off your cube (which I believe they actually handled for you, not sure though). But it would certainly be a whole lot easier than the rental truck.

[California Vagabond]

I was on the 152 at night just a couple of weeks ago, which is why I thought to add that remark. (In fact, I think I returned to edit the post to add it!)

Here's an online article/blog post about the 152, which I googled up after returning from the trip.

California’s "Haunted" Highway - SkepticReport

During the day, it's pretty. Beautiful, even. A lovely, scenic drive. At night: one or two lanes in the dark, with plenty of traffic and freeway speeds. It felt dangerous, and I wasn't surprised to read the above-linked article calling it as much.

I would not have wanted to do that drive on the 152 at night in a big rental truck loaded with all my stuff. I did feel reasonably comfortable in it after forty-five minutes, as I wrote before, but I was still much, much more vulnerable as a driver in a much-larger-than-I-was-used-to vehicle that I'd driven all of one day.

Hope that helps.