Cheapish- (don't laugh) room/apartment in SF (San Francisco, Oakland: apartments, safe area)

[Northern_Lights]

Ok so here is the situation. I would like to spend under $1000 per month. $800 range would be ideal. I would prefer to live in the West Bay area and in the city of SF since I do not drive and public transit is very important to me.

1. I am willing to lived in a shared living situation if necessary but I would prefer mine own place.

2. Studio is fine

3. I DO NOT, repeat DO NOT want any neighbourhood that is trendy. Looking for 'hoods that would not include "cool bars/clubs, hip places, a Whole Foods Market" I am not opposed to bars, just not at all interested in being "hip"

Just wondering what are some good places other than craigslist.com and neighbourhoods to look in? Thanks for your help

[mayorhaggar]

Depends on where you work. If you work in downtown SF then I'd look at Oakland, it's much cheaper than SF and has plenty of very safe neighborhoods. You will find studios and some 1br apartments in safe areas for less than $1000, something you will not find in SF except possibly in the Tenderloin and other horrible parts of SF. I lived in Oakland for a year without a car and rode BART to work. It's not as easy to get by without public transit as SF because the local bus system doesn't run often enough, but if you have a bike it's doable.

If you really want to live in San Francisco you will have to live with roommates, you should be able to find some roomie shares for under $1000 but it will be very competitive. I guarantee you that you will reply to 200 ads on craigslist and only about 2% of them will get back to you, because they will be swamped with demand. Another option is Berkeley, roommate shares are pretty cheap there and there are way more of them than in Oakland for some reason. (Oakland is the better option for individual apartments though)

[beb0p]

You didn't mention your tolerance for sketchiness (note that sketchy not = 'dangerous'). If you can tolerate a bit of that, I suggest the area around the Balboa Bart station and the area around the Bayshore Caltrain station since public transport is important to you.

Also, Excelsior, Portola, Crocker Amazon, Visitation Valley, Little Hollywood, and area around Daly City Bart; just to name a few.

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