European interns moving to SF - District suggestions! (San Francisco, Oakland: apartments, rentals)

[franciscabps]

Hey guys,

so, a bunch of us are moving from Europe to SF for an internship, in 2 maybe 3 weeks.
We will have around 2500$ each for living, and we are trying to get anything around the bay that we could share. apartment, student houses, whatever you think it fits.

We will be working around 3 miles apart from each other. i'll be in Utah St, the other will be around Pier 3 and the third anywhere near Pacific Heights.

Since none of us has ever been to SF, i'd like to get your suggestions, such as which districts are safe though popular (we are all around 25) where we could get easy access to our work places and also popular places to go for a drink.

I thought that anything around downtown, market and the financial district might be the closest, but again, just an opinion.

I'd appreciate if you guys could give me a hand, since we don't have that much time left to organize ourselves

[beb0p]

Is that $2,500 each per month? That's living expense right? So I'm guessing you probably only want to spend about $1,000-$1,500 roughly each for rent?

How much do you guys expect to spend on rent?

If you're looking at Market, stay away from the Tenderloin and Sixth St from Market St. south to about Brannan. Check Padmapper.com for rentals. Rentals in the area you mentioned are very expensive, $4,000-$5,500 for the three bedrooms (and there aren't many that big), not sure if you guys are prepared to pay that. Beware of scams, if you see something too cheap to be true, it's a scam.

Most of SF is generally safe and it's small enough that where ever you live is just a short distance away from places you want to go.

I suggest you check out padmapper.com and get some idea of the rental rate and then come back for more questions about specific neighborhoods. You may also think about questions like how far from work, how close to the subway, if you mind living in the colder section of SF or if you mind living in a working class/immigrant neighborhood, if you prefer the older quaint neighborhood or the modern steel buildings, etc.

Generally, avoid the Tenderloin, Hunter's Point, Sunnydale (a part of Visitacion Valley), and parts of Western Addition. The rest should be fine.

[bmw335xi]

I have made a lot of friends who were here on internships from Korea and Europe. Most stay in hostels around Union Square until they find housing or some choose to stay in hostels the entire season. It's a central location and easy to get around for most tourists. Most hostels border Tenderloin, which is a district full of homeless people, but it's next door to Union Square. I'd suggest you stay in a hostel in Union Square for a month and then from talking with the staff and other visitors, you'll find a place.

[mayorhaggar]

Figure out how much you can spend on rent altogether, and how many of you there are--three?

Your work locations are kind of scattered around, but commuting by BART would work. 16th Street BART is probably a 15 minute walk from Utah. Pier 3 is right by the Embarcadero station. Pacific Heights would mean getting off around downtown and hopping on a bus, and would probably be the longest commute.

Anyway, I'd look at somewhere near the Downtown Berkeley BART station and then commute to SF on BART, unless you can find places that work for you in SF.

[franciscabps]

thanks guys for your help, i really appreciate that.

i will have to meet the others soon so that we discuss what exactly we're looking for. i assume that the most important is that we do know where the "dangerous" parts of town are, so that we avoid those.

then i guess access to center or work.. i would say if we stay like 3 of us, with two rooms (i'll be the only girl) we are not looking for luxurious houses, since we'll spend most of our time in the office. so maybe we could arrange around $4,500 per month altogether.

i still didnt think about the hostel option, but might be a something to consider, at least for the first weeks.
i admit i didnt think about commuting by BART. i always thought that would take ages, but looks like something to look for. So you're saying that around Berkeley/Oakland i can find apartments for that amount that would fit the three of us?

once again, thank you. i might then be a bit more specific about the neighborhoods as soon i managed to get in touch with the other guys.

[jeffredo]

The Inner Sunset near UCSF Medical Center is a pretty good area. There is a MUNI line on Judah and its safe with a fair number of rentals thanks to the teaching hospital nearby. Good amount of restaurants and retail establishments too.

[mayorhaggar]

$4300 a month should be more than fine for a 3br anywhere, even SF. (must be some good internships, jeez!) But leases on apartments are generally for a year, and if you need something temporary it might be tough to find something (but probably doable), and you might want to look into some sort of short-term furnished housing, or indeed at hostels, if you can't find a landlord who will rent to you for less than a year.

[Jasmine658]

I think these districts would still be my favorites if new to San Francisco (I've had apartments in each of these areas in past)...

Nob Hill (near Union Square, lots of good deals, heart of city)
Russian Hill (convenient, nice architecture & many apartments with views)
Telegraph Hill (convenient to North Beach - little Italy, a party scene but hard to find apartments here)
Marina (lots of young people & bars, but 30 bus can be slow to get around city)

[excelblue]

It's a competitive market. Considering using AirBnB for a couple weeks while you find time to look at places locally. That's how you'll be able to snatch the best deals.

At $2000-$2500/mo per person, you should have no problem finding a nice 3br place.