Relocate to SF from Seattle. Need renting advice! (San Jose, San Francisco: apartments, to rent)

[meowyyt]

Hi there, I'd really appreciate it if someone could give me some advice on the apartments around SF. My job will be close to Embarcadero station & Port of San Francisco. Since it's gonna be my first job out of college, I don't have too big a budget for housing. $1500/mo would be ideal.

I am single, female, so I'd really like to live in a safe neighborhood. Oh, forgot to mention, I'll take my kitty with me, so a pet-friendly apartment is necessary.

Could anyone recommend some safe neighborhoods within 30 minutes on BART from Embarcadero station?

Thank you so much for your help!!!

[04kL4nD]

With that budget, I'd check into the East Bay. Rockridge has lots of really nice 1BRs for around that price range.

[jade408]

Originally Posted by meowyyt

Hi there, I'd really appreciate it if someone could give me some advice on the apartments around SF. My job will be close to Embarcadero station & Port of San Francisco. Since it's gonna be my first job out of college, I don't have too big a budget for housing. $1500/mo would be ideal.

I am single, female, so I'd really like to live in a safe neighborhood. Oh, forgot to mention, I'll take my kitty with me, so a pet-friendly apartment is necessary.

Could anyone recommend some safe neighborhoods within 30 minutes on BART from Embarcadero station?

Thank you so much for your help!!!

The East Bay is your best bet. Places in the core are either a 30 (or less) minute BART ride or bus ride.

Over in Oakland. Areas like Rockridge, Piedmont Ave*, maybe Temescal or Adam's Point (takes a bit more street smarts), Grand Lake*.

Berkeley Options: Elmwood* or North Berkeley* around Solano Ave (lots of student compeition and tons of not well maintained apartments)

Alameda*: the main island

The places with a star have better bus access for commute hours (it drops you off just south of the Embarcadero BART station, within your commute time target)

You should give us more info on your neighborhood preferences and whether or not you will have a car.

I live in the Piedmont Ave area, and used to commute to downtown SF. It takes about 15-20 on the bus and ~25-30 for bus to BART and BART.

All of the areas above will take about 30 minutes on the bus or BART.

[meowyyt]

Thank you very much for your advice,04kL4nD & jade408.

To add more details about my situation, yes, I will have a car, so affordable parking options are within my consideration too. Other than a car and a cat to accommodate, I don't have strong preferences. Safety is my No.1 concern. As long as it's safe to walk home from the BART/bus station at night, I'm good!

Thank you again for your help.

[meowyyt]

oh, and yeah, I'm Asian. so any Asian stores in the area would be a plus! Thanks!

[jade408]

Originally Posted by meowyyt

To add more details about my situation, yes, I will have a car, so affordable parking options are within my consideration too. Other than a car and a cat to accommodate, I don't have strong preferences.

You'll want to live in the East Bay. The areas in SF where parking isn't a nightmare take forever to get to downtown by transit.

The Peninsula is lacking in transit options, especially if you occasionally decide to go to happy hour, hang out after work, etc.

[gnomatic]

Originally Posted by meowyyt

oh, and yeah, I'm Asian. so any Asian stores in the area would be a plus! Thanks!

Depends on what you are looking for.

Since you have a car, it won't be much of a problem in the bay area. Oakland has a Chinatown, and a sizable Korean community. There is many Chinese shopping areas in and around Fremont and the south bay. There are Japantowns in San Jose & San Francisco. There is a big Vietnamese community down in San Jose.

[mayorhaggar]

You can get 1br's or studios for less than $1500 in nice parts of SF, but as Jade says parking is really hard anywhere that is within about 30 minutes from downtown, and also the vast majority of landlords in SF are anti-pet. I think Oakland is a better bet. I'd start with Rockridge and Piedmont Avenue, both should have plenty of parking and some landlords should be pet-friendly. Other people have already listed the pros of these areas. You can get 1br's in Rockridge for $1100, so at your budget you could definitely get a 2br, maybe even a 3br, or you can just get a 1br and save your money (also riding BART or the Transbay buses is expensive). Piedmont Ave area should be cheaper. Temescal is even cheaper but may be too scruffy and crime-ridden for your tastes, Rockridge and Piedmont Ave are very safe.

The only problem with Rockridge is that it's mostly houses and not many apartments, so it might take a while to find anything. Piedmont Ave has a lot more apartments.

Alameda is cool too but you would probably be more dependent on your car for getting around, especially for getting out of Alameda. Rockridge is really walkable around College Avenue, and so is the area around Piedmont Avenue.

[larachris]

Although Oakland is a really great city, if I were moving from another state to the Bay Area I would want to live in San Francisco to get the authentic city experience. If you're going to commute across the Bay Bridge, you may as well commute from across the city from the Sunset District. You can get a decent apartment with parking for $1500 a month, and several of these places do have parking garages at the ground level. Nothing fancy, but secure. The Sunset has a large Asian community, and IMHO is very safe. You are a cab ride away from downtown nightlife on the weekends, and there are options by bus or Muni to get to work during the week. The Sunset itself has good restaurants and nice neighborhood bars. Yes, landlords are pains about pets, but usually more lenient about cats since they don't sit in the apartment all day and bark and annoy the neighbors.

Also, have you considered just renting a room for a while until you get a feel for the neighborhoods? It would be less expensive and would buy you time to figure out where you want to live.

[04kL4nD]

you may as well commute from across the city from the Sunset District

didn't even finish reading the rest of the post.

The Sunset is incredibly boring and has terrible weather. $1500 to rent a place in the Sunset is absolute insanity