Moving to San Francisco (Oakland, Daly City: for rent, house, high school)

[jade408]

The challenge with the Ferry is that you are SOL when you miss the last lne, and tgey do nkt run that frequently. I lrefer to have multiple options when relying on transit. You need to make sure your hours are pretty predictable.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by mydreamjob2104

Any location, from where I can easily commute to city(30- 40mts), safe for living, roaming around and spacious home to keep sofa, dinning table, workstation (with 2 or 3 monitors) ,one/two bed , enough closet to fit me and my wife's clothes and off street parking

I got some good advise from above posts, checking craigslist for best option. what are the good neighborhood in Oakland area?

Thanks

Rockridge, Upper Rockridge, Montclair, Piedmont Avenue, almost anywhere in the hills, but Rockridge is best for commuting, it's near a BART station. Also Claremont in Berkeley, Elmwood, north Berkeley, and as previously mentioned, El Cerrito and Albany. (All those are near a BART station.)

[CirclingLogan]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

A 1-2 br. apt. where? In the City? Yes. (Check Craigslist rentals) In the East Bay? You could get a 2 br. house with yard, and Bay view.

It COMPLETELY depends on how safe/desirable of a neighborhood they want. It will be tough getting a nice, livable 2 bedroom apartment or home w/ a garage for under $2,800 in Oakland's preferred neighborhoods. If you're willing to put up grit, lack of amenities and increased crime, that would be easy.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by CirclingLogan

It COMPLETELY depends on how safe/desirable of a neighborhood they want. It will be tough getting a nice, livable 2 bedroom apartment or home w/ a garage for under $2,800 in Oakland's preferred neighborhoods. If you're willing to put up grit, lack of amenities and increased crime, that would be easy.

You'd be surprised. New posters on this forum have given examples of great finds. It takes persistence, but it can be done. OP can check Craigslist to see for herself.

[jade408]

$2800 is doable and easy if you do not want in unit laundry. If you are fine with a building circa 1920s or 1950s to 80s you'll have decent options.

It's the new and or in-unit laundry that pushes you over $3000.

[mydreamjob2104]

such high rent dampen my excitement about moving to SF

[clongirl]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

You'd be surprised. New posters on this forum have given examples of great finds. It takes persistence, but it can be done. OP can check Craigslist to see for herself.

No offense here, but I think you kinda have to live here and to actually know what it's like to go through this stressful process. I don't think you really understand the competitiveness of and the real difficulty people have in securing a decent place in this current housing/rental market. It's really nice to be positive and upbeat for all the folks looking to move on over, but odds are not promising in many prime parts of the Bay Area. The current rental (and buying) market is downright brutal. Craigslist is great, and pretty much the main way to find rentals, however there are many, many very deceptive ads. Just because you spot something for a good price in a nice area, it's rarely the case that it's going to be available to anyone w/o some catch. You cannot keep giving people false hope by posting what you've seen on Craigslist. People get scammed all the time if they're not familiar with all the scams and places that sound too good to be true.

[dalparadise]

Brutal, for sure.

I searched and went to multiple showings for nearly a month to find my apartment. I often had to leave work to go to the best showings with the highest probability of being among the first to see a property. Typically, I would arrive 15 mins. early for an advertised 30 minute showing and there would already be a line of 5-6 people on the sidewalk waiting for the agent.

I quickly learned to have a credit check, references, a completed application, etc. with me. I still ultimately had to do their paperwork, but it made me stand out as serious and gave me an easy way to apply when the landlord was the one showing, rather than an agent.

The most important part was chatting up the person showing the apartment. I told my story--the California dream. You have to stand out in this market and make yourself memorable. I'd be standing in a 10x12 room with 6-8 other people vying for the landlord's attention, making small talk and being as friendly as possible without appearing insane, while 10-12 more cluelessly wandered around the apartment thinking they had a shot at it. It was as much audition as tour. I began to see people I recognized after awhile, and we would commiserate about the process. I even met a hired applicant who was touring apts. for a fee for people who couldn't get away from work (remember, the best places showed during office hours).

I also came across some Craigslist scams and learned how to spot them. One tried to get me to sign up for a free credit reporting service to fill out my application before I could even see the apartment. I saw this used on a couple of too-good-to-be-true listings, with the same exact BS story and bogus pics.

On my first place, I "won" the showing, paying $65 worth of non-refundable credit check fees on a Sunday, and was notified Monday afternoon that I could come by anytime before 7pm Tuesday and pay the deposit. I showed up at around 6pm and was told that someone had offered more and agreed to pay for a year upfront to get the apartment. When I objected, I was told, "Sorry, this is San Francisco. I thought you knew."

That was three years ago and was in the 2-3 hottest neighborhoods in SF. I don't know if the competition has gotten any better, but the prices have definitely gone up since then, so I doubt it.

[NorCal Dude]

Originally Posted by mydreamjob2104

such high rent dampen my excitement about moving to SF

Better you come prepared though.

Too many people get sold on a phony California dream, that ends up turning into a nightmare. At 150k, you are already in a pretty good footing.

As others have said, just be ready for some stiff competition and bring your "a game".

What more can you do?

[dalparadise]

Originally Posted by NorCal Dude

Better you come prepared though.

Too many people get sold on a phony California dream, that ends up turning into a nightmare. At 150k, you are already in a pretty good footing.

As others have said, just be ready for some stiff competition and bring your "a game".

What more can you do?

Agreed. The dream is real, though. It just requires a bit of determination to keep it alive. The Bay Area costs a lot (money and otherwise), but many find it returns even more.

Good luck to the OP.