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Old 12-11-2011, 07:13 PM
 
653 posts, read 946,334 times
Reputation: 408

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Craigslist's SV studio / room for rent listings are slim.

I'm not yet in SV and can't look for Room for Rent signs in windows.

Apartment complex websites are typically out of my price range.

Rental agents haven't been great thus far.

What are the best sources to locate SV studios / FROGs / room for rent listings (i.e. is there some small local paper that hasn't popped up on my radar yet)?

Thank you in advance!

Last edited by dclamb3; 12-11-2011 at 07:31 PM..
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Old 12-11-2011, 08:21 PM
HDL
 
Location: Seek Jesus while He can still be found!
3,216 posts, read 6,788,996 times
Reputation: 8667
Talking No FROGs here

FROG is an east coast term and not used in the west . I believe that it stands for "Finished Room Over Garage". We tend to call those rooms "Bonus Rooms" and since alot of SV housing is older, many don't have BR's or call them that.

Unfotunately CL (aka Craigslist) is the number one place for housing. Some folks use padmapper, but I believe that site just pulls info from CL. Using CL will give you an idea of what's available and at what prices, but if you find anything nice today, chances are that none of them will be available next summer when you get here.

Good luck

Quote:
Originally Posted by dclamb3 View Post
Craigslist's SV studio / room for rent listings are slim.

I'm not yet in SV and can't look for Room for Rent signs in windows.

Apartment complex websites are typically out of my price range.

Rental agents haven't been great thus far.

What are the best sources to locate SV studios / FROGs / room for rent listings (i.e. is there some small local paper that hasn't popped up on my radar yet)?

Thank you in advance!
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Old 12-12-2011, 11:55 AM
 
653 posts, read 946,334 times
Reputation: 408
Quote:
Originally Posted by HDL View Post
FROG is an east coast term and not used in the west . I believe that it stands for "Finished Room Over Garage". We tend to call those rooms "Bonus Rooms" and since alot of SV housing is older, many don't have BR's or call them that.

Unfotunately CL (aka Craigslist) is the number one place for housing. Some folks use padmapper, but I believe that site just pulls info from CL. Using CL will give you an idea of what's available and at what prices, but if you find anything nice today, chances are that none of them will be available next summer when you get here.

Good luck
LOL Is it really? Guess my East Coast is already showing through. lol That would explain though why when I search for "FROG" in CA no ads come up. lol

Thanks so much! I'll try padmapper (never heard of it!) and if there aren't any great local CA papers full of wonderful ads (we have one here, but it's just a tiny local east coast paper) I'll keep stalking CL, and I suppose raise my budget for housing.
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Old 12-12-2011, 09:25 PM
 
Location: Portland, Oregon
10,990 posts, read 20,575,726 times
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The other term you hear on the west coast is 'mother-in-law' unit.
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Old 12-13-2011, 12:40 AM
HDL
 
Location: Seek Jesus while He can still be found!
3,216 posts, read 6,788,996 times
Reputation: 8667
Yes 'Mother-in-Law' or MIL is used here on the west coast, but they are rather rare and many times folks use the term MIL or Studio when in fact all they have is a glorified shed in their backyard ! The other term that is used on occasion is 'Pool House', but those are difficult to come by and rather expensive. What many people do here in the bay is block off an area or room of their home (sometimes the master bedroom) and call it a studio with private entrance.

I'm thinking when I get some free time maybe later this month, that I will write a "Craigslist 101" thread in the Renting section of CDF (City Data forum) to help folks navigate CL and hopefully minimize their chance of being scammed . In the meantime, I have a good example of a scammer's ad on CL and also the scammer's email response :

$700 / 1br - 1BR/1BA Apartment - Saratoga (saratoga)

Date: 2011-12-07, 10:01AM PST
1 Bedroom studio in Saratoga executive home. Opens out to the pool and lush garden area Private entrance thru backyard Small patio to call your own
Bank Mill Rd

Scammer's reply:
Steven Morgan (morgan.steven21@xxxxx.com)
Currently in the UK for business and its long term,my wife just came down here about 3days ago that's why am renting out the apartment...me and my wife have discussed how to go about renting it out to someone responsible without actually meeting the person,which is not something i feel very comfortable with,but we do need someone to take care of it,so let me know if you still want to further,then we'll go from there

Quote:
Originally Posted by Nell Plotts View Post
The other term you hear on the west coast is 'mother-in-law' unit.
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Old 12-13-2011, 09:38 AM
 
765 posts, read 2,441,674 times
Reputation: 701
When we moved here we placed an ad on Craigslist in the "housing wanted" list. I got a ton of replies from landlords. You may find you get exactly what you want by this method. Be warned though - you will learn new meanings for words such as "immaculate" and "updated", the rental market here is insane. Often Landlords wait for tenants to move out, and then rent out the vacant property for immediate occupancy. They will not hold it for you. They can ask ridiculous rents for average properties. We were able to snap up our rental last year because we could come up with DOUBLE the security deposit + first months rent. So @ $2700/month, we had to give our landlord a check for $8100 prior to move in. This was for a 1650 sq ft townhome in the Westgate area.

Good luck!
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Old 12-13-2011, 12:49 PM
 
1,027 posts, read 1,950,202 times
Reputation: 551
$700/1bdr in Saratoga is a scam by definition
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Old 12-15-2011, 11:50 PM
 
30,896 posts, read 36,975,933 times
Reputation: 34531
Quote:
Originally Posted by dclamb3 View Post
LOL Is it really? Guess my East Coast is already showing through. lol That would explain though why when I search for "FROG" in CA no ads come up. lol

Thanks so much! I'll try padmapper (never heard of it!) and if there aren't any great local CA papers full of wonderful ads (we have one here, but it's just a tiny local east coast paper) I'll keep stalking CL, and I suppose raise my budget for housing.
I'm from the East Coast originally and I've never heard of a FROG. The term is definitely not used in CA.

Welcome to Silicon Valley. Let me give you the lowdown on the apartment/housing market here. It is always in chronically short supply, which means rents are a rip off. That's partly because the area is built up. Partly because NIMBYs, who don't want new housing (esp. apartments) built in their precious neighborhoods, will block any and all new development. Then you have the environmentalists who block any and all new development for environmental reasons (A lot of the enviros are NIMBYs in disguise, IMO). Then you have the fact that local governments don't get much tax revenue from housing of any kind, so they have no financial incentive to build it.

To top it off, a lot of the apartments in the Silicon Valley area are large, cookie cutter complexes owned by corporate landlords (as opposed to "mom & pop" landlords) who will squeeze tenants for every last dollar.

Probably your best option is to rent a room here and take your time looking for an apartment. Personally, I'd stay away from the larger apartment complexes if possible (hard to do since they dominate the apartment market, but not impossible if you rent a room and take your time looking).

Last edited by mysticaltyger; 12-16-2011 at 12:02 AM..
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Old 12-15-2011, 11:58 PM
 
30,896 posts, read 36,975,933 times
Reputation: 34531
Quote:
Originally Posted by alexxiz View Post
$700/1bdr in Saratoga is a scam by definition
$700 for even a studio anywhere in SV is a scam, let alone a 1BR in Saratoga.
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Old 12-16-2011, 12:14 AM
HDL
 
Location: Seek Jesus while He can still be found!
3,216 posts, read 6,788,996 times
Reputation: 8667
Exclamation You know it's a SCAM and I know it's a SCAM but....

how would the OP or someone else not familiar with this area/SV know that it's a scam ? That's why the best source for housing (Craigslist) needs to be scrutinized over many months to get a good feel for what's REAL and what's SCAMMERS .

Quote:
Originally Posted by alexxiz View Post
$700/1bdr in Saratoga is a scam by definition
Quote:
Originally Posted by mysticaltyger View Post
$700 for even a studio anywhere in SV is a scam, let alone a 1BR in Saratoga.
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