Might be moving to San Francisco

[Hipolito]

Hello, octofriends. I'm looking for advice on where to live in SF.

I'm applying for a job located in downtown SF (South of Market area). I see this as a temporary (one-year) stepping stone to something more desirable in Washington, D.C.

Besides the apparent grodiness of the city, my concern is the high rent. I'm hearing about $3,000/mo rents, which might make me decline the job if I fail to negotiate a higher salary.

My hope is to find a furnished, one-bedroom apartment costing no more than $1,500/mo in a safe, quiet community, even if that would mean having a long BART/MUNI commute. I don't plan to have my own car.

I've found this listing for a furnished $1,000/mo 1-BR apt that would put me very close to work. Is this too good to be true?

[dbt1949]

I have heard all sorts of horror stories about renting and buying prices in San Francisco.
Good luck!

[Z-Corn]

My good friend quit his dream job at Apple last year to move East because shit is getting so crazy in San Fransisco with the rents and the tech bros and the homeless. They lived in a beautiful $1.8 million condo and it was still becoming too much for them.

[Pyperkub]

My good friend quit his dream job at Apple last year to move East because shit is getting so crazy in San Fransisco with the rents and the tech bros and the homeless. They lived in a beautiful $1.8 million condo and it was still becoming too much for them.

Did they live in SF, or closer to Apple in Cupertino?

[Z-Corn]

My good friend quit his dream job at Apple last year to move East because shit is getting so crazy in San Fransisco with the rents and the tech bros and the homeless. They lived in a beautiful $1.8 million condo and it was still becoming too much for them.

Did they live in SF, or closer to Apple in Cupertino?

Right in the city, Alamo Square area a couple blocks from The Painted Ladies.

[LawBeefaroni]

My good friend quit his dream job at Apple last year to move East because shit is getting so crazy in San Fransisco with the rents and the tech bros and the homeless. They lived in a beautiful $1.8 million condo and it was still becoming too much for them.

A friend's sister just moved back from there. The plan was for her move out there ahead of her family (husband and 2 kids), rent, and look for a house for them. After a year she couldn't find anything they liked so she quit her $340k/year job to move back to "cheap" Chicagoland.

[Z-Corn]

My good friend quit his dream job at Apple last year to move East because shit is getting so crazy in San Fransisco with the rents and the tech bros and the homeless. They lived in a beautiful $1.8 million condo and it was still becoming too much for them.

A friend's sister just moved back from there. The plan was for her move out there ahead of her family (husband and 2 kids), rent, and look for a house for them. After a year she couldn't find anything they liked so she quit her $340k/year job to move back to "cheap" Chicagoland.

My same friends' in-laws just sold their place in The Haight and got like $2 million over asking price. The real estate market is INSANE there...

[naednek]

you'd be hard pressed to find something in Sacramento for 1k let alone SF. I have friends who commute 2 hours into work to live somewhere slightly cheaper.

[El Guapo]

This all sounds very promising for Hipolito.

[em2nought]

Don't forget to get the SnapCrap app
https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/ ... 281837.php

[LawBeefaroni]

you'd be hard pressed to find something in Sacramento for 1k let alone SF. I have friends who commute 2 hours into work to live somewhere slightly cheaper.

So what of that 630sqft unit in the OP?

[naednek]

you'd be hard pressed to find something in Sacramento for 1k let alone SF. I have friends who commute 2 hours into work to live somewhere slightly cheaper.

So what of that 630sqft unit in the OP?

says no units available...

[Hipolito]

you'd be hard pressed to find something in Sacramento for 1k let alone SF. I have friends who commute 2 hours into work to live somewhere slightly cheaper.

So what of that 630sqft unit in the OP?

says no units available...

Some 1BRs and studios (which I'm also open to) are listed as available. EDIT - wait, it says "Call for rent" now. Maybe the $1,022/mo that was there earlier got taken or they changed it.

Also, I'd be open to a 2-hour commute, as long as the ride is comfortable and I have a place to sit. On some days, my commute is already like that.

[Daehawk]

If you order stuff Kasey may deliver it.

[Alefroth]

If you order stuff Kasey may deliver it.

Isn't he a bus driver?

[Alefroth]

you'd be hard pressed to find something in Sacramento for 1k let alone SF. I have friends who commute 2 hours into work to live somewhere slightly cheaper.

So what of that 630sqft unit in the OP?

says no units available...

Some 1BRs and studios (which I'm also open to) are listed as available. EDIT - wait, it says "Call for rent" now. Maybe the $1,022/mo that was there earlier got taken or they changed it.

Also, I'd be open to a 2-hour commute, as long as the ride is comfortable and I have a place to sit. On some days, my commute is already like that.

If you're willing to do a 2 hour commute, you should do okay in the East Bay.

[Daehawk]

If you order stuff Kasey may deliver it.

Isn't he a bus driver?

He posted about delivering packages.

[Z-Corn]

If you order stuff Kasey may deliver it.

Isn't he a bus driver?

He posted about delivering packages.

Tactical military surplus delivery of packages. With many different types of shoes and socks!

[LawBeefaroni]

you'd be hard pressed to find something in Sacramento for 1k let alone SF. I have friends who commute 2 hours into work to live somewhere slightly cheaper.

So what of that 630sqft unit in the OP?

says no units available...

2 were available when I posted. Guess they go quickly.

[Xmann]

2 hour commute?!?!

I'm considering moving to the other side of Denver next summer which will add 15 minutes to my current commute of 40 minutes. I hate that idea and I can't imagine 2 hours.

[Scuzz]

My sister worked in downtown SF for 20+ years. She lives in Pinole where she bought a condo 20+ years ago.

Her commute (via BART) was nearly an hour one way.

[Hipolito]

If you're willing to do a 2 hour commute, you should do okay in the East Bay.

Thanks for the suggestion. I have an acquaintance in Oakland, so maybe they can help me get settled in if I decide to live there.

The more I think about this, though, the more I'm open to paying $3,000/mo to live near work. Having that extra time every day to sleep, exercise, and eat properly will give me the energy to do well at my job. And since I see this job as a stepping stone to something better, I need all the energy I can get so I can really kill it at work. Instead of seeing $3,000/mo as a waste of money, I'll try to see it as an investment in the future.

And when I double the rent I'm willing to pay, I double my options. There's a lot of hip, furnished studios no more than a 15-minute bus ride from work.

I wonder if I can hire a real estate agent to find other rental options that I might be missing in my web searches.

My phone interview is tomorrow. I've been studying MHS's interview tips. They may have been posted in the antebellum era, but they're timeless.

[Jeff V]

Good luck with the interview!

[FishPants]

I can't stand going to San Francisco annually for a conference (M-F) south of Market at the Moscone centre. I'd go crazy living there I think; I guess I would be more tolerant in my younger years -- I even get annoyed with downtown Toronto now (thankfully I only do that commute once in awhile, but that is 1:20 each way -- not something I would do daily anymore).

Best of luck and stay out of the tenderloin area!

[mori]

I visited San Francisco 12 years ago and vowed I never would return. But time eases the memories of the desperate, and there is a lot of good to visit and see in the area. I could be persuaded to visit again but only a few days instead of the week before. And most of that outside of the city. Unless things have changed, avoid living there.

[Hipolito]

I can't stand going to San Francisco annually for a conference (M-F) south of Market at the Moscone centre.

Shoot, I'd be working about a block away from Moscone Center. I was hoping it would be a good area!

Thanks for all the input and well-wishes. The phone interview went OK. There will be a second round of interviews, but for now it looks like I can get the higher salary I was hoping for. (Don't worry, I didn't discuss salary until they brought it up. MHS taught me that!) That would enable me to live in an expensive place close to work, but now you guys are scaring me from living in the city.

[Anonymous Bosch]

FWIW, I personally go out of my way to avoid the area at all costs, much like FP. The biological horrors that'd be tracked through your home just on the soles of your shoes after spending any time walking the streets of San Francisco would likely be sufficient to make even Smoove's skin crawl. I certainly wouldn't want to live there myself, no matter how well the job pays.

[gbasden]

I guess I'm the outlier. I love SF, and go there about once a month for work. I love the energy of downtown and haven't found it significantly worse that most other large cities like New York. I would love to live there for a year or so if I could afford it, and I have friends and family that live in the area.

[ImLawBoy]

It's been 10 years or so since I've been there, but I used to go somewhat frequently on business (and my wife and I took a vacation there once). (Now that I think of it, I was back in the area back in 2013 when my friends and I went to the first round of the NCAA tournament in San Jose, but we only stopped into SF briefly for dinner one night.) I loved San Francisco and have nothing but fond memories of it.

[Pyperkub]

If you're willing to do a 2 hour commute, you should do okay in the East Bay.

Thanks for the suggestion. I have an acquaintance in Oakland, so maybe they can help me get settled in if I decide to live there.

The more I think about this, though, the more I'm open to paying $3,000/mo to live near work. Having that extra time every day to sleep, exercise, and eat properly will give me the energy to do well at my job. And since I see this job as a stepping stone to something better, I need all the energy I can get so I can really kill it at work. Instead of seeing $3,000/mo as a waste of money, I'll try to see it as an investment in the future.

And when I double the rent I'm willing to pay, I double my options. There's a lot of hip, furnished studios no more than a 15-minute bus ride from work.

I wonder if I can hire a real estate agent to find other rental options that I might be missing in my web searches.

My phone interview is tomorrow. I've been studying MHS's interview tips. They may have been posted in the antebellum era, but they're timeless.

If you like city life, SF is tough to beat if you can afford it, though SOMA (South of Market) has traditionally not been as nice as say the Marina/Russian Hill areas in the NE corner of the city. Dot-Com investment is changing that however.

If not, the easiest commutes are from the East Bay using BART. Alternatively, taking the Ferry to work is fantastic - and brings Alameda, Tiburon, Larkspur and Sausalito into play. I loved the year I spent living in Alameda - it's the closest you can get to Beach culture in the Bay Area without going all the way to Santa Cruz/Monterey.

[Scuzz]

I can't stand going to San Francisco annually for a conference (M-F) south of Market at the Moscone centre.

Shoot, I'd be working about a block away from Moscone Center. I was hoping it would be a good area!

Thanks for all the input and well-wishes. The phone interview went OK. There will be a second round of interviews, but for now it looks like I can get the higher salary I was hoping for. (Don't worry, I didn't discuss salary until they brought it up. MHS taught me that!) That would enable me to live in an expensive place close to work, but now you guys are scaring me from living in the city.

It has been several years since I was near Moscone Center but if I remember correctly it was an area of ups and downs. Nice shopping if you are into that and homeless people on the sidewalks. Or maybe that was near city hall, I remember passing them by from the BART station on the way to the theater district a few times. We saw Spamalot and Wicked in SF.

SF has some enjoyable areas, so I wouldn't put the whole town down. The Giants ballpark is beautiful, the DeYoung and Steinhart are wonderful and the park is nice. Alcatraz is interesting.

[FishPants]

I found lots of cool stuff in SF -- Just that area around Market is constantly crawling with homeless. At the time I was a smoker and just trying to have a dart in peace was almost impossible.. Change.. Smoke.. Change.. Smoke.. After the 10th person in a row asked, I just stopped responding.

I saw the terra cotta warriors at the Asia Art Museum which was pretty neat, MOMA was ok (not really my thing but glad to go through it once), I also enjoyed my time one day at the California Academy of Sciences. I hit that stuff on days where I was travelling solo (also did Alcatraz etc) -- out of the areas I was in, I think up by the Academy was the only area I found tolerable.

Go check it out before you relocate, that's a big move -- and the company should foot the bill to do a face to face before you sign.

[Anonymous Bosch]

Go check it out before you relocate, that's a big move -- and the company should foot the bill to do a face to face before you sign.

Amen, that's solid advice.

[DD*]

If you are moving to San Fran, you have only two choices - Chinatown (talk to Eddie down at the Dragon of the Black Pool) or Sausalito, where they keep the nuclear wessels.





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[Kasey Chang]

Alameda is where they keep the wessels.

I live in Chinatown, but my job takes me all over the SF Bay Area.

With that said, most of Market street, and esp. once you pass 6th St. sucks. Civic Center is tolerable but you get plenty of beggars all over the place. I just ignore them. Easy if you have headphones on, even if you don't play anything.

I don't go very far downtown, and Moscone has renovated quite a bit and it's quite a bit nicer than before. Metreon mall is next door and now has a City Target (sorta shrunken down version with more urban selection) but I still prefer SF Shopping Centre, which is between 4th and 5th on Market, has a basement layer with a HUGE food court, and goes up several floors with many different stores. And Yerba Buena garden, which is behind Metreon, has grass and stuff for a good lunch break.

Living situation is different. Living SOMA (south of Market) can be expensive if you picked one of those new development condos. But living far away like Richmond / Sunset can take you 30+ minutes just to get downtown... Unless you manage to catch the express.

[DD*]

Doh! You are correct sir. The whales are in Sausalito.


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[mori]

It is also against the law to kill a pigeon in the city. Those flying rats are as pesky and annoying as the homeless.

[naednek]

It is also against the law to kill a pigeon in the city. Those flying rats are as pesky and annoying as the homeless.

ya but if you have the urge to go, any sidewalk square is good to go!

[mori]

It is also against the law to kill a pigeon in the city. Those flying rats are as pesky and annoying as the homeless.

ya but if you have the urge to go, any sidewalk square is good to go!

Pick a square buddy!

[Hipolito]

Hey all,

I was offered the job, but decided not to go for it. It turned out not to be the stepping stone to DC as I had hoped. Kind of a shame, as I was looking forward to trying out life in the Bay Area, despite all the drawbacks. I was considering some pretty nice-looking places like Marina Distirct, the Avenues, and Marin County. Oh well, I hope to at least visit as a tourist someday.