Ask HN: Moving to San Francisco: Best way to find an appartment

40 points by rmanocha 15 years ago | 38 comments

I'm moving to San Francisco for the summer (June to Mid August) for an internship. I was wondering what's the best way to find an apartment for this period. I've checked Craigslist so far, but was wondering if there are any better options/sites where I can look up listings?

Also, I'll be working in Redwood City, so what would be the best area to live in? The office is very close to the BART station, so theoretically I can live in SF and come down daily for work. Is that a recommended option?

shazow 15 years ago |

http://padmapper.com/ and co are great for finding apartment rentals, but I suggest you consider something like http://airbnb.com/ too.

It's very difficult finding a rental with less than a 12 month lease in SF. The best part of Airbnb or similar is, if you travel light, you can spend some time in different neighbourhoods which vary significantly in SF.

End of the day, you might even save some money compared to renting.

kordless 15 years ago |

I think someone else mentioned it, but BART doesn't go to Redwood City. Caltrain does. As a daily BART rider from the East Bay, occasionally needing to be in Palo Alto, I don't recommend combining a BART and Caltrain commute.

If you want to live in SF, and commute to Redwood City, your best bet is to ride the 8:44 or 8:59 baby bullets on Caltrain. The one at 8:59 gets you in Redwood City in a scant 30 minutes.

Pick a place in the city that is near the Caltrain station, maybe even within walking distance. Dogpatch/SOMA/Potrero? Keep in mind Muni timing sucks, BART is semi-stable, and Caltrain is the most reliable.

Also that's a reverse commute, so maybe even drive it.

prodigal_erik 15 years ago | |

Be advised that Caltrain is having money problems and plans to drastically reduce their service this summer, so if you ever need to commute after 8:30 AM or stay past 7 PM you might be screwed. That's a very long bus ride, or a high cab fare.

http://www.caltrain.com/riderinfo/Proposed_Service_Changes.h...

I stayed in motels as I got to know the area and decided where I wanted to commit to staying. Some offer weekly rates that are competitive with local rents. Sequoia Inn was nice, and it's in Redwood City:

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/pen/roo/2299556424.html

impendia 15 years ago | |

I've driven it before, the 280 is kind of bad but tolerable and the 101 is definitely bad.

juiceandjuice 15 years ago | | |

I drive the 280 every day now to Palo Alto. After 9:15 am from Noe Valley and after about 6:30 PM, it's a breeze. It takes me 35 minutes.

mattdeboard 15 years ago | |

Agreed, and I didn't think of that. A reverse commute would've been a dream when I lived there. Leaving the city in the morning and returning in the late afternoon/evening? Yes please. Unless of course it's Friday.

grourk 15 years ago | |

Caltrain is not the most reliable. In my experience, BART is more reliable.

plusbryan 15 years ago |

Padmapper.com puts listings on a map, and includes a lot of useful features like remembering listings you've already viewed.

rmanocha 15 years ago | |

Thanks for the suggestion. Padmapper indeed is pretty great, but the one problem I'm having is that most of the listings are for 12 month leases (or similar). Is there anyway to narrow the results to just sublets or listings just over the summer?

enjalot 15 years ago | | |

click on 'filter listings' in the bottom left. uncheck "Show Full Leases" and all you are left with is sublets.

I'm looking to stay in Berkeley from mid May to August so I've been browsing padmapper and this made the searches much more efficient.

mattdeboard 15 years ago | | |

Find a place you want to live and call the complex to see if they have shorter-term leases available.

ajays 15 years ago |

http://housingmaps.com/ is the granddaddy of them all. IIRC, it was one of the first such mashup apps with the newly launched Google Maps API (well, it was one of the first to become popular, at least (for the pedantic crowd who hasn't had their morning coffee yet ;-) ) )

Also: Redwood City is in the Peninsula (i.e. directly South of San Francisco). BART does not serve RWC; Caltrain does. Assuming you meant Caltrain, then you should look for places near the intersection of 4th St & King St (that's where all Caltrains start). There's ATT Park nearby, and a decent amount of stuff to do.

Also: it may be hard to find something now, given that you're interested in June. Most apartments are advertised just a month before being vacant.

lsb 15 years ago | |

If you really want to be pedantic, it was one of the first such mashup apps with the Google Maps "API" that hadn't even launched yet. That's what was so cool about it, and why Google was so interested in bringing him on, he reverse-engineered their API that they were still building.

juiceandjuice 15 years ago |

Craigslist and Padmapper are the best. I just did this, it took me about a month and a half to find a place. I ended up getting a place in Noe Valley of 27th.

I drive the 280 every day now to Palo Alto. After 9:15 am from Noe Valley and after about 6:30 PM, it's a breeze. It takes me 35 minutes total, and I got 75.

If you don't want to drive, Portrero hill is your best bet. If you don't mind driving, Bernal, Noe, Glen Park or the mission (or portrero) is your best bet. Castro, SOMA, or anything north/west will pretty much suck unless you leave after 10am.

The real problem with RWC is that it takes a long time to get to the downtown section from the 280, so you might have to think about the 101, which WILL suck, no matter what. The 101 doesn't really settle down at night til 7 or even 8. I've only tried a short stint from PA to RWC on it in the mornings and usually that sucks too.

Portrero is your best bet for caltrain though. You'll probably spend $150 a month on caltrain passes. The big thing there though is you'll have to find somewhere in portrero/dogpatch to stay, and I think that's harder to do because there seems to be fewer places. Also, if you live there, you'll probably want to live close to 18th or 3rd to be within walking distance of anything.

Check walkscore.com for any places you find to see what's around them.

mattdeboard 15 years ago | |

Potrero Hill also features some great affordable subleasing in some nice old houses. It's also, iirc, more "suburban"-feeling than other parts of the city.

hajrice 15 years ago |

Your best bet is HackerHouse IMO. If you're really looking for an apartment, go with http://padmapper.com, really easy way to browse for apartments

mattdeboard 15 years ago |

Rent.com is good, plus they send you $100 if you sign a lease you found through their site. I left the Bay Area for Indiana and was pleasantly surprised when I got a check in the mail from them. shrug That's a big plus IMO.

Also Redwood City is on the south end of "the peninsula," touching "the south bay." It's not a bad place to live, you're iirc 7 or 8 bart stops from the city. But yeah if you're gonna be there for the summer I would definitely consider living in the city and commuting to work. It would be a really awesome experience.

You can find inexpensive places to live and mass transit is EVERYWHERE, plus a lot of great night life in walking distance. Bring a bike. It's definitely possible to commute to Redwood City every day. Get a kindle.

tl;dr: I miss the Bay Area so bad, and I'm jealous of you. TAKE ME WITH YOU. I don't eat much, I promise.

briandoll 15 years ago |

The best apartments in San Francisco will never be online. You'll need to get to the neighborhoods you like and walk around.

You'll find plenty of large apartment buildings online, but the really quaint nice spots just have a sign in the window.

Lots of people move here and even more talk about it. I'd guess having a sign in the window cuts down on the BS.

Redwood City is fine for work but if you're moving here you'll have way more fun in San Francisco.

raerae7133 15 years ago |

Check out http://www.prometheusreg.com/. We moved to Sunnyvale from Minnesota and leased our apartment sight unseen. We later moved to another one of their complexes in San Mateo and they transferred the lease. They offer month-to-month leases, I think they manage a lot of corporate housing.

The apartments are a bit on the pricey side, but they're so nice. Good luck, and welcome to San Francisco!

kroger 15 years ago |

When I was living in the Bay Area I found my place in craigslist, don't know if it's still good. But yes, you should go live in San Francisco and comute to work.

Zev 15 years ago |

Look for sublets on Craigslist. You won't find a place to rent for that short of a duration, but you can find someone who is going on vacation for awhile and has a furnished apartment that they are willing to rent out.

This is what I did when I was in the city for an internship last summer and again when I moved to the city in January.

psawaya 15 years ago |

I'll also be in the bay area this summer, working in Mountain View but hopefully living in the city. Looking for a roommate?

mattdeboard 15 years ago | |

Best idea. Definitely contact him via email.

impendia 15 years ago |

I live in the Dogpatch, within 5 minutes walk of 22nd Street Caltrain (to the east), and commute to Stanford by train.

Nice neighborhood. The disadvantage is that it's not right next to very much, but it's a quick bus ride (on the 22) to the Mission, the T light rail goes downtown, and if you have a car then parking is easy.

lightcatcher 15 years ago |

I'm also interning out in San Francisco from June to August/September, and looking for a place to stay. A friend out in SF recommended http://www.sfhomestay.com/ to me.

Padmapper looks pretty good though, and I'm going to spend some time checking that out now.

sayemm 15 years ago |

http://padmapper.com as others mention here.

Click on Filter Listings, enter your criteria for your ideal apt, and then get daily email alerts sent to you too. It's an awesome resource.

ditojim 15 years ago |

i found my short term lease in SF thru this leasing company: http://www.archstoneapartments.com/

they have a couple buildings in and around the city. hope this helps!

kristofferR 15 years ago |

padmapper.com is quite good

revorad 15 years ago |

http://nestoria.com

nivertech 15 years ago |

I think it's Caltrain, not BART in Redwood City

sfrench 15 years ago | |

This is correct, BART stops in Millbrae.

The San Francisco Caltrain stops are at 22nd (in potrero hill) and 4th and King (SOMA). If you don't live in either of those neighborhoods, you'll need to take a bus or MUNI train to the station.

andymoe 15 years ago | | |

Speaking from experience anytime your commute in sf includes more than one bus or MUNI to another system like BART or caltrain your soul will be quickly crushed.

A bike ride to caltrain from the Mission or greater Castro area is also doable. One other thing to consider is that redwood city is pretty spread out and you may find yourself needing to bike from caltrain once you get down there. Avoid the 101 (sf) or 880 (east bay) drive down south if at all possible. 280 from sf to Palo Alto is the only reasonable driving commute from sf as far as I am concerned. I did it for a year to cupertino and it was... bearable. Email if you have any specific questions.

sabat 15 years ago |

You don't have get an apartment in SF if you'll be working in RWC. Remember: SF is not the Bay Area. The Bay Area is a large metropolitan area with three major cities. You'll be working about halfway between two of them (SF and San Jose). You might very well want to stay in Mtn View or Palo Alto -- much more hip in the tech sense than SF.

mattdeboard 15 years ago | |

I was going to recommend the South Bay, but I wouldn't say MV/PA since Santa Clara is right there and much cheaper in my experience in terms of rent.

limedaring 15 years ago | | |

The South Bay is certainly cheaper but has no where the amount of culture and fun that living in Mountain View and Palo Alto has. If you're only in the Bay Area for 3 months, I'd shell out some more dough to live in SF or PA rather than be bored in San Jose.