apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

As a way of getting things started ... what is your opinion of the rental market in the Bay Area?

(A nice, open question, hehe)

I CL'ed rentals that cost around what we pay total, including parking, and lapsed into a discounted-marshmallow-caramel-egg-eating coma. Since the price sag in spring 2003 (when we moved into the city), prices have edged up again and supply is down. If we got tired of dodging angry mendicants and decided to move, we'd have to work hard at breaking even with a place that has the hardwood floors, closets, and historic froufrou.

That's right -- you're planning to move here, so my grumbling helps you not at all.

Are you thinking city, near-commute to city, ritzy 'burbs, edgy grungy 'burbs, ocean-side? Mass transit or car? Historic detail or clean white carpet?

If I had a fantasy life completely other than what I actually live, I'd be looking at studio apartments in people's back yards in Berkeley.

Hi Wende,

I have heard a lot of things about the rental market, so no worries, your honest grumpling is refreshing :) My goal was to start an open dialog, not necesarrily look for advice on my own behalf.

I'm a freelance writer, so being near a certain location for work is not vital. I would love to live IN the city, but the cost of that is pushing it, though I am still trying to make it happen. Otherwise, being less than 30 minutes via BART in the East Bay works just as well (I don't own a car & prefer not to). I love historic detail, but finding an affordable place like that is not always easy. I've seen some fantastic places on CL, which is my main source for info. I'll be visiting the area from May 4th-7th to look at places and pick one. 2-3 weeks later, my boyfriend, myself, and our cats will be moving in. (hence why I prefer at least a 1-bedroom, automatically driving up the cost).

Major hint: Ask about square footage when you call to make an appointment to view a place. Our 1926 apartment in the safe part of the Tenderloin is about 800 sq ft. The same money would buy us only 650 sq ft in Noe Valley or Russian Hill -- but the apartments look similar in photos.

In Berkeley, the apartment would be even smaller and would include some feature that requires a sense of humor to live with. (Berkeley is not a place -- it's a lifestyle.)

With any luck, ebrown will be around to tell you about Oakland. Oakland has HUGE potential, but it's so complex that we couldn't figure it out when we tried to find an apartment in a weekend.

(We ended up for a while in Albany, a short walk from the El Cerrito BART station, but it was too family-oriented for us. Great if you want to cook or garden, though.)

I've lived in the city and all over the East Bay. I must say that I have come to love the East Bay (while a city dweller I wouldn't dare think of coming over here).

Oakland has some really great areas and some really not great areas - it can be hard to tell from craigslist sometimes - but if the place seems huge and the rent is cheap, that's a pretty good indicator that it may not be particularly safe.

I'm currently in Berkeley and yes, it is a lifestyle, but a really great, friendly, laid-back lifestyle that is refreshing. Personally, I have liked it better because the city seems to have a very young crowd and Berkeley has great restaurants and bars (away from the college) that appeal to wide range of ages and makes for a more interesting mix - imho.

i'm also a berkeley-ite (and berkeley lover), but lived in sf for a few years before moving east. if you absolutely don't want to own a car, i recommend against the east bay. it's possible, but sometimes so inconvenient (example: i once waited an hour for a bus on a very busy street- shattuck- around 6:30pm... when the bus finally arrived, i asked the driver how often this bus was supposed to come b/c i waited for so long. the driver laughed, looked me in the eye, and said "honey, you need to have a back up plan!" a back up plan for the bus???? i started looking for a car that week).

True, the East Bay is a lot easier with a car. It also depends on exactly where in the East Bay you are. I have a number of friends who are able to walk to work, shopping, etc.

Between my husband and I we share one car and that has been perfect. A lot of things are in walking distance from us, but for those few times when we need to go further...

Hi all,

I rent in the Rockridge neighborhood of Oakland, right at the Berkeley border.

Regarding transportation, I personally find Berkeley to be a very frustrating place to own a car. The urban planning is designed to slow down all car traffic-- between the random one-way streets, the round-a-bout planters, and a stop light at every block, it takes me the less time to bicycle (and sometimes even walk) to most locations extending from the UC campus to downtown Oakland. This is great when the weather is nice. When I was a student, I would usually lust after the car when I wanted to get out of dodge. The rest of the time I would be grumpy about the parking situation.

My ideal Bay Area situation would be to walk, BART, or bus to work, and have the car on stand-by for taking the afternoon off to go to the beach. I take the bus to work a couple times a week, and I while I can relate to the woes of waiting an hour in the middle of the night for the stupid 51 bus to deign to show up, I think there's usually some other options.

Woohoo, a thread full of honest opinions - my favorite. I have been looking a lot in SF, Oakland, El Cerrito, Emeryville, and Berkeley. I've also seen some nice places in Hayward and Albany, so those are possibilites.

My mom got a job in the Bay Area as well, so she will be moving at the same time that my boyfriend & I are. She has a car, so at worst, I do have that back-up. When it comes down to it, owning a car is a big hassle and cost, so I keep trying to avoid it. Also, SF has a great program @ http://www.citycarshare.org/ that I will sign up for if need be.

Nearly all of the ads that I reply to from Craigslist do have the square footage listed, and if not, I make sure to get it. Other things that are vital to know are closest BART stop, laundry, gym, if the landlord pays any utilities ... etc.

Okay, I'm gonna do some suburbanites-will-hate-me opinions, as we hit many of those locations on our whirlwind apartment-hunting tour in fall 2002.

El Cerrito: close to the Albany border has all the advantages of Albany in a different configuration. Once the nearest BART station is El Cerrito del Norte, be prepared for a grungier area, though you may be closer to the original downtown strip, which has its surges of revival. The closer you get to the Richmond, the grungier the world is.

Emeryville: no BART! (Unless you're brave enough to walk to the West Oakland stop. West Oakland has major, major crime issues.) No walkable downtown core unless you count walking along San Pablo Avenue to Walgreen's. The shopping strips off Shellmound are non-walker-friendly, despite the claims of Bay Street and the cheery presence of IKEA. Condos or apts are often near strip malls, but I can't for the life of me think of a real grocery store in the Shellmound section, nor north of the freeway with the Home Depot.

Hayward: if you're looking at the apartments near the BART station, I think you're right behind the Albertson's in the bit where it seems like Hayward's about to get cute. Downtown was somewhat the worse for wear last time I was there (almost a year ago now), though it's not scary, just not bouncy. If you look seriously here, walk around a lot and look for the stores you consider necessities, as Hayward is a car suburb. If both the price and the property look irresistable, odds are good that you have to drive to the BART station.

Have you considered Alameda? The downtown strip is lively without being completely boutiqued, though I'm not sure what happens with mass transit other than the ferry.

Alameda has decent bus service (lived there for a little while). There is an express bus to SF that's fairly easy to catch and reasonably priced. And it's easy to catch the bus to the Fruitvale BART station - although that BART station doesn't always feel the safest when there alone at night.

Alameda has some of the best bay area weather! And don't forget about Rosenblum winery and Hangar One vodka. But unless you are near the stores and such it can be difficult without a car.

I'm not a fan of Emeryville either-- completely not pedestrian friendly. There's one fun breakfast joint that's a nice place to visit, but... IKEA's an interesting place to visit, not that I'd want to live next door.

I like Albany. Also, Solano Avenue is a fun street. You'd probably need a car over there, but there are several grocery stores on Solano and it's just around the corner to the cool Asian mini mall in El Cerrito.

"Okay, I'm gonna do some suburbanites-will-hate-me opinions..."

Now hold it right there! We don't hate you for expressing your honest opinions in a respectful & non-snarky way, which is very helpful (and which is exactly what you did, I hasten to add). I mean, geez, that would be totally unreasonable. No, no, no...we just hate you for being lucky enough to live in the city. (all in good fun, of course.)

Victoria E: Sorry, I'm not knowledgeable enough to offer any real tips on apartment-hunting in the Bay Area, but one thing I can definitely say is that your search will be MUCH easier if you allow for the possibility of having a car. I know, I know, I don't like it either, but I think that's the cold hard reality. My partner & I live in Millbrae (near Burlingame) with 1 car between the two of us, and even that generates enough inconvenience for him to constantly mutter under his breath about getting another car (which I have so far resisted on environmental grounds).

I found a fantastic duo of apartments in the same building in Bernal Heights. The problem is the woman is showing both of them all day today and she says that she has had a lot of interest.

Unless I can find a friend to visit for me, I think I'm fudged on them. I posted pictures of them here :: http://victoriablue.livejournal.com/127606.html

Those are an incredible deal for $1400!

This is what I thought as well, but when I contacted her, she was showing both of them the same day. She said that she had a lot of interest. I told her I could send her references and my credit check, because I was very interested, but still didn't hear back from her.

My main goal is to get a place IN SF, and that is what I am still trying to accomplish. Just 3 days before I'm in the city to look at apartments :O

I'm looking for safe room share with sane roomies in a house being on Disability fixed income for now here in Portland,OR which seems same rental's wise and roomie/shares wise. A son lives over on 12th in a gated condo but he's new to the area and CA in general.

I would like to be able to take BART to visit and he doing the same (have a light truck but not using it for usual reasons as little as possible but need situation with parking included on measly $800 plus FS) just to get to work in Castro Valley.

Any opinions? I am not getting ahead in PDX as is slang here...I wanted to check out the Bay area all my life and PDX is okay and had a person here to help get me out to the west coast at least. Highly disappointed in what is available in rehab with Medicare to get back to work and school either or both, along with rentals, no Section 8, and crappy job scene in a serve the wealthy /high tech/Uni town *OHSU* as soon as possible when my lease is up in November here. One year and my gut says this is not home, Dorothy. Thanks for any help, Wende or anyone else's sage advice. I am 48 almost 49 and having to rebuild my life again after a d.v. sitch could no longer be abided by, ya know? I mean ... I got myself halfway across the country, divorced but no spousal help due to the d.v. It's like cut bait and run like hell.

Couple friends in my building working two jobs couldn't make it and are leaving in droves. I'm an artist but need remedials after an MVA and injuries that can't be "seen".


So. back to my original question. ;D Thanks for any and all input. I hate being hooked up to the gov't for my needs so please don't judge this book by its cover (in case; not that you would).

Janie