Ask HN: Best place to start in San Francisco?

#1

Post by Azuldolphin » Fri, Oct 01, 2010, 4:40 PM UTC

My partner and I are going to be leaving our current job and moving from NYC to San Francisco to join the startup community in December. We're looking to find a studio that we can share for around $1000 a month.

Does this sound reasonable? What areas do you guys recommend we check out? We're planning on staying with a friend when we get there while we check out places in person. How long does it take to find an apartment in december?

Also, any other advice about living in SF would be great. We're planning on using bicycles and public transportation to get around. Do you think we'll need a car?

A little more about us- we're two guys in our mid 20s working for a software company in NYC area. We like our jobs, but have concluded there's not much room for growth, and we'd like the freedom of working for ourselves. Any stories of other people doing the same kind of thing would be great!

Last thing- this is a throw away account, since we haven't yet told our employer that we're leaving.

Re: Ask HN: Best place to start in San Francisco?

#2

Post by kroger » Fri, Oct 01, 2010, 4:49 PM UTC

You mean $1000 total or each? If total it's probably on the low end and expect to pay more. Check craigslist to have an idea of price. You can get around by bike, public transportation or walking, but it's not a bad idea to either have a car or rent one from time to time to travel around the bay area. (highly recommended!)

As for recommendations of places, my advice is to stay with friends in the first days like you said, look around and see the places you like. You probably can rent a place in 1-3 weeks.

Re: Ask HN: Best place to start in San Francisco?

#3

Post by Azuldolphin » Fri, Oct 01, 2010, 4:53 PM UTC

kroger wrote: post #2

You mean $1000 total or each? If total it's probably on the low end and expect to pay more. Check craigslist to have an idea of price. You can get around by bike, public transportation or walking, but it's not a bad idea to either have a car or rent one from time to time to travel around the bay area. (highly recommended!) As for recommendations of places, my advice is to stay with friends in the first days like you…

Yea, we were hoping for $1000 total, for a small studio. What price range should we expect to find?

Please keep in mind we have no idea what the neighborhoods are in SF, so please include that as well.

Re: Ask HN: Best place to start in San Francisco?

#4

Post by LeBlanc » Fri, Oct 01, 2010, 4:56 PM UTC

If you are trying to save money, you should consider living in Mountain View, San Jose, or the east bay. Living in the city is fun and will be the most like NY (you won't need a car), but it will also be more expensive. I know people who live in Mountain View and Palo Alto who get by without a car, but it is harder. There is also not nearly as much fun stuff to do outside of the city, but that also means less distractions from your start-up.

Good luck with your start-up!

Re: Ask HN: Best place to start in San Francisco?

#5

Post by _delirium » Fri, Oct 01, 2010, 4:58 PM UTC

Only an answer to a specific part, but as far as needing a car goes, in SF you don't, but you likely will if you plan to visit people/companies/events in Silicon Valley. It's possible to get to something like DevHouse (http://superhappydevhouse.org/) by public transit, but it's often a hassle. If it's only occasionally, though, you could sign up for a service like City CarShare or ZipCar.

Re: Ask HN: Best place to start in San Francisco?

#6

Post by maxawaytoolong » Fri, Oct 01, 2010, 5:03 PM UTC

$1000 is a bit low, I would expand to $1200-$1500. (that said I had a studio for $1000 right by GGP, but I had it for quite some time)

I lived in SF for the better part of a decade, all over the city. I would say the best quality of life is to be found if you live off of the "N Judah" streetcar line. It's easy to get to the beach, inner richmond, outer richmond, golden gate park, castro, noe valley, Hayes Valley, fidi, SoMa, BART, Embarcadero, etc off of this line.

Re: Ask HN: Best place to start in San Francisco?

#7

Post by jimmyjam » Fri, Oct 01, 2010, 5:12 PM UTC

Azuldolphin wrote: post #3

kroger wrote: post #2

You mean $1000 total or each? If total it's probably on the low end and expect to pay more. Check craigslist to have an idea of price. You can get around by bike, public transportation or walking, but it's not a bad idea to either have a car or rent one from time to time to travel around the bay area. (highly recommended!) As for recommendations of places, my advice is to stay with friends in the first days like you…

Yea, we were hoping for $1000 total, for a small studio. What price range should we expect to find? Please keep in mind we have no idea what the neighborhoods are in SF, so please include that as well.

That's optimistic, especially if you want to use bicycles and public transit.

You could live in the tenderloin - it's one of the worst districts in the city, but it's close to a lot of stuff and rents are cheap.

Check craigslist. Also, there was mashup posted here earlier. http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF&msa=0&msid=111...

Pretty good summary. Seems like you guys are concerned about saving money and making good contacts - in that case, I'd probably recommend the mission. You'll have to pay like 1000-1500 for a studio, but the location is prime and it's eminently walkable.

Re: Ask HN: Best place to start in San Francisco?

#8

Post by Azuldolphin » Fri, Oct 01, 2010, 5:14 PM UTC

LeBlanc wrote: post #4

If you are trying to save money, you should consider living in Mountain View, San Jose, or the east bay. Living in the city is fun and will be the most like NY (you won't need a car), but it will also be more expensive. I know people who live in Mountain View and Palo Alto who get by without a car, but it is harder. There is also not nearly as much fun stuff to do outside of the city, but that also means less distrac…

Thanks for the advice but we're really leanin towards living in SF. After living in NYC for 3 years I think I'd go crazy living 45 mins away, and needing to get around by car.

Re: Ask HN: Best place to start in San Francisco?

#9

Post by smokestack » Fri, Oct 01, 2010, 5:15 PM UTC

Azuldolphin wrote: post #3

kroger wrote: post #2

You mean $1000 total or each? If total it's probably on the low end and expect to pay more. Check craigslist to have an idea of price. You can get around by bike, public transportation or walking, but it's not a bad idea to either have a car or rent one from time to time to travel around the bay area. (highly recommended!) As for recommendations of places, my advice is to stay with friends in the first days like you…

Yea, we were hoping for $1000 total, for a small studio. What price range should we expect to find? Please keep in mind we have no idea what the neighborhoods are in SF, so please include that as well.

Tenderloin/Mission/Sunset are places you might be able to find something for a grand.

Tenderloin - stabby stabby. Mission - on the dirtier side, a little sketchy in parts, but trendy and experiencing lots of gentrification. Sunset - lots of asian influence, very livable. You'll very rarely see the sunset from here though.

You might even be able to find something in Richmond for a grand if you're lucky. Just keep an eye out, set up alerts on padmapper.com. I found a $1400 one bedroom in a nice part of the city there.

Re: Ask HN: Best place to start in San Francisco?

#10

Post by kroger » Fri, Oct 01, 2010, 5:15 PM UTC

Azuldolphin wrote: post #3

kroger wrote: post #2

You mean $1000 total or each? If total it's probably on the low end and expect to pay more. Check craigslist to have an idea of price. You can get around by bike, public transportation or walking, but it's not a bad idea to either have a car or rent one from time to time to travel around the bay area. (highly recommended!) As for recommendations of places, my advice is to stay with friends in the first days like you…

Yea, we were hoping for $1000 total, for a small studio. What price range should we expect to find? Please keep in mind we have no idea what the neighborhoods are in SF, so please include that as well.

For $1000 you can find a small studio, but also consider the advice to look for places in the peninsula (Mountain View, Menlo Park, Palo Alto) and East bay (Oakland, etc)

As a rule of the thumb, the places north in the city (nob hill, south beach, marina, etc) tend to be upscale. Downtown is not so bad, but I'd stay away from tenderloin. I don't particularly like the Mission and SOMA, but it seems a good number of startups have offices there, so YMMV. Northwest (close to the Golden Gate Park) have nice places, but seems to be worse if you don't have a car.

You'll see that sometimes a neighborhood is perfectly fine and safe and you walk two blocks down and it feels sketchy and unsafe. That's why I recommend you walk around.