http://www.creditkarma.com/ is a better service for credit reports than freecredit.com
CreditKarma doesn't provide a real FICO score. Do a Google search for "creditkarma fako" and you'll see just how inaccurate it can be.
How to find an apartment in San Francisco during the tech boom
21–30 of 120 posts
Re: How to find an apartment in San Francisco during the tech boom
#22You might also want to consider living in Oakland instead of San Francisco and taking BART to the city to work. My rent is 1/3 less and my commute (20 minutes door-to-door) is much shorter than that of many of my colleagues who live in the city.
Oakland is a big, heterogeneous city, with really nice districts that offer great dining, bars, and the usual city trappings.
Re: How to find an apartment in San Francisco during the tech boom
#23Seriously, can someone in the know please explain "bro central" to me? I know what a "brogrammer" is (I think), but maybe I missed the "bro" meme.
Think brogrammer minus the programmer. Frat boys and whatnot. (named because the tend to call everybody 'bro')
Re: How to find an apartment in San Francisco during the tech boom
#24Read this post right up to the following line, "There’s also huge differences from neighborhood to neighborhood as you are unlikely to find someone interested in the Mission (hipsters, homeless and immigrants)"
Pretty repulsive point of view IMHO.
EDIT: I am a recent immigrant to the United States
Re: How to find an apartment in San Francisco during the tech boom
#25You can also use Amtrak to ship your stuff to the Oakland station. It's by far the most cost effect way to move long distances. http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer?c=Page&pagen...
To ship boxes, yes.
But honestly if you're an engineer taking a job at a bay area tech company, you will be getting a relo package. If you move here on your own dime you're doing it wrong.
Re: How to find an apartment in San Francisco during the tech boom
#26You might also want to consider living in Oakland instead of San Francisco and taking BART to the city to work. My rent is 1/3 less and my commute (20 minutes door-to-door) is much shorter than that of many of my colleagues who live in the city. Oakland is a big, heterogeneous city, with really nice districts that offer great dining, bars, and the usual city trappings.
Seconded. Rockridge and Temescal in Oakland are great, Berkeley has some fine areas as well.
Re: How to find an apartment in San Francisco during the tech boom
#27As a non-US person moving to SF later this year, I don't have a US credit rating yet. How do I go about looking for places?
1) No credit is way better than bad credit.
2) Get a secured credit card so you at least have a file when they run your credit check. I'm sure you can find guides on how best to do this as a foreign citizen. If you don't have family or close friends here you could be out of luck. But if you do, you could easily have the card shipped to them and allow them to use it for things occasionally to help you get a credit rating.
US Credit ratings (FICO scores) are heavily weighted on revolving (credit card) accounts, not so much installment accounts, so don't worry about those.
Doing these things will help you immeasurably. Pulling credit is as much about identity verification as it is credit risk.
If you can't, remember: There are a TON of people with bad credit everywhere. They're not homeless. You will just have to be tenacious about it.
Re: How to find an apartment in San Francisco during the tech boom
#28As a non-US person moving to SF later this year, I don't have a US credit rating yet. How do I go about looking for places?
It's not that hard. I just did it and didn't have a problem. Bring proof of employment (offer letter) and be prepared to pay a higher deposit.
That's what I did back in 2000 when I moved to SF. Also be prepared to pay a deposit on utilities. My biggest issue turned out to be cellphones where I had to go pre-paid.
Not sure if this is still the case.
Re: How to find an apartment in San Francisco during the tech boom
#29Renting in SOMA right now is crazy, and 1 brs in the heart of SOMA near 4th and King are going for over $3000/month. If cost is an issue, places like SOMA, PacHeights, etc, are not good choices because it's super expensive. The danger with renting in SOMA is that unless you're moving into an old apartment, there is no rent control. If rent prices go up next year, you could find yourself paying $500+/month more next y…
For parking near Nob Hill, the Sutter-Stockton garage is the best I've found so far at $350/month. It's close to the Financial District and doesn't smell as bad as some places around here. SF may have some advantages for tech businesses but there are a lot of very good reasons to not open an office here.
Re: How to find an apartment in San Francisco during the tech boom
#30Read this post right up to the following line, "There’s also huge differences from neighborhood to neighborhood as you are unlikely to find someone interested in the Mission (hipsters, homeless and immigrants )" Pretty repulsive point of view IMHO. EDIT: I am a recent immigrant to the United States
Yes, I also found this disgusting. You know, the people he's calling immigrants are actually the people that have lived there for generations.