

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

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?<p>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?
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shazow
<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.

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kordless
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.

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

~~~
juiceandjuice
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.

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

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rmanocha
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?

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enjalot
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.

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ajays
<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
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.

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juiceandjuice
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
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.

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hajrice
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

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mattdeboard
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.

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briandoll
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.

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raerae7133
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!

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kroger
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.

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Zev
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.

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psawaya
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
Best idea. Definitely contact him via email.

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impendia
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.

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lightcatcher
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.

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sayemm
<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.

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ditojim
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!

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kristofferR
padmapper.com is quite good

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revorad
<http://nestoria.com>

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

~~~
sfrench
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
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.

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sabat
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
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
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.

~~~
mattdeboard
Oh, right, forgot about San Jose. Guess that shows how much time I spent
there. But I definitely meant the MV/PA area; Santa Clara is 5-10 minutes from
Mountain View, if that.

~~~
limedaring
Opposite direction than PA/SF, and a snoozeworthy downtown area to boot. :P

~~~
mattdeboard
There's a downtown area? Damn I was missing out!

