

Ask HN:  How much rent can I afford in San Francisco? - j_baker

I'm moving to San Francisco soon and I'm just trying to get a rough idea of what I can afford.  The general rule of thumb is rent should be 33% of income, but that seems a bit tough in SF with rent prices what they are.  What do most landlords go by?
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LeBlanc
If you are willing to be flexible in terms on location, you can get cheaper
rents but still be close to the city proper via public transit. Places down in
the peninsula will be even cheaper, but you will have to factor in the price
of the commute (caltrain from mountain view to SF everyday can get expensive).
There are also the google shuttles, but I have not used them.

Living with room-mates will also save you a bunch of money obviously. I am
down in Palo Alto right now but thinking about moving up to SF, so long as I
can convince the people I want to live with to find a place cheap enough for
me. Good luck!

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stretchwithme
Landlords go by whatever the market will bear. SF is a great place to live and
everybody living there is willing to pay more to do so.

My advice is decide what minimum qualities you must have in a place and find
something that meets or exceeds those for the least money.

But try to make a short commitment initially. You will doubtless learn a lot
more about the market and your own needs once you're here.

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starkfist
The standard formula used by rental companies for tenant approval is the
combined incomes of the renters should be 40x the monthly rent of the
apartment. Of course, preference is given to those making more money. If it's
being rented by the owner there is usually more room for negotiation.

