How I Found a 3 Bedroom Apartment in San Francisco
San Francisco Apartment Hunting Process, Roommates, etc. (8 min.)
San Francisco is the second most expensive rental market in the country, trailing the prices in New York City. My two roommates and I were searching for a 3 bedroom apartment in late July & early August. We started the apartment hunt late July, and it took us exactly one week until we signed our lease. I’ll go through our entire apartment hunting process, what we’ve learned, and the mistakes we’ve made so you don’t have to repeat them.
If you don’t care for reading my hunting story, at least read the key takeaways and lessons section!! Learn from my experience.
Our Situation
I graduated college in May and recently moved out to San Francisco for work. After unsuccessfully asking around my college network looking for suitable roommates, I decided to turn to Facebook. There are plenty of SF Housing & Roommates groups where people post about sublets and roommate searches. I figured I’d take a chance at rooming with strangers to make friends, meet their mutuals, and have new experiences in a new city.
As with most things on the internet, you do need to be careful when using Facebook housing groups. Lots of rental listings are fraudulent, so make sure to do your due diligence and always be skeptical. If you are looking for roommates on these groups, make sure to call and scope out the vibes!
Apartment Hunting
The first thing that we established as a roommate group was budget. We decided to budget cap at $2000 / each, or $6000 for a 3 bed unit. The next consideration was location, which is extremely important in San Francisco because the safety and cleanliness of each neighborhood vastly differs. The last consideration is the quality of the unit itself. After much discussion, these were the requirements that we came up with (our preferences):
At most $6000 for a preferably 3 bed 2 bathroom apartment
Russian Hill, North Beach, or Pac Heights. These areas are residential, safe, and comfortable. There are also plenty of things to do in these areas.
Remodeled, modern style interior. We didn’t want to be living in a centuries old property like many of the homes here.
Price
The average price rent is a little over $3000 in San Francisco. You can filter by rental prices on websites like Zillow or Apartments.com. If you have a higher budget like $3500, then you can afford to live in luxury high-rise apartments in SOMA, Rincon Hill, and the Financial District. Less than that, you’re looking to live in duplexes up north in residential areas and budget high rises.
My Thoughts on High Rise Apartments
Since my budget was $6000 for a 3 bed, the only SOMA apartments I considered were these “budget high rises”. I was pretty close to booking with 855 Brannan Apartments because they were doing a first month free promo so it would’ve been ~$5200 a month. Another place I was looking at was Astella Apartments.
What I liked the most about the budget high rises were the proximity to the office, modern style, amenities, and affordability. Renting with apartment also comes with assurance of good maintenance and having a property management company instead of landlord (good & bad). They also have pretty low security deposits! The downside of these budget high rises is location. They’re budget because the neighborhoods aren’t that safe and there isn’t much to do around the area.
Apartments charge you more money if your move in date is further away from your lease sign date. They don’t like it when there’s a vacancy period.
Apartment prices are like stocks. One day, their quote is $6000, the next week it’s $5500. Prices drastically fluctuate based on time of year and demand. Summers are hot markets!
Residential Areas
In the end, we chose a 3 bed 2 bath duplex (one floor of a home) on the border of Russian Hill and North Beach for $5800. What we liked about it was that it was spacious, had renovated interiors, 25 minutes from the office, and most importantly, prime location of the residential areas with lots of fun things around it. The downside of a home is the lack of amenities, hit or miss landlord, and a high security deposit.
Try to meet your landlord before you sign the lease! During our housing tour, we met a landlord that would give us vague answers to questions, and seemed to not take care of the property. Huge red flag! 🚩
You NEED to visit the property. When you’re dealing with a landlord instead of property management company, quality standards will vary.
Leases
Read everything before you sign the lease. You need to protect yourself as a tenant and understand what each clause means. Who is responsible for maintenance? Are utilities covered? How are payments made? What happens to security deposit? What happens when a roommate on a lease bails?
If you have roommates, I would recommend asking if the landlord is willing to provide separate lease agreements for each of you. That way, you give yourself extra protection by not binding your living to your roommate’s. You’ll need to figure out how much each roommate pays for every room.
Most leases in San Francisco are 1 year long and provide month to month after the year. After lease expiry, the landlord must return security deposit as long as there’s no property damage. Landlords are responsible for maintenance unless stated otherwise. Subleasing is not allowed in most places. Know your rights as a tenant!
Takeaway Lessons
Never sign on a house or duplex without visiting the property first. There are no quality standards when it comes to home listings. If you can’t visit before moving in, an apartment complex with property manager is a safer bet.
If you have roommates, try to get individual lease agreements. That way you’re protecting yourself from the actions of your roommates. Better safe than sorry.
Never hurts to try negotiating. I was able to bump down the price from $6000 to $5800.
Figure out how you’re splitting rent with roommates ahead of time. Not all bedrooms are created equally. Pay for what you’re getting.
You won’t find the perfect place. Every apartment has tradeoffs. You have to prioritize what’s most important in your decision making and make tradeoffs. For us, it was price and location.
Landlords are very hit or miss. Try meeting your landlord if you can to catch a vibe. Having a bad landlord can easily ruin your stay. Property management companies are better with quality control and disputes.
Read the damn lease in its entirety. Make sure it’s everything y’all agreed upon. Educate yourself on renting and your tenant rights!