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Comment by quesera | Hacker News Reader

Get roommates, get ready to pay, and don't expect much.

There are some great old houses in South of Market, but turnover is rare, and they're all expensive. There are some great/awful new live/work buildings there too, but most of them are condos and all of them are expensive.

Affordability comes in Outer Mission, Excelsior, Outer Richmond, Outer Sunset. Occasionally Potrero Hill toward Cesar Chavez. "Affordability" is relative of course, but if you're finding yourself priced out of the places that everyone talks about and look nice on the map, check prices in the places I listed.

Also, remember that East Bay near BART is closer to South of Market than most of San Francisco city is, time-wise.

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Any figures? I live in Dublin, Ireland, and pay €500 ($624) per month for a room in a two bed apartment in the centre of the city. That's cheap for the area -- I live within walking distance of all the bars.

You can't get a room share in most of SF for under $700, for SOMA and the Mission you'll be lucky at $850. A studio you might be able to get for $1200-$1500, 1BR $1400-1800, 2BR $2000-$$$$$.

This is assuming you don't want to live in Bayview.

I think you need to add about 50% to all those prices.

Studio in the in non-sketchy, easy transit, city proper is going to be 1900, 1bd 2000-3000 range easy, 2 bedrooms can quickly get near 4000.

Your data seems stale. We moved in 9 months ago, when a studio in the Tenderloin was $1450. We have a "jr" 1 bedroom in Alamo Square for $1900.

I used to rent an entire 3BR house for $700/mo, albeit in one of the more depressed markets in the US. Thinking about moving to SF makes me more than a little queasy.

Good estimates for SOMA pricing:

  Studio: $2000-$2700
  1BR: $2500-$3200
  2BR: $3100-4000

Also, remember that East Bay near BART is closer to South of Market than most of San Francisco city is, time-wise

Depends what part of the East Bay, of course. West Oakland is the closest BART station, but it is in some serious ghetto. Lake Merritt, Berkeley (esp North Berkeley) and Rockridge are your first good options, but they'll take a little longer to get to. My advice would be definitely to check out Rockridge, it's a surprisingly nice part of town.

Yep. Sketchiness is proportional to affordability.

Actually the Dogpatch area has come a long way in the last decade or so. Not much of a secret any more, and low turnover, but still relatively cheap, easy access to South of Market (or 101), and nicer than many other options. Low walkability, but easy parking...

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