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Comment by AlexeyMK | Hacker News Reader

[author of said advice]

Sounds like you've got some experience with this - are there any particular places you'd recommend? When I was an intern in SF (2011), I lived in Glen Park, which was a half/hour bike ride/couple of BART stops away from work, and I ended up paying slightly over $1,100. I had friends that went and found more distant housing, but we didn't see them all that much/they didn't get nearly as much out of the summer as we did, beyond their company.

A lot (most?) internship salaries include a $1,000 housing stipend, so it ends up being not all that crazy; neither of my internships had more than 25% of income go to housing.

Can you speak to your experience in particular? I haven't met a lot of people who followed your strategy, but I'd love to incorporate the perspective of somebody who did.

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Two good bets for a young person in the East Bay:

Temescal. Macarthur BART has lots of trains to the city and assuming you're going somewhere near a station (like Twitter or Google SF) it's ~ 20 minutes. Strong hipster vibe, and an explosion of restaurants, bike shops, funky secondhand stores, etc. in the last 10 years. Neighborhood is still rough in patches, but rapidly improving. Stay to the North and East of Macarthur BART and you're fine.

Downtown Berkeley. Safe Neighborhood. Lots of young people about, plenty of restaurants. Things tend to close up earlier than in the city. Commute is slightly longer than to Temescal, but the Richmond trains tend to be emptier and so you almost always get a seat.

If you work at Google SF or anywhere downtown, look into the AC Transit Transbay Buses. They are slightly more expensive than BART ($4.20 a ride, last I checked) but you get free Wifi, great views, clean, comfortable coach seats, and nonstop service. That opens up a LOT more territory, albeit mostly away from the concentrations of culture.

But all that said, you're right, SF is the place to be if you can afford it. Don't try to save money as an intern. What you earn during that time is a drop in the bucket, ultimately, and you're only young once. But if you have a crew of people you want to live with, the Easy Bay can be a great bet, and you can spend what you save on trips out of town.

I'm a tech person who rents out a furnished spare room (including to interns in the past) for $1000 in Mountain View, after looking at the going rates; from my experience, your advice isn't too far off. It's just a case of supply and demand, there aren't many people like me in the local area. (Note: We rent via Airbnb rather than their "sublets" specific program, which you call out explicitly.)

If interns team up they can maybe get a short term lease at one of the many south bay housing complexes (Archstone, Avalon, Prometheus, Irvine Company). Most are horrible landlords and several charge ridiculous, but understandable, rent increases if you are shorter term - however, if you're prepared to share and lay out on furniture, it could be a saving over the course of a summer. Plus, could get lucky and find a relocating person or off-season intern to hand off to at the end of summer.

The price of housing in SF has changed since 2011.

...Dramatically.

I was able to find a FURNISHED bedroom from $1450/mth in the heart of the Mission.

Prices has gone up but it seems like people have gotten worse at finding places or switched to using airbnb more (which is way more expensive).

I could recommend several of the peninsula cities near the Caltrain corridor, Sunnyvale, Menlo Park, San Carlos come readily to mind. (in addition to Mountain View and Palo Alto) if you are near the Train station you can pop into SF, or stops with easy shuttle service to Facebook and Google.

East bay near BART is also good if your internship is in the city.

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