Rental market: is it me or is the rental market crazy at the moment? (San Francisco: real estate, apartments)

[NapaCab]

We just moved to San Francisco a month ago and have been looking on craigslist, rentinsf and trulia for rental places and we're finding NOTHING. We have corporate accommodation until April but we have to find somewhere permanent before then.

My partner works in Silicon Valley and we have a budget range of 2500-3500 for rent. We need at least 2 bedrooms because we have a baby. We're looking in central areas of SF but also down in the Valley (Los Gatos, Los Altos, Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Campbell - and Palo Alto ideally but that's a distant dream as it's so expensive...!). We can't find anything at the moment. It doesn't even seem to be our budget that's the problem - when I looked in the $4,000-$6,000 range, there wasn't a lot available either.

Is it me or is the rental market insanely hot at the moment? Is it always like this or is it just a seasonal variation? When my partner accepted this new job back in October, the relocation people told us that our rental budget was realistic and shouldn't be a problem but now they're saying that there's not much available and we may have to reduce our expectations. Are we missing something? Is there some magical place where you can get rentals that we're not aware of? Is there a company that we could pay to find a place for us and pay them a fee? We have a young baby so I don't get a lot of time during the day to look although I do check craiglist every day and there just really doesn't seem to be much coming on the market. Are we being unrealistic in our budget / expectations? I am really worried that we won't find anywhere in the next month...

[Bideshi]

My only experience in that area is limited and dated, and I was in a lower income class by a good bit. For airline workers at San Francisco Airport it was common for co-workers to share rides and commute up to 100 miles to find affordable accomodations. I hope your experience will be better.

[SunDevil1212]

I'm curious, are you saying you can't find anything at all, or when you find something you like it's already taken by the time you make a phone call?

If you're willing to spend up to $3500 for a 2 BR then it's surprising to hear that you are struggling to find anything. Because a simple Craigslist search shows a ton of results for what you are looking for:

Remodeled 2bd/1ba, fantastic neighborhood ~ JWavro (http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/apa/2854287576.html - broken link)
Spacious View Flat - newer kitchen/baths - must see! (http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/apa/2853894103.html - broken link)
Bright Corner Unit-Divisadero Corridor-City Views-Open Sun 2:15-2:45PM (http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/apa/2850134931.html - broken link)
SPACIOUS 3 BEDROOM (http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/apa/2844750639.html - broken link)
RUSSIAN HILL. ELEGANT. DEN-W/D.PREMIER LOCATION.WALK TO NORTH BEACH. (http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/apa/2853444204.html - broken link)

[mdwstrnkid]

Given the areas that you are considering on the Peninsula, I am guessing that you are looking at upper middle class areas in SF, such as Noe Valley, Laurel Heights, Cole Valley, etc. With the current rental market, you're going to have a hard time finding a nice 2BR in those areas for under $3500. However, if you are willing to consider other areas such as the Sunset or Richmond, you should not have a problem finding a place for the budget. Same goes if you would be willing to look at other places on the Peninsula/South Bay, such as San Mateo or Sunnyvale. I am guessing that you are looking at other criteria in addition to have a 2BR.

[18Montclair]

No its not just you. The Bay Area has the fastest rising rents in the United States according to recent articles at bizjournals.com

[clongirl]

Originally Posted by NapaCab

We just moved to San Francisco a month ago and have been looking on craigslist, rentinsf and trulia for rental places and we're finding NOTHING. We have corporate accommodation until April but we have to find somewhere permanent before then.

My partner works in Silicon Valley and we have a budget range of 2500-3500 for rent. We need at least 2 bedrooms because we have a baby. We're looking in central areas of SF but also down in the Valley (Los Gatos, Los Altos, Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Campbell - and Palo Alto ideally but that's a distant dream as it's so expensive...!). We can't find anything at the moment. It doesn't even seem to be our budget that's the problem - when I looked in the $4,000-$6,000 range, there wasn't a lot available either.

Is it me or is the rental market insanely hot at the moment? Is it always like this or is it just a seasonal variation? When my partner accepted this new job back in October, the relocation people told us that our rental budget was realistic and shouldn't be a problem but now they're saying that there's not much available and we may have to reduce our expectations. Are we missing something? Is there some magical place where you can get rentals that we're not aware of? Is there a company that we could pay to find a place for us and pay them a fee? We have a young baby so I don't get a lot of time during the day to look although I do check craiglist every day and there just really doesn't seem to be much coming on the market. Are we being unrealistic in our budget / expectations? I am really worried that we won't find anywhere in the next month...

If you just read about all the other folks on this board moving to the Bay Area for jobs lately, you'll realize that yes, the rental market is insane right now. I don't think your budget is a problem--just the sudden influx of people.

I suspect that if you lower your expectations a bit (like different neighborhoods or cities) then you won't have so many problems finding something. I don't know if you're only looking for houses, but you might want to add in apartments to your search also. Craigslist is pretty much the best way to find something. You may also take a chance driving around and finding rental signs on the properties themselves (although time consuming!) Good luck!

[ragnarkar]

Have you tried Padmapper dot com ?

[beb0p]

Crazy? You ain't seen nothing yet. Wait til the summer comes around and it'll really be crazy. I know you find this hard to believe, but right now is actually the slow period. I expect another major bump in rent over the summer so the affordable but not ideal place that you pass up now will be an unaffordable and not ideal place in the summer. There will be more inventory in the summer but also a whole lot more competition for them. Rent has been raising rapidly since summer of 2010 so a price range that's reasonable in Oct is probably not so anymore. The advice you received is correct, you need to lower your expectation (also expand your area) and get in asap.

I've been here seven years, aside from late 2008 to early 2010 (the economic meltdown era), landing a rental had always been a challenge. I had friends who were here during the first dot com bubble and said things were even crazier back then.

Unfortunately, craigslist is still the best (and pretty much only place) to look for rentals. Other sites like padmapper may also be useful but it mostly shows craigslist stuff anyway. Unlike NYC, it's not common to hire a company to find things for you and such company generally does not have access to allow you to jump to the front of the line. With that said, ClimbSF has some luxury condos listed for rent on their website, you may want to check them out.



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[SunDevil1212]

Originally Posted by beb0p

With that said, ClimbSF has some luxury condos listed for rent on their website, you may want to check them out.

Out of curiosity I checked that ClimbSF website. Good Lord. Talk about crazy inflated rent. For instance:

1334 Eddy Street | Climb Real Estate (http://www.climbsf.com/for-rent/1334-eddy-street - broken link)

$3500 to live in a 2 BR at 1334 Eddy?? The interior looks nice, but 1334 Eddy is in the middle of the freakin' projects! Some poor sucker moving from out of town is going to be very unhappy with that deal...

[mdwstrnkid]

I took a look at RentalInSF and it looks like all but one of their apartments are in your budget. My friend used them to find their place and had a good experience.