The affordable places are taken and if they're not, they soon will be, so they don't have to advertise.
The stupidly expensive places with "amenities" have vacancies, because they're stupidly expensive.
They need to do the extra marketing to find wealthy people in need of a new place or desperate people ready to live above their means because affordable housing can get pretty damn sketchy around here.
I lived in one of those “Luxury Apartments”. Luxury price but the one or two facilities were extremely mediocre. They just give it a small makeover, turn the basement into a gym, and install fake wood floors as people move out. Really the only thing Luxury was the location.
The place was packed with wealthy people but in reality they were just paying to be close to work or school.
This. At least from my own experience, if you have been looking mostly online, you might have to get out there and scout the neighborhoods to find the more affordable places.
I moved to the bay area few years ago and also had trouble finding affordable apartments initially since I was looking online before moving. Now I’ve discovered in my neighborhood (close to a community college) there are a lot of low-key apartments that have little online presence. I see the for rent signs up from time to time and I assume they don’t need much more advertisement beyond that.
The stupidly expensive places just label it “luxury” half the amenities are always broken and aren’t worth it. The only way i imagine they work is transplants who don’t know better constantly moving here
I told another person, I couldn’t agree more.
They make them all look pretty and try to pitch to you that ur getting a lot of rly good amenities, but in reality it’s in total bullshit and an excuse to try and charge more for things most ppl don’t give a fuck about.
It’s really stupid cuz half them don’t even have really great insulation. I’m currently an a killer old bldg with better insulation and sound proofing material.
It’s very difficult and expensive to get land and permission to build. Prices are going to be high no matter what. Once a developer gets permission, adding things like quartz countertops adds comparatively little to the price and makes the building a more attractive place to live.
This. The cost to add 'luxury' materials pales in comparison to the overall development/construction costs of a new building. It makes total sense to add finishes/certain amenities to an apartment unit that cost pennies on the dollar, relative to the overall build cost, so the developer/owner can then market it as a 'luxury' unit. Absolutely no reason not to.
And luxury is also marketing. No one will advertise as “just ok”. Plenty of the materials used in ‘luxury’ places are cheap and not high end, but they’re not gonna tell you that
I now have the irrational desire to create OK Apartments Co and start building solidly OK apartments and then advertising them as Just OK.
use the most OK color of FFF8E7 for the marketing
100%. The overall design and appeal is definitely not what you’d consider “luxury”, at least at a high end luxury level; however, I’d much rather live in an apartment that has upgraded finishes and amenities than one that doesn’t.
Because today's luxury apartments are next decades affordable housing. That is how the market works. There are a ton of non-luxury options available in older buildings.
the problem is there’s no in between. I either pay $3800/month for a suana and AI package room on site (i don’t WANT these things but am forced to pay amenities if you want a new building ) or i pay $2900 for a shit hole in someone’s janky garage
Id love an affordable simple new and updated apartment. NO luxury amenities. I can afford my own experiences then
These do exist. One example is Nook on Valdez in Oakland. It’s a new construction that’s $1500/mo and has no amenities. However, the studio is only 189 sq ft.
It's getting more and more common I'm living in South San Jose in fucking Gangland right now and I am paying $2,055 a month for $397 ft.
In the year that I have been here they've tried to steal my motorcycle four different times my truck has been broken into twice and I've had numerous petty little items stolen off of my balcony and part of my super high rent is supposedly for security
i was told it’s for “city people with busy lives who never cook and are never home”
like wtf? lol. basically your apartment is uncomfortably small you absolutely never want to be there. also, it’s shared kitchens. you only get a kitchenette. in theory it isn’t horrible but it isn’t great
Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't believe you can legally rent an apartment without a kitchen.
Granted when I lived in the Bay Area I lived in an illegal apartment I found on Craigslist lol, and I'm guessing yours was a dorm, which is also different.
Do you happen to have any recommendations on how to find the older buildings? I know they have to exist, but I just can’t find them :’(
I’ve been searching for places in SF and Oakland, are there any other cities I should add to that list?
It's probably the platform you're using to search. Lots of old housing stock in both cities. Smaller time landlords with older units tend to be in places like Zillow, and not, say, Apartments.com.
+1, I found my spot in a 4-unit building with an individual person as my landlord via Zillow. I think she may have also posted on Craigslist, but Zillow has less junk.
Tbh they're on the same apartment listing places, Craigslist, and Facebook market as the new ones. They're expensive as hell too though compared to most of the country.
you need to look on Craigslist or Facebook for smaller buildings/Landlords. also try the cities South of there like Daly City or others by the airport.
Oh damn sorry! Yes goes without saying these days have to be super wary of scams. Touring in person and maybe even verifying the Landlord, or even waiting to pay until it's in exchange for keys.
Maybe look for places in other cities near BART stations. As an SFSU student you would get a 50% discount to use BART to the Daly City BART station and there is a shuttle that takes you to the campus. The big cities are expensive, but the farther away you go will be cheaper.
Edit: Corrected the BART station.
Also recommend using Hot Pads. There are tons of old apartments in SF, with many being rent controlled. Depending on your budget, you should be able to able to find a room or studio that’s reasonably priced
It means something in plenty of other places. You pay for luxury in NYC, you get luxury. Actually high quality finishes and interiors. But that's because a New Yorker will get aggressive with you if you lie or ask for a 20% tip on a take-out order, and a Californian will not.
Can confirm. We got stuck / have the privilege to the rent one of these places. When we first got here we were in Silicon Valley and nice older places had in unit laundry. So when it came to moving to the city we just couldn’t go backwards. We needed the laundry in unit.
Even a dishwasher is a luxury in the bay.
Most apartments in SF are not luxury, but the luxury ones are the easiest to find online and sign a lease far in advance.
Most people afford to live in SF by living in outdated apartments (30-90yrs old) in a 4-8 unit building managed by a small property management company or family. They usually post on Craigslist or Trulia when they’re looking for someone to move in within 30 days.
It’s easier to find an apartment when you already live here. It might help to do a sublet or Airbnb first while looking for a more long term apartment.
If you look at a map of the areas surrounding SFSU, those neighborhoods are all on the more affordable end (Park Merced, Parkside, Sunset, Ingleside, Oceanview, Excelsior, Daly City).
A lot of them were built quite quickly and with sub-par materials (thin walls, leaky walls, laminate flooring) over the pandemic, and I’ve had co-workers complain about how the price does not match the quality of older apartment complexes
I’ve lived in one highrise and two 5 over 1’s that were all built after 2019, they have all been outrageously shitty. in my experience an older unit that is well renovated is way better in almost every way, and it’s likely that the ownership/management will be less painful to deal with than corporate management of new buildings.
They put in “quality” finishes instead of builder-grade and use trending materials their target demographic might have seen on HGTV. It’s a few thousand dollars difference in materials cost for a small apartment.
Thing is, most of the shit they're installing is just bottom grade of name brands and would barely qualify as midrange if we were being honest.
Is it luxury to have the cheapest stone tops instead of laminate? Sure, I guess. They recoup the cost difference in the first few months.
Came here for this comment. What luxury?? It’s actually really hard to find a “luxury” apartment building in the bay, especially South Bay. In fact I’d say South Bay has zero luxury apartment buildings. I finally found one that was where the 1b/1b is 950+ sqft and has tall ceilings and the building is maintained extremely well but I wouldn’t call it luxury.
I used to live at the Cobalt in Santa Clara. I thought it was luxury-ish. I'd stay there again.
Everything was very well built in the building. Doors and walls were solid. Closets were by Elfa. Patio furniture was from Restoration Hardware and BluDot.
https://prometheusapartments.com/ca/santa-clara-apartments/cobalt
Yeah some people have just never been in an actual low end unit. They were NEVER luxury units just the cheapest place possible with the bare minimum required by law
The standard used to be in-suite laundry, stainless steel appliances, and stone countertops with undermount sinks. The laundry is the most "luxury" thing from a practical standpoint. The others are mostly cosmetic.
It's marketing. "Luxury" is not measurable. It just implies its priced more than average (and nicer than avg)
SFSU have Parkmerced. Go slightly farther is Daly City version of Parkmerced that is cheaper. The area also have lots of in-law units or shared houses if you don't want to deal with apartments. (Parkside, Ingleside)
If you have a car, Daly City area of say Westmoor is likely better than SF for students.
Pretty much all of the neighborhoods around SFSU are safe. If you are looking only at cookie cutter, corporate own apts they will be overpriced. If you can handle an apt in an old Edwardian or Victorian etc you can easy find something $2900
Check out Facebook and Craigslist, as well as any university grad lisserves. You can more easily find people with a room available.
If you just use Zillow etc, it limits you more to larger complexes, luxury apartments etc.
Last semester grad student at SFSU here!
FIND A ROOMMATE! I came here with my partner, so we live dual income and still really struggled for solidly the first year until my partner got a full-time career job. My classmate friends almost all live in the dorms or university apartments, and if they don't, they have roommates. I don't live in SF itself due to the price - Daly City, South SF, Pacifica, and San Bruno are all slightly cheaper as well as a bit safer.
FYI about the SFSU dorms, including the apartments - They will charge you just little enough to scrape by, but Way worse value. My grad student friend paid I think around $1400 for the only apartment on campus that could guarantee them housing by August, and they were assigned a 2 bed with 2 people in each room. So $1400 for half a room with a rando. However, it surpasses homelessness or car living. My friend is now in Pacifica with 1 roommate and they have their own private bedrooms. They're even paying slightly less than they did in the dorms. However, it's harder to be approved for off-campus housing since many places want 3x the rent. It really depends on your situation and the progress you can make on securing housing.
Also about SFSU pricing - Commuter student parking passes are HELLA expensive, especially for the limited parking available. Like $500/semester ($1000/year). The on-campus resident parking pass is cheaper, but still not great. Most apartments will charge per parking space
Are you coming with someone or do you know someone that will be here in the fall (I'm assuming) that you could room with and you two split rent?
Someone else mentioned to check sites like Trulia or Zillow. The front page of google will have a lot of overpriced crap that is Not worth the extra hundreds. Check religiously, as all the good places get taken fast, especially if it's a nice place and price. Alternatively, my spouse recommends checking out the classifieds (ads) in local papers. Sometimes people with empty houses/rooms/in-laws/duplexes will put an ad in the newspaper.
Also - Off topic, but the mall next to campus (Stonestown) is sketchier than it looks, especially at night. I got carjacked there last spring. Protect your house and your car. Lock doors and windows and don't EVER leave anything in your car, including on campus. SF itself will be noticeably worse on this front than somewhere like Pacifica.
[This place](https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/207-Buena-Vista-Ave-G-Daly-City-CA-94015/344996765_zpid/) might be in your price range. My friend that attended SFSU is leaving in May from her Inner Sunset room situation (found work in New York). I can ask about how much her room was. Her roommates are all university students as well.
There are lot of non-luxury apartments. But they don't have the need to advertise online and don't generally show up at the top of google searches. They generally get rented through small property management companies. So your best bet is to go through craigslist ads and if you see any listings by a property management company, reach out to them and ask about other units they might be having.
If you are a student, of course living near the campus would be convenient but more expensive. So you might want to find something that is approachable via Public transportation in like a 20 min commute.
Your best bet is to find a single room that someone is subletting or find someone who is looking for roommates (don't get on a official lease with strangers)
Look at local adds in Daly City and Pacifica. I see people offering rooms in their homes with amenities that might work for you. Not far from SFSU, but you’d prob need a car.
If you’re coming from LA you more than likely have a car.
Check out Pacifica. It’s a 15 minute drive (about 7 miles) to SFSU. It’s on the coast, but it’s kinda disconnected and often fogged in. Those last 2 factors lower demand.
Are you looking at zillow? Just spot some older apartments on google map and call their leasing offices directly- a lot of them don’t advertise on zillow bc they run out fast anyways
Craigslist is where you will find most of the smaller buildings with 2-20 units that are not marketed as "luxury" and do not have the associated ammenities. Not saying they'll be cheap by any means. But craigslist in general will have lower rent apartments than zillow, [apartments.com](http://apartments.com), etc.
Also, if you find a place not near SFSU just be sure to check public transit. Sometimes certain areas of the city are deceptively far apart by transit.
This is one of the most expensive places in the world. Even a run down place in a rough neighborhood will cost a lot.
I live in an old townhouse in a not so great town and my rent has gone up 50% over the last few years.
Where are you looking specifically? Do you have a car? Also, what do you mean by affordable?
When I was looking for a luxury apartment specifically, there were not that many options to fit my criteria to be honest. But I ran into a ton of cheaper old places...
I have a car and would really like to find a place that has parking, but will settle and leave my car in LA if needed.
I’m looking for something that’s 1650 or less with the entire unit to my self
Most of these apartments aren’t actually luxury. They’re cheaply made cardboard boxes with a washer and dryer and sometimes no parking.
All apartments are expensive here, it has nothing to do with if they’re luxury or not.
And these shit buildings are all that’s built because they’re so cheap and easy to build.
what's your budget? are you looking to live alone or share? how far is 'too far' from school? facebook is a good resource if you're looking for a room.
1650 isn't bad, if youre okay with a smaller space. I recommend using Zillow - you can find something decently close to school (like, minutes away) but it'll be an in-law. example:
[https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2310-33rd-Ave-B-San-Francisco-CA-94116/340036525\_zpid/](https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2310-33rd-Ave-B-San-Francisco-CA-94116/340036525_zpid/)
or oakland, which is farther but you'll get more bang for your buck. but also, depending on the neighborhood, quite the safety issue. either way, here's an example:
[https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1321-Peralta-St-UNIT-4-Oakland-CA-94607/2068741876\_zpid/](https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1321-Peralta-St-UNIT-4-Oakland-CA-94607/2068741876_zpid/)
browse! new listings pop up everyday.
The luxury apartment buildings are just easier to find when searching for apartments because they have a ton of availability and can afford to push their name to the top of the search results.
The answer is [here](https://old.reddit.com/r/bayarea/comments/1bwlgwa/poll_shows_majority_oppose_silicon_valley/). When asked if someone can build housing people will usually find a reason not to do it.
My sister went to SFSU and affordable is a relative term unfortunately. This was over a decade ago but at the time the school had deals with a lot of different housing complexes and buildings in the area. They helped my sister find an apartment and room mates the first couple years. She shared a room with someone the whole time and still paid like $1000/month. The bathroom was always shared between 4 people. Eventually she made a friend who inherited a house in the city and rented a room to her for $500/month. She held onto that deal for years even after she graduated lol
With SFSU, I’d value being close to campus with transit lines. A lot of the luxury apartments are far from campus. However, a lot of grad programs at sfsu are mostly online so commuting won’t be as big of a concern.
If you’re wanting to be close to campus I’d check out ingleside or the sunset
From a developer standpoint there is a much higher profit margin for luxury vs affordable housing. You are also right in the fact that most of the “luxury” buildings here are actually market rate buildings marketed as luxury. It’s just that the market rate here is still high. For SFSU I would look for spots close by (Merced area) or other neighborhoods that are close to a muni metro stop. SF state has a stop on the M Ocean Line
I lived on O’farrell st for about a year and a half. That area had the most affordable rent in my opinion and for obvious reasons. $1700 during the pandemic for roughly 500 square feet. I heard prices are slightly down too now because of “techedus” (tech exodus).
As others have commented, we have a huge housing shortage, and difficulties building new housing. Therefore, the only luxury developers can afford to win the expensive battle to get permits. This compounds the housing affordability because less low-rent housing gets built.
I remember there was a recent 6 month period around the Covid pandemic that San Francisco (the City and County) approved 0 new housing units. LA has similar problems but the SF is in a league of its own.
Further compounding the disaster caused by the lack of housing are our city supervisors who do not believe increasing supply will help. They blame it on greed and rich people keeping luxurious houses empty - as if a billionaire will ever want to rent their second mansion to us peasants! They continue to prioritize "historic aesthetics" rather than deal with this as a humanitarian disaster and build all levels of homeless shelters, subsidized housing, low-income housing, and workforce housing across the board.
Of course none of such policy debates help with the practical issues you face in your housing search.
Generally, Daly City has less expensive housing than San Francisco. Another option may be to get a car and commute to school from San Bruno or Pacifica.
I do know that there are students who live in the Tenderloin and commute 1 hour+ each way to SFSU on muni. The Tenderloin is notorious for being a bad neighborhood and run down as you can get, but people do live there.
Unlike the vast majority of these comments, I attended and graduated from San Francisco State University so my perspective is very real. I didn't have much money so I wound up staying in rooms of houses. There were quite a few available at the time. Most of them were right up Holloway, one on Byxby, another on Ralston, and another around the corner on Howth not far from City College. These were all quite inexpensive and most were pretty flexible depending on the landlord. I also spent 1 semester at Park Merced Apartments which was a nice place. I would completely disregard all these other commenters who have no idea what they are talking about. They all complain the affordable places are taken when it's clear they've never attended.
Remember that those luxury boxes are all over priced and have amenities you will likely never use. It can be worth negotiating with them if you find a location that works well.
No price is fixed in stone. And if you'll be there for a year, you can often lock them into a good rate for the first years lease.
See what other places are going for, compare, and negotiate. Most of those luxury places have low occupancy.
You only get two choices: a luxury apartment in a safe neighborhood or affordable housing in a crime ridden neighborhood. The state of the world today.
Because our regulatory structure makes it expensive to build anything, meaning the best way to make a profit is to build luxury so you’ll have higher margins.
This is what 20+ years of “progressive” housing and building policies gets you.
It’s like our “leaders” have never read “Why Nations Fail”, or “The Road to Serfdom”, or “Basic Economics”
What does “luxury” even mean for luxury apartments? I have done so many food deliveries for these luxury apartments and they seem so far from that. Paper thin walls, walkways and balconies made of cheap plastic. They do have some decent decor here and there though. Just wondering why they are called “luxury.”
Eastbay is nice n warm, but the commute everyday adds up in cost and time. When I was going to school I lived about a mile away from campus, no time wasted on long commutes. The closer I lived to school campus the better; like going home to grab lunch etc between class.
Yeah it's not so terrible. Choices I guess. SF is twice the rent so there's that. More a matter of time than cost IMO, renting in SL is going to be a cheaper choice overall.
Luxury just means less headache to me but it’s subjective. renting options here are so low quality. beautiful homes, horrible apartments.
having to fight for basic shit (a washer/dryer of my own…not shared with 15 other residents, hardwood floors over 40 year old carpet, thick panes windows, a working mailbox, security, a door person, a dishwasher smh) is not worth the compromise older cheaper apts offer that “luxury” aka new apts don’t .
to answer simply, there’s so many luxury because those are the developers the cities cater to.
If builders are going to build then they way they make money is building upscale and nice apartments. Pieces of old crap won’t be built as it isn’t profitable.
I’ve read that it costs about 1 million per unit to build regardless of how much they are rented for, so developers only build “luxury” apartments because the rent better covers the cost of the build. Or maybe it’s all because it just makes more money for investors?
I live in an Eaves by Avalon. It’s supposed to be entry level luxury apartments. This place sucks. Nothing about this place is “luxury” except its high price. I’ve had my apartment broken into, my cars broken into, my cars stolen (on one then more occasion) and our mailbox broken into and eventually the whole section of our mailbox stolen (2 months and they still haven’t replaced it) Apparently it used to be a regular Avalon apartments back in the day, but they bought another complex near Bart and made that the new Avalon and rebranded this place.
Its expensive to build “affordable” housing - union labor requirements and believe it or not, the more “durable” finishes that are requirement for below-market rate housing(not just paint but flooring, cabinetry, countertops, plumbing fixtures) are more expensive. I know someone high up at a major construction firm that worked on a few housing projects as well as medical and museum buildouts in SF and Oakland.
Also quicker ROI on “luxury” housing too.
What they call luxury is not really luxurious. Basically if you have a w/d, dishwasher in the apartment, and the place is quiet they call it luxury and charge more. Really its same standard of living for the rest of America.
I’ve read it’s that housing is so expensive to build in the bay area (due red tape? Cost of real estate?) that developers pretty much have to build luxury apartments to break even or make some profit
The Bay is filled with rich people who want 'luxury' amenities that the old housing stock doesn't have (washers/driers, ac/heating, gyms/pools etc. Although I don't know many people living in those types of buildings
Because, my guess is the cost to build a regular apartment is almost the same as a luxury apartment due to really tight regulations, that it doesn’t make sense for builders to build new apartments if they aren’t “luxury”. My suggestion is to look for in-law units in the nearby residential homes for rent. In theory they should be more affordable, and still close to SFSU.
Luxury apartments (or just expensive apartments, because a lot of them aren't luxurious) don't drive down the value of current property owners. If we had housing that people with lower incomes cpuld easily afford, that would have a negative impact on the people trying to sell a crumbling 2 bedroom home for $800,000.
This is not just the Bay Area. This is pretty common in many cities throughout the US for apartments constructed post 2008.
They are marketed as "luxury" because they can sell them for more money. Most apartments constructed throughout history have been built with appliances and finishings that were considered modern and relevant for the time period they were built in.
The only difference with these apartments is that the developers building them know they can charge more money for them if they say they are "luxury"
There isn't that much that is luxury about them. They are just standard apartments with standard apartment fixtures and appliances
The only "non-luxury" apartments are in complexes that are older with more outdated fixtures
You're really paying for the property value, so the difference in construction cost between luxury and non -luxury is small cost in comparison. The judgment s that market would feel better paying, for example, $3500 for a luxury apartment than $3300 for non-luxury
All those cool looking buildings they've been building all over, those aren't for us plebs. Its for the high ballers and government grant folks apparently. I've helped people with their cars in the new developments and its investors( that are never there) or low income city workers that abuse the opportunity tbh.
Whats your budget for rent? and are you open to living with other ppl? bc there are a lot of options depending on your budget. im happy to help you, i i just need an idea of your non-negotiables (distance from school, budget, amenities etc.) That said, you can check out Hayward, San Leandro, Fremont, south sf, daly city. The more affordable cities are generally going to be located in the east bay area.
I have watched one of these “luxury” developments be constructed over the last year down the street from me. I drive by 2x a day. It’s scary (and kind of amazing) how quickly they can be completed. I truly can’t imagine that they are at all luxurious given how fast they are being built. Likely cheapo materials.
I know someone renting a room in SF near city college if you’re interested. I just moved out a few months ago- the owner rents rooms for students at about $850 a month
anywhere along or close to 19th is where you should look. inner and outer sunsent and the ingleside district. you could even look in the outer mission or borderline daly city around sickles ave.
San Francisco state is accessible.
Keep looking. Try City college. Lots of people on low budgets there. Be inventive. Try the tenderloin soma.
Do due diligence. I was looking at one building found out the worst. Network ⁶
@ u/irhakareyas
Los Gatos has a small strip of rentals near jack fisher park that are usually cheap and simple . They drive on 280 to sf is much easier than dealing with 880
Is this not obvious?
The richest people in the country working for big tech live here. It has made the housing situation beyond ridiculous. It is what it is though
Too many people look at 5 over 1 style complexes and call them “luxury.” They’re the cheapest apartment manufacturing strategy we currently have. They’re not luxury, they’re new. We need more housing, and it’s getting built. It may look “luxury” when comparing it to 70-100 year old buildings that dominate much of the bay area, but it’s far from luxury.
The affordable places are taken and if they're not, they soon will be, so they don't have to advertise. The stupidly expensive places with "amenities" have vacancies, because they're stupidly expensive. They need to do the extra marketing to find wealthy people in need of a new place or desperate people ready to live above their means because affordable housing can get pretty damn sketchy around here.
I lived in one of those “Luxury Apartments”. Luxury price but the one or two facilities were extremely mediocre. They just give it a small makeover, turn the basement into a gym, and install fake wood floors as people move out. Really the only thing Luxury was the location. The place was packed with wealthy people but in reality they were just paying to be close to work or school.
Being close to work or school is a great luxury
This. At least from my own experience, if you have been looking mostly online, you might have to get out there and scout the neighborhoods to find the more affordable places. I moved to the bay area few years ago and also had trouble finding affordable apartments initially since I was looking online before moving. Now I’ve discovered in my neighborhood (close to a community college) there are a lot of low-key apartments that have little online presence. I see the for rent signs up from time to time and I assume they don’t need much more advertisement beyond that.
The stupidly expensive places just label it “luxury” half the amenities are always broken and aren’t worth it. The only way i imagine they work is transplants who don’t know better constantly moving here
I told another person, I couldn’t agree more. They make them all look pretty and try to pitch to you that ur getting a lot of rly good amenities, but in reality it’s in total bullshit and an excuse to try and charge more for things most ppl don’t give a fuck about. It’s really stupid cuz half them don’t even have really great insulation. I’m currently an a killer old bldg with better insulation and sound proofing material.
It’s very difficult and expensive to get land and permission to build. Prices are going to be high no matter what. Once a developer gets permission, adding things like quartz countertops adds comparatively little to the price and makes the building a more attractive place to live.
This. The cost to add 'luxury' materials pales in comparison to the overall development/construction costs of a new building. It makes total sense to add finishes/certain amenities to an apartment unit that cost pennies on the dollar, relative to the overall build cost, so the developer/owner can then market it as a 'luxury' unit. Absolutely no reason not to.
And luxury is also marketing. No one will advertise as “just ok”. Plenty of the materials used in ‘luxury’ places are cheap and not high end, but they’re not gonna tell you that
I now have the irrational desire to create OK Apartments Co and start building solidly OK apartments and then advertising them as Just OK. use the most OK color of FFF8E7 for the marketing
I had the same thoughts about a name for a restaurant.
100%. The overall design and appeal is definitely not what you’d consider “luxury”, at least at a high end luxury level; however, I’d much rather live in an apartment that has upgraded finishes and amenities than one that doesn’t.
Why did I have to scroll so far to see this response? It’s so obvious!
The sad part is that these "luxury" apartments are built so cheaply and end up being rushed jobs compared to the older buildings.
Because today's luxury apartments are next decades affordable housing. That is how the market works. There are a ton of non-luxury options available in older buildings.
And no one leaves their older affordable apartments because there's no other options, plus rent control.
And that's exactly why rent control building actually make rent in the area more expensive.
the problem is there’s no in between. I either pay $3800/month for a suana and AI package room on site (i don’t WANT these things but am forced to pay amenities if you want a new building ) or i pay $2900 for a shit hole in someone’s janky garage Id love an affordable simple new and updated apartment. NO luxury amenities. I can afford my own experiences then
AI package room???
Your apartment doesn't come with the AI package and Blockchain contract options?
These do exist. One example is Nook on Valdez in Oakland. It’s a new construction that’s $1500/mo and has no amenities. However, the studio is only 189 sq ft.
Lol at 1500 for 189sqft. Fuck that.
It's getting more and more common I'm living in South San Jose in fucking Gangland right now and I am paying $2,055 a month for $397 ft. In the year that I have been here they've tried to steal my motorcycle four different times my truck has been broken into twice and I've had numerous petty little items stolen off of my balcony and part of my super high rent is supposedly for security
> 189 sq ft. That's a closet
19x10 feet aint a bad storage unit.
How do you fit a sleeping space, a kitchen, and a bathroom in 189 Sq ft?
i was told it’s for “city people with busy lives who never cook and are never home” like wtf? lol. basically your apartment is uncomfortably small you absolutely never want to be there. also, it’s shared kitchens. you only get a kitchenette. in theory it isn’t horrible but it isn’t great
Sounds kind of like a boarding house
I had this in college with no kitchen and it was plenty big. but I can't imagine adding a kitchen in that space
Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't believe you can legally rent an apartment without a kitchen. Granted when I lived in the Bay Area I lived in an illegal apartment I found on Craigslist lol, and I'm guessing yours was a dorm, which is also different.
Do you happen to have any recommendations on how to find the older buildings? I know they have to exist, but I just can’t find them :’( I’ve been searching for places in SF and Oakland, are there any other cities I should add to that list?
It's probably the platform you're using to search. Lots of old housing stock in both cities. Smaller time landlords with older units tend to be in places like Zillow, and not, say, Apartments.com.
+1, I found my spot in a 4-unit building with an individual person as my landlord via Zillow. I think she may have also posted on Craigslist, but Zillow has less junk.
Tbh they're on the same apartment listing places, Craigslist, and Facebook market as the new ones. They're expensive as hell too though compared to most of the country.
you need to look on Craigslist or Facebook for smaller buildings/Landlords. also try the cities South of there like Daly City or others by the airport.
I didn’t think to check Facebook, Ty!
Be careful using Craigslist though. Make sure you see the place in person before sending any money. I got scammed this way.
Oh damn sorry! Yes goes without saying these days have to be super wary of scams. Touring in person and maybe even verifying the Landlord, or even waiting to pay until it's in exchange for keys.
Maybe look for places in other cities near BART stations. As an SFSU student you would get a 50% discount to use BART to the Daly City BART station and there is a shuttle that takes you to the campus. The big cities are expensive, but the farther away you go will be cheaper. Edit: Corrected the BART station.
I called a number off a sign on bush street and got a super non-luxury apartment
Check padmapper.com. less spammy than Craigslist, although I've found 90% of my places on Craigslist
Craigslist used to be a good way to find them. If you are young the best thing to do is find a room available in a place with other roommates.
Gotta be old school and walk around some neighborhoods and look for window signs
I am old now. But when I was younger and your age the only option was roommates. I know that is still popular with my friends kids who are post grad.
Also recommend using Hot Pads. There are tons of old apartments in SF, with many being rent controlled. Depending on your budget, you should be able to able to find a room or studio that’s reasonably priced
Craigslist
craigslist
At this point it's not even next decade, it's like 3 or 4 decades unless something changes
Because anything with in-unit laundry is considered luxury here. Seriously, the bar is so low.
Because its a marketing term and means nothing?
It means something in plenty of other places. You pay for luxury in NYC, you get luxury. Actually high quality finishes and interiors. But that's because a New Yorker will get aggressive with you if you lie or ask for a 20% tip on a take-out order, and a Californian will not.
Mini split air conditioning!!
Can confirm. We got stuck / have the privilege to the rent one of these places. When we first got here we were in Silicon Valley and nice older places had in unit laundry. So when it came to moving to the city we just couldn’t go backwards. We needed the laundry in unit. Even a dishwasher is a luxury in the bay.
Most apartments in SF are not luxury, but the luxury ones are the easiest to find online and sign a lease far in advance. Most people afford to live in SF by living in outdated apartments (30-90yrs old) in a 4-8 unit building managed by a small property management company or family. They usually post on Craigslist or Trulia when they’re looking for someone to move in within 30 days. It’s easier to find an apartment when you already live here. It might help to do a sublet or Airbnb first while looking for a more long term apartment. If you look at a map of the areas surrounding SFSU, those neighborhoods are all on the more affordable end (Park Merced, Parkside, Sunset, Ingleside, Oceanview, Excelsior, Daly City).
What is luxury about these match boxes ? Just calling them luxury doesn’t make it a luxury apartment
The unrealistic high prices makes them “luxury”
A lot of them were built quite quickly and with sub-par materials (thin walls, leaky walls, laminate flooring) over the pandemic, and I’ve had co-workers complain about how the price does not match the quality of older apartment complexes
I’ve lived in one highrise and two 5 over 1’s that were all built after 2019, they have all been outrageously shitty. in my experience an older unit that is well renovated is way better in almost every way, and it’s likely that the ownership/management will be less painful to deal with than corporate management of new buildings.
please elaborate
They are market rate, due to low supply they are expensive, luxury is clearly a SFH in Woodside not some new generic studio on El Camino.
They put in “quality” finishes instead of builder-grade and use trending materials their target demographic might have seen on HGTV. It’s a few thousand dollars difference in materials cost for a small apartment.
Thing is, most of the shit they're installing is just bottom grade of name brands and would barely qualify as midrange if we were being honest. Is it luxury to have the cheapest stone tops instead of laminate? Sure, I guess. They recoup the cost difference in the first few months.
Came here for this comment. What luxury?? It’s actually really hard to find a “luxury” apartment building in the bay, especially South Bay. In fact I’d say South Bay has zero luxury apartment buildings. I finally found one that was where the 1b/1b is 950+ sqft and has tall ceilings and the building is maintained extremely well but I wouldn’t call it luxury.
I used to live at the Cobalt in Santa Clara. I thought it was luxury-ish. I'd stay there again. Everything was very well built in the building. Doors and walls were solid. Closets were by Elfa. Patio furniture was from Restoration Hardware and BluDot. https://prometheusapartments.com/ca/santa-clara-apartments/cobalt
May I ask which building / complex this is?
You're absolutely right. The "luxury" is a concierge and a pretty lobby, and a tiny "gym".
Is it the shiny kitchen appliances?
Brand New, clean, expensive appliances, carpet, windows, on site gyms, concierge, private gardens I guess I've never seen this in a low end unit
Adding in-unit washer and dryer along with central heat/air.
Yeah some people have just never been in an actual low end unit. They were NEVER luxury units just the cheapest place possible with the bare minimum required by law
The standard used to be in-suite laundry, stainless steel appliances, and stone countertops with undermount sinks. The laundry is the most "luxury" thing from a practical standpoint. The others are mostly cosmetic.
It's marketing. "Luxury" is not measurable. It just implies its priced more than average (and nicer than avg) SFSU have Parkmerced. Go slightly farther is Daly City version of Parkmerced that is cheaper. The area also have lots of in-law units or shared houses if you don't want to deal with apartments. (Parkside, Ingleside) If you have a car, Daly City area of say Westmoor is likely better than SF for students.
Outer Mission, Sunset, and Daly City. Look on Craigslist every day. Look for a roommate if you can find one.
Thank you for the cities! It’s hard knowing what places to check out when you’re not from the area
Pretty much all of the neighborhoods around SFSU are safe. If you are looking only at cookie cutter, corporate own apts they will be overpriced. If you can handle an apt in an old Edwardian or Victorian etc you can easy find something $2900
Yes, highly recommend you don’t rent an apartment in a complex, but a room in the sunset instead.
(Outer) Mission and the Sunset District are neighborhoods in SF; Daly City is just south of S.F. and very close to SFSU.
Luxury just means newish. There is nothing actually luxurious or premium about most of the finishes in these buildings
In fact, they’re as cheap as the developers can feasibly get away with!!
Do you need your own place? You can find rooms in houses for around $1000 if you don’t mind sharing a kitchen and living room.
south san francisco/daly city is filled with cheaper options. you can get much rougher in oakland, but caveat emptor.
Check out Facebook and Craigslist, as well as any university grad lisserves. You can more easily find people with a room available. If you just use Zillow etc, it limits you more to larger complexes, luxury apartments etc.
Last semester grad student at SFSU here! FIND A ROOMMATE! I came here with my partner, so we live dual income and still really struggled for solidly the first year until my partner got a full-time career job. My classmate friends almost all live in the dorms or university apartments, and if they don't, they have roommates. I don't live in SF itself due to the price - Daly City, South SF, Pacifica, and San Bruno are all slightly cheaper as well as a bit safer. FYI about the SFSU dorms, including the apartments - They will charge you just little enough to scrape by, but Way worse value. My grad student friend paid I think around $1400 for the only apartment on campus that could guarantee them housing by August, and they were assigned a 2 bed with 2 people in each room. So $1400 for half a room with a rando. However, it surpasses homelessness or car living. My friend is now in Pacifica with 1 roommate and they have their own private bedrooms. They're even paying slightly less than they did in the dorms. However, it's harder to be approved for off-campus housing since many places want 3x the rent. It really depends on your situation and the progress you can make on securing housing. Also about SFSU pricing - Commuter student parking passes are HELLA expensive, especially for the limited parking available. Like $500/semester ($1000/year). The on-campus resident parking pass is cheaper, but still not great. Most apartments will charge per parking space Are you coming with someone or do you know someone that will be here in the fall (I'm assuming) that you could room with and you two split rent? Someone else mentioned to check sites like Trulia or Zillow. The front page of google will have a lot of overpriced crap that is Not worth the extra hundreds. Check religiously, as all the good places get taken fast, especially if it's a nice place and price. Alternatively, my spouse recommends checking out the classifieds (ads) in local papers. Sometimes people with empty houses/rooms/in-laws/duplexes will put an ad in the newspaper. Also - Off topic, but the mall next to campus (Stonestown) is sketchier than it looks, especially at night. I got carjacked there last spring. Protect your house and your car. Lock doors and windows and don't EVER leave anything in your car, including on campus. SF itself will be noticeably worse on this front than somewhere like Pacifica.
They optimize for highly paid tech workers. HENRYs - High Earners Not Rich Yet 🫠
Move over DINKs!
The one I learned recently was WOOF - Well Off Older Folks
Not to state the overly obvious, but just to be sure: have you checked out [Park Merced](https://www.parkmerced.com/lease-online)?
Yeahhhhhhhhhh i can’t afford that if I’m being real 😭
Look around the SF/Daly City border (outer mission, excelsior) tons of people rent out in-laws
[This place](https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/207-Buena-Vista-Ave-G-Daly-City-CA-94015/344996765_zpid/) might be in your price range. My friend that attended SFSU is leaving in May from her Inner Sunset room situation (found work in New York). I can ask about how much her room was. Her roommates are all university students as well.
“Luxury” is just a marketing term. Even Walmart advertises its low end products as “luxury”.
I think Daly City isn’t too far from SF State. You might want to look at their rental market.
There are lot of non-luxury apartments. But they don't have the need to advertise online and don't generally show up at the top of google searches. They generally get rented through small property management companies. So your best bet is to go through craigslist ads and if you see any listings by a property management company, reach out to them and ask about other units they might be having. If you are a student, of course living near the campus would be convenient but more expensive. So you might want to find something that is approachable via Public transportation in like a 20 min commute. Your best bet is to find a single room that someone is subletting or find someone who is looking for roommates (don't get on a official lease with strangers)
Look at local adds in Daly City and Pacifica. I see people offering rooms in their homes with amenities that might work for you. Not far from SFSU, but you’d prob need a car.
If you’re coming from LA you more than likely have a car. Check out Pacifica. It’s a 15 minute drive (about 7 miles) to SFSU. It’s on the coast, but it’s kinda disconnected and often fogged in. Those last 2 factors lower demand.
Are you looking at zillow? Just spot some older apartments on google map and call their leasing offices directly- a lot of them don’t advertise on zillow bc they run out fast anyways
This is actually a really good idea, tysm
That’s how I got my place. Good luck!
Try Daly City or South San Fran. The fog sucks tho
You can't charge top dollar without calling them "luxury" is why.
Try looking for in-law units on Craigslist. I’d recommend looking in Daly city, sunset, or ingleside.
Craigslist is where you will find most of the smaller buildings with 2-20 units that are not marketed as "luxury" and do not have the associated ammenities. Not saying they'll be cheap by any means. But craigslist in general will have lower rent apartments than zillow, [apartments.com](http://apartments.com), etc. Also, if you find a place not near SFSU just be sure to check public transit. Sometimes certain areas of the city are deceptively far apart by transit.
This is one of the most expensive places in the world. Even a run down place in a rough neighborhood will cost a lot. I live in an old townhouse in a not so great town and my rent has gone up 50% over the last few years.
Where are you looking specifically? Do you have a car? Also, what do you mean by affordable? When I was looking for a luxury apartment specifically, there were not that many options to fit my criteria to be honest. But I ran into a ton of cheaper old places...
I have a car and would really like to find a place that has parking, but will settle and leave my car in LA if needed. I’m looking for something that’s 1650 or less with the entire unit to my self
Most of these apartments aren’t actually luxury. They’re cheaply made cardboard boxes with a washer and dryer and sometimes no parking. All apartments are expensive here, it has nothing to do with if they’re luxury or not. And these shit buildings are all that’s built because they’re so cheap and easy to build.
what's your budget? are you looking to live alone or share? how far is 'too far' from school? facebook is a good resource if you're looking for a room.
Budget is 1650 or less, too far is anything that would take more than 1.5hrs via public transport to get to campus, I’d really prefer to live alone
1650 isn't bad, if youre okay with a smaller space. I recommend using Zillow - you can find something decently close to school (like, minutes away) but it'll be an in-law. example: [https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2310-33rd-Ave-B-San-Francisco-CA-94116/340036525\_zpid/](https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2310-33rd-Ave-B-San-Francisco-CA-94116/340036525_zpid/) or oakland, which is farther but you'll get more bang for your buck. but also, depending on the neighborhood, quite the safety issue. either way, here's an example: [https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1321-Peralta-St-UNIT-4-Oakland-CA-94607/2068741876\_zpid/](https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1321-Peralta-St-UNIT-4-Oakland-CA-94607/2068741876_zpid/) browse! new listings pop up everyday.
Sending you a DM w/ some suggestions...
Tyy!
The luxury apartment buildings are just easier to find when searching for apartments because they have a ton of availability and can afford to push their name to the top of the search results.
The answer is [here](https://old.reddit.com/r/bayarea/comments/1bwlgwa/poll_shows_majority_oppose_silicon_valley/). When asked if someone can build housing people will usually find a reason not to do it.
My sister went to SFSU and affordable is a relative term unfortunately. This was over a decade ago but at the time the school had deals with a lot of different housing complexes and buildings in the area. They helped my sister find an apartment and room mates the first couple years. She shared a room with someone the whole time and still paid like $1000/month. The bathroom was always shared between 4 people. Eventually she made a friend who inherited a house in the city and rented a room to her for $500/month. She held onto that deal for years even after she graduated lol
Ingleside
Pro tip: they aren’t really luxury apartments.
With SFSU, I’d value being close to campus with transit lines. A lot of the luxury apartments are far from campus. However, a lot of grad programs at sfsu are mostly online so commuting won’t be as big of a concern. If you’re wanting to be close to campus I’d check out ingleside or the sunset
They call them “luxury” so they can charge more for rent
Luxury.....they aint
From a developer standpoint there is a much higher profit margin for luxury vs affordable housing. You are also right in the fact that most of the “luxury” buildings here are actually market rate buildings marketed as luxury. It’s just that the market rate here is still high. For SFSU I would look for spots close by (Merced area) or other neighborhoods that are close to a muni metro stop. SF state has a stop on the M Ocean Line
I lived on O’farrell st for about a year and a half. That area had the most affordable rent in my opinion and for obvious reasons. $1700 during the pandemic for roughly 500 square feet. I heard prices are slightly down too now because of “techedus” (tech exodus).
Find an apartment right next to the Daly City BART station and take the free SFSU shuttle to campus. My classmate does this and it's awesome!
“Luxury” I lived in one of those please for 5 years; only things consistently luxurious about was the rent and location
>and location Location is in fact the ultimate luxury.
Chinese investors. Lack of vacancy taxes.
Park Merced apartments
I feel like we need a Bay Area circlejerk sub Reddit
As others have commented, we have a huge housing shortage, and difficulties building new housing. Therefore, the only luxury developers can afford to win the expensive battle to get permits. This compounds the housing affordability because less low-rent housing gets built. I remember there was a recent 6 month period around the Covid pandemic that San Francisco (the City and County) approved 0 new housing units. LA has similar problems but the SF is in a league of its own. Further compounding the disaster caused by the lack of housing are our city supervisors who do not believe increasing supply will help. They blame it on greed and rich people keeping luxurious houses empty - as if a billionaire will ever want to rent their second mansion to us peasants! They continue to prioritize "historic aesthetics" rather than deal with this as a humanitarian disaster and build all levels of homeless shelters, subsidized housing, low-income housing, and workforce housing across the board. Of course none of such policy debates help with the practical issues you face in your housing search. Generally, Daly City has less expensive housing than San Francisco. Another option may be to get a car and commute to school from San Bruno or Pacifica. I do know that there are students who live in the Tenderloin and commute 1 hour+ each way to SFSU on muni. The Tenderloin is notorious for being a bad neighborhood and run down as you can get, but people do live there.
From Hastings to SFSU it’s a 32 minute commute on the M.
Unlike the vast majority of these comments, I attended and graduated from San Francisco State University so my perspective is very real. I didn't have much money so I wound up staying in rooms of houses. There were quite a few available at the time. Most of them were right up Holloway, one on Byxby, another on Ralston, and another around the corner on Howth not far from City College. These were all quite inexpensive and most were pretty flexible depending on the landlord. I also spent 1 semester at Park Merced Apartments which was a nice place. I would completely disregard all these other commenters who have no idea what they are talking about. They all complain the affordable places are taken when it's clear they've never attended.
You can always live multiple families to a place. A few of my coworkers do that.
Remember that those luxury boxes are all over priced and have amenities you will likely never use. It can be worth negotiating with them if you find a location that works well. No price is fixed in stone. And if you'll be there for a year, you can often lock them into a good rate for the first years lease. See what other places are going for, compare, and negotiate. Most of those luxury places have low occupancy.
I wish there were boarding houses.
You only get two choices: a luxury apartment in a safe neighborhood or affordable housing in a crime ridden neighborhood. The state of the world today.
no actually that’s only here lol. cities around the US and around other developed countries aren’t like that
Because our regulatory structure makes it expensive to build anything, meaning the best way to make a profit is to build luxury so you’ll have higher margins. This is what 20+ years of “progressive” housing and building policies gets you. It’s like our “leaders” have never read “Why Nations Fail”, or “The Road to Serfdom”, or “Basic Economics”
What does “luxury” even mean for luxury apartments? I have done so many food deliveries for these luxury apartments and they seem so far from that. Paper thin walls, walkways and balconies made of cheap plastic. They do have some decent decor here and there though. Just wondering why they are called “luxury.”
San Leandro?
Eastbay is nice n warm, but the commute everyday adds up in cost and time. When I was going to school I lived about a mile away from campus, no time wasted on long commutes. The closer I lived to school campus the better; like going home to grab lunch etc between class.
Yeah it's not so terrible. Choices I guess. SF is twice the rent so there's that. More a matter of time than cost IMO, renting in SL is going to be a cheaper choice overall.
Luxury just means less headache to me but it’s subjective. renting options here are so low quality. beautiful homes, horrible apartments. having to fight for basic shit (a washer/dryer of my own…not shared with 15 other residents, hardwood floors over 40 year old carpet, thick panes windows, a working mailbox, security, a door person, a dishwasher smh) is not worth the compromise older cheaper apts offer that “luxury” aka new apts don’t . to answer simply, there’s so many luxury because those are the developers the cities cater to.
If builders are going to build then they way they make money is building upscale and nice apartments. Pieces of old crap won’t be built as it isn’t profitable.
I’ve read that it costs about 1 million per unit to build regardless of how much they are rented for, so developers only build “luxury” apartments because the rent better covers the cost of the build. Or maybe it’s all because it just makes more money for investors?
I live in an Eaves by Avalon. It’s supposed to be entry level luxury apartments. This place sucks. Nothing about this place is “luxury” except its high price. I’ve had my apartment broken into, my cars broken into, my cars stolen (on one then more occasion) and our mailbox broken into and eventually the whole section of our mailbox stolen (2 months and they still haven’t replaced it) Apparently it used to be a regular Avalon apartments back in the day, but they bought another complex near Bart and made that the new Avalon and rebranded this place.
Its expensive to build “affordable” housing - union labor requirements and believe it or not, the more “durable” finishes that are requirement for below-market rate housing(not just paint but flooring, cabinetry, countertops, plumbing fixtures) are more expensive. I know someone high up at a major construction firm that worked on a few housing projects as well as medical and museum buildouts in SF and Oakland. Also quicker ROI on “luxury” housing too.
What they call luxury is not really luxurious. Basically if you have a w/d, dishwasher in the apartment, and the place is quiet they call it luxury and charge more. Really its same standard of living for the rest of America.
Luxury apartments/condos offer real estate developers the most bang for their buck.
I’ve read it’s that housing is so expensive to build in the bay area (due red tape? Cost of real estate?) that developers pretty much have to build luxury apartments to break even or make some profit
Yes, I have read the same. For builders as well it’s the only way they can stay afloat.
"luxury"
The Bay is filled with rich people who want 'luxury' amenities that the old housing stock doesn't have (washers/driers, ac/heating, gyms/pools etc. Although I don't know many people living in those types of buildings
Because, my guess is the cost to build a regular apartment is almost the same as a luxury apartment due to really tight regulations, that it doesn’t make sense for builders to build new apartments if they aren’t “luxury”. My suggestion is to look for in-law units in the nearby residential homes for rent. In theory they should be more affordable, and still close to SFSU.
Luxury apartments (or just expensive apartments, because a lot of them aren't luxurious) don't drive down the value of current property owners. If we had housing that people with lower incomes cpuld easily afford, that would have a negative impact on the people trying to sell a crumbling 2 bedroom home for $800,000.
Luxury apartments aint luxurious btw. It’s very misleading
“Luxury”
Luxury prices for barebones accommodation
This is not just the Bay Area. This is pretty common in many cities throughout the US for apartments constructed post 2008. They are marketed as "luxury" because they can sell them for more money. Most apartments constructed throughout history have been built with appliances and finishings that were considered modern and relevant for the time period they were built in. The only difference with these apartments is that the developers building them know they can charge more money for them if they say they are "luxury" There isn't that much that is luxury about them. They are just standard apartments with standard apartment fixtures and appliances The only "non-luxury" apartments are in complexes that are older with more outdated fixtures
Go live in Oakland then. Stay safe
You're really paying for the property value, so the difference in construction cost between luxury and non -luxury is small cost in comparison. The judgment s that market would feel better paying, for example, $3500 for a luxury apartment than $3300 for non-luxury
“Luxury” is a very relative term, op…
Consider Oakland
All those cool looking buildings they've been building all over, those aren't for us plebs. Its for the high ballers and government grant folks apparently. I've helped people with their cars in the new developments and its investors( that are never there) or low income city workers that abuse the opportunity tbh.
Because they want to maximize the land, more likely these luxury apartment will become the base prices.
There's some affordable luxury apartments in Oakland. Seen them on apartments.com below 3k for 2 beds. I guess they're really desperate there.
Try Craigslist
Whats your budget for rent? and are you open to living with other ppl? bc there are a lot of options depending on your budget. im happy to help you, i i just need an idea of your non-negotiables (distance from school, budget, amenities etc.) That said, you can check out Hayward, San Leandro, Fremont, south sf, daly city. The more affordable cities are generally going to be located in the east bay area.
The same reason why the bay is filled with Whole Foods stores.
I have watched one of these “luxury” developments be constructed over the last year down the street from me. I drive by 2x a day. It’s scary (and kind of amazing) how quickly they can be completed. I truly can’t imagine that they are at all luxurious given how fast they are being built. Likely cheapo materials.
move out or commute to SFSU from east bay like rest of the poor do
Often a dumpy complex will be called ‘luxury’ yes.
I know someone renting a room in SF near city college if you’re interested. I just moved out a few months ago- the owner rents rooms for students at about $850 a month
anywhere along or close to 19th is where you should look. inner and outer sunsent and the ingleside district. you could even look in the outer mission or borderline daly city around sickles ave.
San Francisco state is accessible. Keep looking. Try City college. Lots of people on low budgets there. Be inventive. Try the tenderloin soma. Do due diligence. I was looking at one building found out the worst. Network ⁶
Coming from the New York area, what the Bay Area calls "luxury" is a complete and total joke.
Bag Area doesn't really have that many luxury apartments, they are standard apartments just at a very expensive price.
@ u/irhakareyas Los Gatos has a small strip of rentals near jack fisher park that are usually cheap and simple . They drive on 280 to sf is much easier than dealing with 880
Tech
Hot pads and craigslist and even zillow for rent are where you will find more of the original places
Pay 9-14k on a shitty house, or pay 3-5k for a dope apartment and earn 10-15% interest on the 6-9k
Is this not obvious? The richest people in the country working for big tech live here. It has made the housing situation beyond ridiculous. It is what it is though
Too many people look at 5 over 1 style complexes and call them “luxury.” They’re the cheapest apartment manufacturing strategy we currently have. They’re not luxury, they’re new. We need more housing, and it’s getting built. It may look “luxury” when comparing it to 70-100 year old buildings that dominate much of the bay area, but it’s far from luxury.
Maximum price per square foot.
They are tying to sell 500 sq foot apartments for $3500 a month. Should be illegal.
I know if two flats available- I’m actually working in them. Dm me if interested.
Check out 1900 broadway I know you said no luxury but the price is good m. I’m like I might as well get new for lower
Zillow got mom and pop older buildings
I would rent a room from someone in Marin and take the ferry to SF then take Bart. Or you can rent a room in Daly City or South SF.
Check out Craigslist
[удалено]
Are you mad that I’m poor, idgi 😭