Question for my SF Bay Area friends

[nisaa]

Do you have any recommendations on where to look for apartments? I'm asking both for neighborhoods you like and for apartment listings. We have been looking and have run into a few problems: 1) When they say dogs are ok, they are mostly thinking dogs that are smaller than our cats. 2) Steve has seen some amazing apartments in not so good neighborhoods.

I've mostly been looking on craigslist for ads. Yesterday I posted our wishlist for an apt. on both tribe and craigslist. Are there any LJ communities you'd recommend I post to? After all, we found our current roommate through the Los Angeles LJ community.

I'm leaving this post public in case you know of anyone who has a place available and want to point them my way. Thanks!

Here's our

We are a married couple who are relocating to the Bay area from LA in March/beginning of April. We know that putting this wishlist up here alone won't get us a place, but hey, it doesn't hurt to ask. He is a computer consultant, massage therapist, SCAdian and Burner. She is a newly licensed acupuncturist, who is getting a chance to have hobbies again like the SCA, belly dancing and photography after four years of grad school. We have two cats and a medium sized dog. We wouldn't mind having a roommate - we've had one for the past four years in Venice. We are considering both San Francisco and the East Bay. Our price range is $1000-$1500.

General
a. Southern windows
b. Garden/fenced in back yard for our dog
c. 3-4 rooms
d. no carpets
e. storage space
f. Laundry facilities
g. claw foot bathtub
h. closet space for 2 people
i. higher ceilings
j. Windows for kitties
k. ceiling fans

Kitchen
a. dish washer
b. gas stove

Neighborhood
a. walking distance to dog park
b. walking distance to people park
c. friendly open minded neighbors/community
d. walk/short bike to a grocery store
e. walk to/ short bike to BART
f. Neighbors to watch pets

Comments

[elvendoll.livejournal.com]

Here's some comments, based on my less then fruitful searches:
- Separate your list into Must Have/Nice To Have - I found that this does a good job of narrowing without limiting options.

- Include places with space for a roommate in your search. Be prepared to shell out the $$ for said space for the first month, and worry about finding a roommate after you've signed the lease. People are flakes, and househunting is stressful enough without dealing with flakes - and it is much easier to find a roommate then to find a place.

- Get landlord references for the dog. Email places that don't allow dogs, attaching the reference and offer up extra in pet deposit.

Generally speaking, my perceptions of "nice neighborhoods" have shifted dramatically since moving here. What sort of things make a neighborhood not to nice for you guys?

I would almost recommend looking for a place where you stay just one year - it takes some time to get to know the area, figure out which specific places it is important to have good transportation options to, etc - and it's easier to look for a semi-temporary space then it is to look for a dream house.

Some more personal experience: when I first moved here, I subletted in the Laurel neighborhood of Oakland. It's 1-2 miles from BART, but has a community mailing list, good foodshopping options and is convenient to the freeway. I was in a 2 bedroom house with a gorgeous backyard that was $1300/month. Doing a search for Laurel on CL came up with this and this.

[nisaa.livejournal.com]

Thank you SO much! This is very useful.

Basically Steve has been looking at neighborhoods and deciding where he'd be ok with me walking home alone at night. I don't know if that's more of a feeling than anything else, really. For example, there was a beautiful carriage house we saw pix of. When he got to the neighborhood, he saw trash all over the street and it was about a mile to walk to anything we'd need.

One of the reasons we're moving is because Steve is fed up with driving in LA. We want to be able to take public transit again to get places.

We are planning on taking your advice and getting a place for a year or so while we look for something better.
I know I'm not going to get everything on our wishlist but I figured I'd put it out there!

[elvendoll.livejournal.com]

Basically Steve has been looking at neighborhoods and deciding where he'd be ok with me walking home alone at night. I don't know if that's more of a feeling than anything else, really.

Yeah, that's the part that was toughest for me. It took me a few months in my current neighborhood to get comfortable walking to/from BART alone in the evening.

[calialleykat.livejournal.com]

the Elmwood area of Berkeley was still very nice slightly upscale studenty the last time I was there, and is close to the university, Telegraph ave which is No Cals version of Venice without the ocean and BART. It may be too expensive or trendy now, but its worth a look.

[bythebootstraps.livejournal.com]

you might want to research potential places you might work and then pick neighborhoods based on the ease of commuting to and from there.

it sounds from what you are describing that youd like the east bay, oakland area.

[nisaa.livejournal.com]

Well, we're probably going to both be working in San Francisco. He'll be working all over the city and I am not sure yet where I'll be, so we just have to wing it and deal with the commute. But I know I don't want to live further out than Oakland or Berkeley really.

[bythebootstraps.livejournal.com]

than take a look at the Richmond district...

[fidgetmonster.livejournal.com]

E's sister and her partner live in SF on 8th Ave. I'm sure you know a million people in SF already, but we should hook you guys up. Hmmm ... does Ajax scare tiny lesbians? :) At least we can see you guys when we go visit them!

[nisaa.livejournal.com]

Hmmm ... does Ajax scare tiny lesbians?

No, I think they usually think he's cute . . . or something. ROFL.