moving to Bay area
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- unknown0
somewhere close to Golden Gate park, it's so beautiful in that area.
:P
- unknown0
what it will probably boil down to though is what you can find and what you can afford. Not sure how hard it is to find places anymore with everyone leaving, but it's still expensive as hell to live anywhere in California.
:P
- xrusos0
qburt... your misinterpretting the graph. it is only posts on craigslist - which gets more popular each month, so it makes sense that there would be more postings. but really, thanks for your counsel.
pixelfrog, do you know about across the bay? less expensive living? what about commute to the city or the south bay, or peninsula? is that a major factor?
am i even asking the right questions?
- unknown0
craigs list has been this popular since that graphs start...
even if it is just craigs list.. its a representation of the area and its correct..
You may beable to find work man..... but prob not for much money.... I am making decent money.. living outside of SF and still dont have much money left over..... I knew Cali was expensive.. but this is crazy..
I could prob live better in Seattle makeing 30k a year than me making twice as much here....
- unknown0
I don't live there, but have had a few good friends who have. One buddy was making 90k at macromedia and couldn't afford to eat half the time. He lived right downtown though.
It's definitely less expensive to live on the other side, but then your commute is hell.
:P
- xrusos0
does anyone live in the bay area that can offer some advice here?
- shant0
near haight is ideal, but expensive.
i lived in the fillmore center for a while. it was cheap, and it was within walking distance to buses that went to downtown and haight quickly. but my friends just moved out of there because they raised rent prices again.
it's pretty ridiculous, they now live in the TL and if they open the living room blinds they got people cupping their hands and looking into their apt at all times of the night.
but the rent is cheap.
- gcabral0
i'm from san jose. now i'm in sacramento.
i couldn't find a job in the bay area. and it's way too expensive. it's a complete joke and waste of time. many of my software friends are out of work after making 100k a year.. and now they struggle on unemployment. there is no reason to move to the bay anymore. it's not even cool anymore. it's a joke.
move to seattle or portland if you want to live on the west coast.
if i didn't find this job in sacto, i'd be in seattle.
good luck, you are gonna need it.
- arlo0
Don't believe the hype. I moved to SF two years ago and have loved every day of it. I love right in mid-haight area. It's fun as shit and sunny every day. You can do it if you try. The people that bitch about it and move away do so because of bad personal experiences. It's still a city of 800,000 for a reason.
- hupp0
I live in the city.
I first moved here three and a half years ago. Being gainfully employed in the city is far different being freelance.
There is excellent choice for apartments now. I returned to the city after living in the UK for a year and greatly enjoyed hunting out the ideal apartment. Though - we didn't get it, as someone else bid higher and sooner than we did.
A major thing to consider is if you'll have a car or not. Without a car, you don't get to enjoy the city as much, and expecially anything outside of the city over the bridges. With a car, you get to suffer parking in the city.
Without a car, two very simple places to live for city transport are the Mission/Delores Hill and Cole Valley/Haight.
I live in Potreo Hill for the permantent sunshine - as most places suffer the fog problem in the summer.
I have friends who live outside of the city, but depending on your age and whether you wish to hang out in the city in the evenings, commuting can be a pain and not always worth the savings. However, I know that Oakland and some areas in the East Bay can get you a large space and then enough to park and ride into the city.
I lived in the Sunset for a year as I wanted to be blocks from the beach and next to Golden Gate park. Apart from the persistent fog and occaissional gang shootings nearby - it was an excellent choice for me. But I had a car and didn't mind the 45 minute drive into work every morning.
With money - I would have lived closer into town like Cole Valley - but then you can forget about parking there.
Be careful at loft spaces. Most of the time landlords are renting spaces that haven't been built to a high enough standard for comfortable living and most of the great deals are down in the SOMA area where you admittedly have better crack on hand, but it aint cool to step out on it daily.
The Richmond, Sunset and inner areas of both can be a bit too much with traffic of people and cars. But good for transport and restaurants etc.
ultimately - it will depend on what you want to do, where you want to do it and then how much you want to pay.
Oh - and I hear its marginally better for freelance here than it is in Chicago. The nice thing is that the city is still small and easy to make contacts.
Good luck. I'm certain you'll do well.
- robotron3k0
i lived in frisco for a while until the bomb dropped about 1.5 years ago... if your excited about moving to sf with no job you might just want to get a room while you check things out... http://www.easyroomate.com/
remember the little subway there closes at 11:52pm or so, and the buses don't run well late night so if you live too far from the center of town you'll be SOL after you leave a club... you should REALLY listen to these guys who live there now, they have given you the best advice about moving to sf without work!, regardless, best of luck getting a job there...
- xrusos0
cheers arlo, hupp, and robo.
hupp, very specific advice. i'll be looking up the places you mentioned.
i will have a car. i'm planning on living in an apartment for about 2 months while i find a job and find a condo/home to buy. it sounds like it be best to spend my apartment time near the city, but buy a place outside of it, possibly east of the bay.
again, thanks for the help.
- hupp0
yeah - I should add that though I moved back to the Bay Area without a job or work in the area. I do have the equivalent of a years salary in the bank.
But since you didn't ask for advice on what to do when you get here....
- shant0
dude, come on, bay area and sunny? maybe 2 weeks in august but let's be realistic here.
- unknown0
ya..... there are much better places to live for much cheaper...
- unknown0
I really dont know why you want to move to SF so bad man... it seems like you have hidden motives or something...
you said look for work for a couple of months... try a year or more
- xrusos0
i'm just fine in the savings dept. as well. plenty of cushion while i find a job, and enough for a healthy downpayment on a home. so i won't have to worry about affording food. i just want a sweet place, not too expensive, in a cool area, while i test the waters and look for a job.
it looks like most of the jobs i've seen in the area are either in the city, or in the peninsula, or in the valley by san jose. so i figure a peninsula place or a south city place would be ideal for a two month deal.
and hupp, any advice you have would be welcome.
- hupp0
email me -
- unknown0
just wondering... how much are you expecting to pay for a house..
they start at 400k for a small place in that area.
- robotron3k0
xrusos, my advice to you, get a wild hair and check out santa cruz, love that place! it's about 25 minutes from the city but you can pick up a beach side house for around 200k, super nice, chill community, beach n all but still super close...