Noor’s Blog
My optimism for finding an apartment in San Francisco (that I like, is in my price range, and in a good neighborhood) has reached an all time low this evening. I saw three great apartments yesterday - in Noe Valley, the Mission, and Hayes Valley. I fell in love with the place in Noe Valley and really wanted it to be mine. It was totally one of those places where I walked in and thought, “This is it. I love this place. I want it.” Along with being very roomy, having a washer & dryer in the unit, and being extremely clean and full of neat architectural details, the landlord was extremely nice. It was also really close to all of the coffee shops and restaurants on 24th. I was hoping all day today that I’d get it.
I got a call this afternoon from the woman who was showing the apartment in the Mission. That apartment was also pretty nice but in a sketchier part of the Mission (I always figure that it is never a good sign when you see guys walking around drinking beer out of paper bags). She said that my application was excellent and that I had good credit (I already knew that) but that she had to give it to the first person who applied for it. I wasn’t that disappointed about that apartment given the neighborhood situation but still I don’t really like getting rejected for anything. Then later on this evening, I checked my voicemail and the Noe Valley landlord had left me a message. I didn’t get the apartment. Again, she said my application was good but she had to give it to the first person who applied. They’re supposed to be making a decision about the Hayes Valley apartment by tomorrow. Judging by my current record, I’m guessing I probably won’t get it. Lots of people applied to that one and I know I wasn’t the first to apply there either.
I’m really getting frustrated with the whole process - searching through Craigslist and grumbling to myself about their shitty UX (and their circa 1995 web UI), wasting time and gas driving to the city and looking at overpriced shitty places that nobody wants, competing with what feels like the entire city of San Francisco for the few really awesome places. I’ve been expending a lot of time and energy into it and it doesn’t feel like it is going anywhere. This really could be somebody’s full time job. I’m also starting to reconsider the SF to Mountain View commute - the extra expense of commuting and time lost commuting. I’m getting pretty close to giving up and just settling for a cheaper place in Mountain View, Palo Alto, or Sunnyvale.
6 Responses to “new level of frustration”
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About this blog
My name is Noor and this is my blog where I write about the mundane details of my life. I’m 30 and live in Northern California with my cats Mulder & Scully.
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O
August 6th, 2007 at 10:13 am
http://www.housingmaps.com/
Noor
August 6th, 2007 at 10:25 am
will this deter the millions of people from coming to open houses? ;-)
My issue with the Craigslist UI is that I can’t drill down - show me only non ground floor apartments with dishwashers, laundry facilities, parking, in xyz neighborhoods, and within x price range.
Sylvie
August 7th, 2007 at 6:50 am
Have you tried rent.com?
It worked really well for us when we were looking in the Baltimore area. And, they gave us a $100 visa card hen we picked a place found on their site. Bribery, it works every time.
Noor
August 7th, 2007 at 7:15 am
I’ve used Rent.com and Apartments.com for my apartments in Ann Arbor and Mountain View. It works well for finding larger apartment complexes/communities. Most of those kind of places that are in the city are either too expensive or too bland.
I’m actually going to see an apartment in Mountain View tomorrow evening.
Bethany
August 9th, 2007 at 3:12 pm
I don’t know you but I saw this comment when surfing the Net seeing who else was in San Francisco apartment hunting misery. I just wanted to say, hang in there. I looked for 3+ months before I (1) found a place I liked and (2) simultaneously found a landlord who liked me best (in Cole Valley, my favorite SF neighborhood, at that, with rare studio/1 BR vacancies.) I’ve been in the same boat as you till now - being one of sixteen people to apply for a place, seeing my dream apt pop up in Craigslist only to have it rent before I can make it up to the City to see it (I’m moving from San Jose, and so can’t leave my job in the middle of the day during the week to run to SF to see an apartment.)
Just offering some tips from my apartment search. I’m sure you’re experienced enough to have tried most of this stuff already, but just in case any of these are helpful:
1. When you see an apartment on Craigslist you like, IMMEDIATELY call the landlord. Don’t email, unless they request email responses only.
2. Once you’ve reached the landlord, explain what a good fit the apartment seems to be and ask if s/he is willing to show the apartment to you in advance of the open house. Indicate that you’re immediately ready to put down a deposit or draw a cashier’s check if it’s the right place. Also, be available to see the place the same night, at the very latest.
3. When you go to see an apartment, have copies of the following with you, preferably placed in a nice folde, with your business card if you have one: credit report, two most recent pay stubs, new job offer letter (if relevant), resume (no, really - it’s a good way to provide “background information” to the landlord while tacitly selling him/her on why you are a good tenant), and if you want to go all out, a brief cover letter describing your background, reason for moving to SF, and interest in the apt/neighborhood/etc. I also found that it helps to state in writing, if true, that you do not smoke, throw loud parties, or have pets.
4. Particularly if there is an open house with lots of people, express to the landlord politely, but not over-effusively, how much you like the apartment and believe it to be a good fit. Authenticity is key - some people launch into an obviously over-done act which alienates landlords.
I SO sympathize with your frustration, because I’d never had a comparable apartment hunting experience before. I’m in San Jose right now, and here, you pick the complex that YOU want and move in within the week. I hated every minute of having to treat the SF apartment search like a job interview - trying to sell the landlord on why YOU are the best tenant. But that is the game, so we must play it, unfortunately.
Good luck! I hope we’ll be neighbors up in San Francisco soon.
Noor
August 9th, 2007 at 3:19 pm
Thanks for the tips. I actually did most of what you were doing but no luck. I decided after this weekend to give it up and move to a cheaper place in Mountain View.
Thanks again for the tips. I’ve passed them along to a couple of my friends who just started their apartment hunting in SF.