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Ask HN: How to find a room in SF to rent?

17 points by kpeiris ↗ HN
So I've almost given up now. I've sent about 40 Craigslist messages in the past week and haven't had a single reply so far. There's something different about San Francisco.

I've tried using my Gmail, my university email, a nondescript account too. I've tried long descriptive messages and short punctual messages. I've tried thoroughly describing myself to sound legitimate or not at all. Not a single bite.

What am I looking for? Simple, a room to rent with some other young-ish (lets say less than 30 years old) people in San Francisco. My lease terms are totally flexible too, 6 months, 1 year, whatever. I was hoping for something in Hayes Valley or Mission but honestly, I don't even care anymore as long as its safe.

Is there a secret handshake involved? Is there a formulaic way to approach classified inquiries? Should I be calling everyone? I'm even open to giving someone a referral bonus at this point.

Advice would be awesome!

Context: just finished college, starting with a company in Palo Alto on the 12th, flying from Canada to SFO on Saturday and have no place to go.

19 comments

[ 3.9 ms ] story [ 27.3 ms ] thread
Shenglong
I've worked with kpeiris on a project before, and he's a pretty awesome guy. Won't regret helping him!
DazzleB
I've love to live with this guy, don't miss out.
alxndrmlr
Don't keep us Canadians out in the cold...although we are used to it... :P
pbreit
Might be easier to look after you arrive. Do you have any friends you can crash with? If not, try AirBnB for something short term. People renting out a room might consider a longer term rental if you're a good roomie. You'll also be able to start networking when you're here which can be a good way to find lodging.
allenbrunson
Yep, the bay area is a special case! When I moved there way back in 2000, it was much the same. You are likely one of hundreds of respondents.

I finally wound up paying a guy 100 bucks a month to get access to rental listings before they showed up on craigslist and the usual places. I was skeptical, but it worked. Being the first or second caller instead of the hundredth did the trick.

I haven't lived there in more than ten years, so my info might be out of date.

astrofinch
"You are likely one of hundreds of respondents."

If demand exceeds supply, why don't landlords raise their prices?

rdouble
Demand only exceeds supply for good deals.

There is a dearth of cheap rooms and rentals. However, if you want to pay $2500 a month for a 1BR you will have no problem finding a place.

dmm
So slowly raise prices until you only get a few responses?
MatthewB
I had the same problem except compounded by the fact that I have a dog! Basically, hammer the emails and phone calls and eventually you will find something (craigslist).

I moved here from LA so I was looking for a place without actually being here. I found a handfull of places that accepted dogs and were within my price range, flew up here for a weekend and ran all over the city like a madman. I finally found a place that worked.

You may have more luck looking for an apartment without a roomie, if you can afford that. Feel free to shoot me an email (address located in my profile) and I will help in any way I can.

Also, yes, SF is especially hard to find apartments.

zoowar
Maybe the Mother Nature is urging you to look closer to Palo Alto.
calbear81
Hey kpeiris, congrats on starting a new job and life in the Bay Area! I think pbreit is right about needing to meet some of these potential room mates in person when you arrive. Until then though, you might need to shell out a few bucks for an AirBnB room (maybe a week) while you hunt for more permanent digs. My friend Joe has a room about 5 minutes from me here: http://www.airbnb.com/rooms/show/154143 He's super chill and relaxed and it's right on the N-Judah line so it's easy to get around to the other parts of the city.
wh-uws
What is your price range and are you using padmapper?
kpeiris
I've been using padmapper with CL - is there any advantage vs using CL alone?

Anything under 2k a month is reasonable enough for me given the prices I've seen.

wh-uws
Ok you've got the tools. I'm seeing lots of things in your price range there.

Whats your pitch?

The thing about Bay Area housing is for some reason everybody wants to be there. So you got to sound interesting and move fast.

When I interned out there last summer my pitch was

    Hi I'm {name},
    Found your listing on craigslist I'm here in the valley interning with {company} for the summer.I'm a {student/in your case recent grad} from {hometown} and I'm interested, 
    would you be free for me to come visit after 5pm. You can reply to this email and/or 
    give me a call at {phone number}
You want to give people the fastest way possible to get in contact with you and the soonest time possible you can go see the place.

The pitch is extremely important because renters want to know several things before they will be ok contacting you about moving in.

- Who you are in the first place?

- Are you legit?

- Can you pay? and if its multiple months or times can you pay consistently

- Will you cause trouble.

Also in terms of using straight up CL vs padmapper remember padmapper does everything it can to only list places with addresses in them and it has a slight update delay. If you want to whole picture make sure to check the CL site as well.

elg0nz
Rent in San Bruno or San Mateo, affordable, boring and close to public transport and the 101. Good enough until you find a good place in the city (It's been months and I'm still looking though...).
burrokeet
If you end up in the city, make sure you are very near the Caltrain, since it sounds like you are not planning to drive. Trying to commute to Palo Alto by connecting to the Caltrain from other public transit (MUNI etc) is a PITA.
ryanlchan
For all the talk about SF being a great start-up culture, what's true everywhere is still true here: No one wants a roommate who can't make rent.

Damn near every place I went to with a photocopy of my job offer did I get offered a spot. Try getting something in paper from the company you're working for and bringing that to some open houses. I got much better responses from that tactic than bringing beer or nothing at all.

brokentone
I think that someone here needs to start a HN housing list or something. I'm looking for a place myself out in NYC and CL is nothing but trouble; however, I have gotten 4 replies from some very helpful Nigerian folk offering to fedex me the keys to their places after I simply wire them 1st month + sec.

Seriously though, CL is filled with crap, it takes far too much work to find places and there is no way to judge any roommate compatibility before the open house (which quickly leads to renting the room if everything goes well).