September 5, 2007
News Flash: Bay Area Rents on the Rise
When we began our daunting, three-month-long apartment hunt this past June, we soon discovered that the competition for affordable one-bedrooms suitable for two people was fierce. We needed to find an abode before our impending marriage at the end of September, but after spurts of fruitless open houses throughout the summer, we feared we were doomed to walk through our separate "thresholds" post-matrimony, with our various roommates lurking down the hall.
So, last week, after some wise advice to put our needs "out there," we posted a "housing wanted" ad on craigslist (link has expired), along with hundreds of other desperate apartment-hunters. An hour later, we received an email from a producer at CBS5 wanting to interview us about our plight (we never did receive anything from prospective landlords though).
That same day, we also scheduled an appointment to see a rather promising apartment the next morning, which preceded our CBS5 interview later that afternoon. We came away from the apartment-viewing very excited -- the apartment was ours once our references and credit checked out. We kind of had a feeling things would go down that way.
More of our non-story after the jump!
Julia Madden, the producer who contacted and interviewed us, and the camera guy (we wish we could remember his name) were really nice and fun people, and they made us feel really comfortable speaking on camera. They seemed to genuinely enjoy the people they meet and the places they encounter while on the job. The behind-the-scenes experience was much more fulfilling than the final product, which is what we had always suspected while watching the local news. Also, we got bumped from the original air date last Wednesday to last Friday.
The edited footage of our interview was awesome in an ironic way, but still extremely cringe-worthy nonetheless. Our s.o. stole the limelight -- he's admittedly the extraverted half, and all we seemed capable of doing was nodding over and over and showing off our [grandmother's] engagement ring. Both of us were also portrayed as sounding very "doom-and-gloom," even though there were many jokes cracked in our half-hour taping.
We especially loved the closing line uttered by reporter Jeanette Pavini:
"Leanne and Daniel are hoping to find a spot
that's just their cup of tea,"
as the camera zooms into a close-up of our literal cup of tea that we were sitting down to drink. {Groan.}
"Now, after our story, Leanne and Daniel did find an apartment..."
Let's see if CBS5's "Tips for Success" worked for us:
1. Get Current Credit Report (landlord did his own background check free of charge)
2. Dress for Success (we were more dressed up than usual, thanks to the TV appearance)
3. Don't Be Afraid to Ask [Questions] (asked a few pertinent questions, but we have good instincts)
The fact of the matter is, we got our new apartment because we were the first to see it (and qualify). There was some luck to it though -- the ad had gone up a few days prior to us answering it, but there was a weird technological glitch that caused the apartment manager to lose all of the initial responses over the weekend (while we were living it up at our bachelorette party in wine country). So, we were the first to respond to the new ad the following Monday. Weird, dumb luck.
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I hear ya, I've been looking as well and this is the first time I can remember I've had such a bad time. There are a LOT of crappy apartments out there, and frankly rather than just sign the first lease I find and be stuck with one, I'd just as soon keep looking no matter how inconvenient it becomes.
Too bad I'm not some drug addict or something, maybe then the City would give me a free home...
You can thank rent control for the high cost of moving. As recent renters are subsidizing the rent of people like me who have had the same apartment for decades.
Having just found an apartment, what makes it so hard is the people who post on craigs list without any details, or embellishing the details - if it's a basic, simple, in-law, just say so!!!
the same problem is happening with real estate, fwiw. not enough supply for the demand so when any sort of remodeled single family home comes up in a non gang ridden hood, it goes for well over asking. even in this market, believe it or not.
Love the bling shot.
I always love it when you read an ad that says "1 bedroom" and it's really a studio, or better, when you ask "is it an in law" and they say "no" and you get there and it's a crummy basement with no light and water stains.
hence I'd rather be patient than take the first one I find....
Not sure if you (and the commenters) were looking in SF, but I can tell you it's no easier in the East Bay.
Since Craigslist already takes addresses for each ad and maps them, it would be great if Craigslist and Google Maps could come up with a feature that automatically calculates the length of the walk to the nearest BART station, so the people placing the ad can't lie about it. Seems like everything's deemed a "10 minute walk to BART" regardless of whether it's actually 15, 20, 30, etc...
#7, you mean like http://www.housingmaps.com/? You'll still have to go into http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/ and do a manual calculation. In general, the farther you are away from Bart, the better the apartment. The real run down units with bad tenants tend to be near Bart, which is sort of the reverse of how one would imagine these things work.
Has anyone had any luck with this:
http://www.rentslicer.com/California/SanFrancisco
?
Actually, rents have spiked rather badly in the last 4 months, the median cost for a room went up $300... Dont ask me why.
Check out the graph
http://mullinslab2.ucsf.edu/craigstats/data/time.html
(I have been storing craigslist for the last year, and doing statistics on the changes in rent over time)
All the stats are at
http://mullinslab2.ucsf.edu/craigstats/
And, Also I have put together something similar to rental slicer... which has all of the current craigslist listings, with average prices for that neighborhood and 1/2 mile interval...
again (sorry for the dupe here)
http://mullinslab2.ucsf.edu/craigstats/
I dunno where rentalslicer gets their data, but their "average price" is way cheaper than what is posted on craigslist....
Thanks for that, egarner! Now I don't feel so bad about my new apartment. The rent is $1750 for a 500 ft2 one-bedroom, which seems outrageous to me, but it looks like that's been the average for the past year at least.
And really, we did luck out with a great deal in terms of amenities: tons of closet space, bay window-seats in both the bedroom and living room, newly remodeled kitchen and bath, all new appliances -- including a built-in microwave, and steam heat!
I will be forced to get a new job though, since my rent has almost doubled. (I've been renting $500 rooms for the past six years.)
try this link from the sentinel:
http://www.sanfranciscosentinel.com/?p=4711
he has listings in a single link for everything from 1 to 6 bedrooms in just about every part of town that you won't get shot at
To me the biggest problem is the credit check. I have three years of perfect, always on time payments from my previous landlord and now I guess I'll have my current landlord as well, but since I never needed any student loans I don't have any credit history. I mean, I don't want to get a credit card (I prefer debit since I don't actually want any debt, not even for a month), but even trying to get approved for one of those damn store cards just to get a 15% discount is impossible.
The whole idea behind requiring credit checks just seems ludicrous. I have proof from my previous landlord (and cable and gas) that I pay on time every single month for years and I'm fiscally responsible enough not to have incurred any debt, but they don't care at all.
So, what does everyone else out there do? How do you even get credit when nobody will give you any due to your complete lack of credit?
Belgand -- yeah, I feel for you. My fiance doesn't have any credit either, yet he is way more responsible with money than I am and can't stand being in debt.
When I looked into helping him build his credit, the best solution seemed to be to get a "starter" card through a bank, like BofA, where you deposit $300-1,000 into the account, and then use the card for a monthly bill or something. It's best to try to pay your balance in full each month. I would guess that after about six to twelve months of having this account (and paying it off each month), you would then be able to upgrade to a regular, high-interest credit card, through Capitol One or something similar.
It's stupid, I know. I had the misfortune of building my credit in college and have had this stupid debt following me around ever since. I even stopped paying my bills for six months when I first moved to SF. I had horrible credit for a few years after that, but now it's pretty much back to normal.
As far as landlords requiring credit checks, our new apt manager said he was mainly concerned with evictions and past rental references. He was also willing to have a co-signer, if need be, and I'm guessing that's the case with most people.
Maybe a co-signer and a starter card would get you started in the right direction?
Begland - Sadly, American operates on credit. Finding a sympathetic landlord and/or a cosigner are good suggestions, but if you ever want to buy a car or a house, you should get that starter credit card now. Buy something small every month and keep paying it off in a timely fashion. Note: Something with installment payments is better for your credit score than a revolving account--even if it's something like an exercise machine you bought over the TV!
Your landlord needs to know that you have money available to pay your rent in the event that you lose your job. Without a credit check, he or she has no hard assurance that you will be able to. Someone with a positive credit history AND the same proof of payment from previous landlords will generally get preference from a cautious landlord. However, you could offer to pay pay rent 3-6 months in advance or pay a larger security deposit to mitigate any potential landlord's fears. The larger security deposit is preferable as when it is returned, interest should be paid on it (per California law).
Belgand -- you may want to ask your current and previous landlords to report your prompt payments to the CRAs for you. They can do that.