Where to live in San Francisco?

[Z K]

Originally Posted by 8_is_enough

I use Uber and Lyft way more than I ever expected, to avoid dealing with parking in congested areas. It ends up costing about the same as parking in a garage anyway.

Nobody gives a hoot about hit and runs in SF, and bumper taps are completely acceptable for parallel parking.

Also, in case someone hasn't explicitly mentioned it -- public transportation in SF is absolute ass. ASS. Buses are overcrowded, slow, and filled with crackheads and bums in some neighborhoods. The streetcar system is glacial, and BART only runs in a straight line. Oh and it's expensive compared to other metro systems.

Anyway, rent for one bedrooms with parking in a decent neighborhood has approached $4K/month.

I used to commute taking public transportation using the Muni or BART to get downtown. It is really the ONLY way to commute to work downtown at a reasonable cost. Driving was not an option as parking cost too much. How else can you get everywhere in SF for under $100 a month for a all-u-can-ride pass?

I grew up in SF so have been taking public transportation everywhere since middle school. It's not all that bad depending on when/where you go. But I agree it is ASS... they break down all the time, is never on time and all the odd people you mentioned. It's more convenient to drive besides the parking situation.

SF needs to seriously build more parking areas. The population keeps growing and they keep adding denser housing... but no parking! So right now it's created a place where public transportation is overloaded and inconvenient and driving is bad as you can't find a place to park.

[Flying Ace]

Originally Posted by ArthurL

Hm.. if Sunset is 40-45 min from downtown regardless of transportation, that could be pushing it a bit. I would prefer something shorter than that.

like door to door will be 45 mins from Sunset locaitons. Case in point:

My wife's commute to Powell Street Station -
1. drive car from house to West Portal Station, park, walk to station - 15 minutes
2. muni train - 20 minutes
3. walk to office - 5 minutes


My sister in law's commute to Powell Street Station -
1. walk to West Portal Station - 10 minutes
2. muni train - 20 minutes
3. walk to office - 5 minutes


My wife's old commute before we had a 2nd car:
1. walk to bus stop - 10 minutes
2. bus to West Portal Station - 15
3. muni train - 20 minutes
4. walk to office - 5 minutes
reverse commute during this phase as the morning bus stopped running at 5pm:
1. walk to powell station - 5 minutes
2. muni train to neighborhood stop - 35 minutes
3. walk home - 20 minutes

Compared against my commute in a car down to San Bruno only takes 30 minutes door too door

[Z K]

Originally Posted by ArthurL

Hm.. if Sunset is 40-45 min from downtown regardless of transportation, that could be pushing it a bit. I would prefer something shorter than that.

I'm in South SF so I can easily access downtown by car from where I'm at. 15 min is all I need when I hop on the highway... unless it's rush hour traffic which will double that. The sunset area is only accessable by highway on the southern end so depending where you're at, it can be pretty slow to get to downtown driving local streets. (fast if you're at the southern tip and jump on the highway)

If you're looking for 15 min access to downtown, you need to suck it up and pay the $3-4k for a place near downtown with parking. It can be less with roommates.

[ArthurL]

Right, understood.

[Z K]

Originally Posted by Flying Ace

Compared against my commute in a car down to San Bruno only takes 30 minutes door too door

I can totally see that. My commute is a lot shorter now too. From South SF to Foster City.. which is 20 miles only takes 20 minutes by car. Much further than from S-SF to SF (15 miles, 45 min commute) but much faster. Not that 45 min was bad... I've friends who commute for an hour each way or more. 20 min is much better though.

[Flying Ace]

Originally Posted by Z K

I'm in South SF so I can easily access downtown by car from where I'm at. 15 min is all I need when I hop on the highway... unless it's rush hour traffic which will double that. The sunset area is only accessable by highway on the southern end so depending where you're at, it can be pretty slow to get to downtown driving local streets. (fast if you're at the southern tip and jump on the highway)
.

right. With exceptions, the general case in SF is that it's much faster to drive north-south, than it is to drive east-west.

If you look at the major roads on google maps (thicker lines indicate major/larger roads), most large roads goes north-south, very few goes east-west, so you can imagine how jammed those east-west roads are during certain times of the day, weekday or weekend.

btw on my 30 minute commute, 10 minutes is spent just navigating out of sunset, as I don't live in the southern tip

[ilikebmxbikes]

Originally Posted by ArthurL

A sudden job opportunity recently came across my plate in the SF area and I may be looking at moving within the next month or two. For those in the SF area, which neighborhoods would you recommend living in? I know this is car forum but I see that a lot of members live in California so I figure it wouldn't hurt to ask.

Some things about me.. I am turning 25 this year. I work in tech and I enjoy meeting people and going out. I've lived in NYC for most of my life so I would like some space but still live close to enough to the action. I'd also like to keep my car, off-street parking is preferred. I plan on bringing my puppy over as well.

With that said, what neighborhoods in SF would you guys recommend living in for someone with a dog and a car? Definitely would like to be close enough to the action but residential enough where it's not super busy and jam-packed. I think my budget is around $2K but if I can find a place under that or as close to $1K, that would be great.

Some areas I looked at so far was the Cow Hollow/Pacific Heights area.

Do you have roommates? You will probably be overbudget getting a studio in cow hollow and pac heights including parking.

I live in the sunset and it is an awesome neighborhood for dogs and car owners. I have two puppies who regularly go to the beach down the street, ft funstion dog park as well as a bunch of minor parks throughout.

Street parking is much more available in the sunset as well as driveway and garage spaces. Although not ideal, you could street park an m3 in the sunset but doing so in most neighborhoods, your car will get murdered.

I can currently accommodate 5 cars at my house/ 2x in a garage, 2x in the driveway, and 1x on the street blocking my driveway. That is unheard of in the city.

The sunset is also rapidly changing and has started to become super hip which is a double edge sword. Public transportation is also good from the sunset to downtown. There is the N judah and L taraval trains as well as the N express and 71 which get you downtown in 45 minutes. I used to work in financial district for several years and would walk out my door 1 hour before I wanted to get to work everyday and get there a few minutes early. The sunset is also the end of the bus and train so you pretty much always get a seat. It is also a good opportunity to read.

[Flying Ace]

Originally Posted by ilikebmxbikes

Do you have roommates? You will probably be overbudget getting a studio in cow hollow and pac heights including parking.

I live in the sunset and it is an awesome neighborhood for dogs and car owners. I have two puppies who regularly go to the beach down the street, ft funstion dog park as well as a bunch of minor parks throughout.

Street parking is much more available in the sunset as well as driveway and garage spaces. Although not ideal, you could street park an m3 in the sunset but doing so in most neighborhoods, your car will get murdered.

I can currently accommodate 5 cars at my house/ 2x in a garage, 2x in the driveway, and 1x on the street blocking my driveway. That is unheard of in the city.

The sunset is also rapidly changing and has started to become super hip which is a double edge sword. Public transportation is also good from the sunset to downtown. There is the N judah and L taraval trains as well as the N express and 71 which get you downtown in 45 minutes. I used to work in financial district for several years and would walk out my door 1 hour before I wanted to get to work everyday and get there a few minutes early. The sunset is also the end of the bus and train so you pretty much always get a seat. It is also a good opportunity to read.

well 5 cars generally is an exception everywhere in the US, let alone Sunset, SF, CA

[8_is_enough]

Originally Posted by Z K

I used to commute taking public transportation using the Muni or BART to get downtown. It is really the ONLY way to commute to work downtown at a reasonable cost. Driving was not an option as parking cost too much. How else can you get everywhere in SF for under $100 a month for a all-u-can-ride pass?

I grew up in SF so have been taking public transportation everywhere since middle school. It's not all that bad depending on when/where you go. But I agree it is ASS... they break down all the time, is never on time and all the odd people you mentioned. It's more convenient to drive besides the parking situation.

SF needs to seriously build more parking areas. The population keeps growing and they keep adding denser housing... but no parking! So right now it's created a place where public transportation is overloaded and inconvenient and driving is bad as you can't find a place to park.

Yeah public transportation is the best way to get downtown. I just wish it didn't take 45 minutes (!) to go from the J in Noe, on top of waiting for late trains.

What kills me is that there are less and less parking spots and more people, with the city government encouraging us to use MUNI or BART which can't handle their capacity as-is. For the record I'm also a native and have learned to accept it for what it is :/

[ArthurL]

Originally Posted by ilikebmxbikes

Do you have roommates? You will probably be overbudget getting a studio in cow hollow and pac heights including parking.

I live in the sunset and it is an awesome neighborhood for dogs and car owners. I have two puppies who regularly go to the beach down the street, ft funstion dog park as well as a bunch of minor parks throughout.

Street parking is much more available in the sunset as well as driveway and garage spaces. Although not ideal, you could street park an m3 in the sunset but doing so in most neighborhoods, your car will get murdered.

I can currently accommodate 5 cars at my house/ 2x in a garage, 2x in the driveway, and 1x on the street blocking my driveway. That is unheard of in the city.

The sunset is also rapidly changing and has started to become super hip which is a double edge sword. Public transportation is also good from the sunset to downtown. There is the N judah and L taraval trains as well as the N express and 71 which get you downtown in 45 minutes. I used to work in financial district for several years and would walk out my door 1 hour before I wanted to get to work everyday and get there a few minutes early. The sunset is also the end of the bus and train so you pretty much always get a seat. It is also a good opportunity to read.

I will most likely have a roommate or two to keep costs low. I'll continue doing my research but I think I like the Richmond/Inner Richmond to Pacific Heights area. It's close enough that I could take an UBER home. With that said.. how much is an UBER usually from downtown to Richmond?

Being that it's California, I'm planning to keep the E93 unless it's absolutely necessary for me to sell it.

[Flying Ace]

well Uber has dynamic pricing...I don't take it, so I'm sure someone who does can opine on it, just be aware if you take it during the peak, it'll blow your wallet up.

If you're in Richmond, Pac Heights, it's easy to get downtown, there are express buses running along Geary and California, 30 minutes door to door I imagine.

[ilikebmxbikes]

Originally Posted by ArthurL

I will most likely have a roommate or two to keep costs low. I'll continue doing my research but I think I like the Richmond/Inner Richmond to Pacific Heights area. It's close enough that I could take an UBER home. With that said.. how much is an UBER usually from downtown to Richmond?

Being that it's California, I'm planning to keep the E93 unless it's absolutely necessary for me to sell it.

uber prices vary on time and distance. Taking an Uber downtown to my house in the sunset is $18-30 usually. Its not a service I would use to go to and from work regularly but its awesome on the weekends after going out.

I would keep the e93. We have an awesome car scene here, good shops and laguna seca, thunder hill and sonoma are relatively close by.

[ArthurL]

Originally Posted by ilikebmxbikes

uber prices vary on time and distance. Taking an Uber downtown to my house in the sunset is $18-30 usually. Its not a service I would use to go to and from work regularly but its awesome on the weekends after going out.

I would keep the e93. We have an awesome car scene here, good shops and laguna seca, thunder hill and sonoma are relatively close by.

If this works out and I move out there.. I'd say we all have a meet. Glad to hear the car scene is awesome in SF.

[8_is_enough]

Originally Posted by ArthurL

I will most likely have a roommate or two to keep costs low. I'll continue doing my research but I think I like the Richmond/Inner Richmond to Pacific Heights area. It's close enough that I could take an UBER home. With that said.. how much is an UBER usually from downtown to Richmond?

Being that it's California, I'm planning to keep the E93 unless it's absolutely necessary for me to sell it.

Another option is Lyft Line (carpooling with other Lyft customers). There's no surge pricing, and in my experience, nobody else is going on the same route so I end up by myself at the discounted rate.

[FogCityM3]

$2k doesn't exist in SF proper especially if you want your own garage, unless you're renting a room in a house. Count on $3+ k for a studio/1bedroom.

[Flying Ace]

yeah, I've seen rented condo studios in a very nice part of downtown go for $3.5k with a parking spot, and including HOA fees

That's probably the ideal situation, but for $3.5k, you might as well take on a mortgage and own your own 3 bedroom house.

[ArthurL]

I just realized I recently paid to get a BMW CCA plate in NY made. It should be on its way in the coming weeks. My registration for NY expires 12/16 but my inspection expires 12/15. Could I possibly keep my registration and plates and just get the car inspected in CA? Or will that not work?

Plus I think it would be cool having a NY plate in Cali for a while.. haha.

[Flying Ace]

It'll work until you get pulled over the 2nd time, then you'll have some explaining to do. CA law gives you 20 days to register car and 10 days to get new license once you establish residency. You can lie the first time about when you just moved here, but 2nd time you're pulled over they will have a record of your date from first stop, so better hope PO is not a stickler. Don't ask me how I know...


If you elect to keep it out of state for as long as possible, don't get an inspection here at all, otherwise there will be a record at the DMV

[ArthurL]

Originally Posted by Flying Ace

It'll work until you get pulled over the 2nd time, then you'll have some explaining to do. CA law gives you 20 days to register car and 10 days to get new license once you establish residency. You can lie the first time about when you just moved here, but 2nd time you're pulled over they will have a record of your date from first stop, so better hope PO is not a stickler. Don't ask me how I know...

Any reason why they would pull you over the first time if you aren't doing anything wrong?

[Flying Ace]

Originally Posted by ArthurL

Any reason why they would pull you over the first time if you aren't doing anything wrong?

Of course not YMMV why a PO will pull you over...speeding , front plates are the two reasons I was pulled over my first year here

[ArthurL]

Lol, I'll try to stay out of trouble then

Will have more of an idea of whether or not I'll be moving out there by this week.. or maybe hopefully today. Could be as early as June 1st.

[Flying Ace]

Originally Posted by ArthurL

Lol, I'll try to stay out of trouble then

If you don't have front plates, brace yourself for a traffic stop.