My boyfriend and I will be relocating to San Francisco this summer so that he can attend San Francisco State University in the in August. I’m really happy to be moving, but I am worried about finding housing for us, our dog, and our cat! I’m not super familiar with all the neighborhood of San Francisco (I’ve really only spend time downtown and in North Beach and
Chinatown). I’m sure that we will end up living in a tiny place that isn’t that nice, but I worry that we won’t even find that! Does anyone have any advice on where to live or where not to live or about finding pet friendly housing in general?
Hey, fellow Gator here!
SFSU is about as far from North Beach as you can get. It’s located in the southwest part of SF proper, near the ocean.
First off, don’t be shocked by the prices. It’s worse here than anywhere else, Boston included.
Also, do you have a car? If so, you can consider Daly City/Colma/South San Francisco (aka “North Peninsula”), which are just south of SF proper. The rents are better here, and you’re more likely to find a place to rent that’s dog-friendly.
Also, get what’s known around here as a “pet resume.” That’s basically a letter from your current landlord that basically says your animals are a sweet, well-behaved member of the family. It certainly helps.
Housing options at State (the rather prentetious nickname for SFSU. “The City.” “State.” Gads.) Anyway, here’s a link:
Check out both off-campus options and University Park apartments, which are housed in the nearby Park Merced complex. I don’t know what their policy on animals is, but it’s worth doing some work to find out.
San Francisco SPCA runs a program called “Open Door” that helps potential SF residents find a home that accepts animals. Link here:
http://www.sfspca.org/opendoor/index.shtml
Also, the #1 board for all sorts of SF classifed, including rentals, is Craig’s List. They also have a message board & all sorts of resources. URL is:
Hope this helps.
Also, even if you don’t have a car, the City 
is only 7 miles by 7 miles, so even if you’re across town, you’re not all that far from anything. The Muni system ain’t bad within the borders, and it’s steadily improving, and there are several buses and trains running to State :D:D from all over the City. The nearest BART station (Daly City) isn’t too far as the crow flies, but it’d be a pain in the ass to walk. Daly City and Balboa Park are both one bus ride away, however.
It may also be a good idea to check out City College of SF, the respected community college (despite the “Shitty College” nickname. It’s $24/unit, and it’s not too far from State- you can get them pesky general ed requirements out of the way.
Craig’s List includes a pets/no pets requirement in every listing.
I hear the SFSU dorms are awful, but a) aren’t they all, and b) I’ve never been in them myself.
I was born ‘n’ raised here, so feel free to contact me if you want, I’ll be happy to help. And welcome to San Francisco.
If you can’t find anything in neighboring Park Merced, you might try looking for housing in the Richmond and Sunset districts - They’re not all that far ( especially the Sunset ) from SFSU commute-wise and they are ( or were several years ago when I lived there, I’m across the Bay now ) semi-reasonable in terms of rent, at least for SF.
But brace yourself for the sticker-shock ;).
Just out of curiosity ( I know a few of the SFSU faculty ), what’s your boyfriend’s major?
- Tamerlane
The Daly City BART station is a pain-in-the-ass walk, but fortunately for us Gators there’s a SFSU shuttle from the DC BART station to SFSU campus that runs once every 15-20 minutes (on a good day, anyway).
The campus BTW is surprisingly tiny, but it is a great little school in a lot of ways.
My boyfriend is majoring in English (possibly doing a double major with art, if he can swing it). He’s transferring in as a junior (he got all those pesky GEs out of the way in community college already). Thanks so much for all the info, I’m so nervous about this move. I went to school in Santa Cruz, so I’m familiar with the high priced rent, but it’s scary moving to such a big city (not to mention leaving my job only to have find a new job and all that too!). I’m still really glad and excited to be moving on.
Yeah. Say goodbye to parking.
(That’s the only thing that keeps me in the suburbs.)
When my mom worked at SFSU, she budgeted for several parking tickets a month.
Heh. “Big city.” That’s kinda funny (see above re: 7 miles across…).
I just want to mention that when I got here this AM the thread just above this one was Your Gay Lifestyle. What’s it like, really?
OK I’ll leave now, just had to point that out.
What’s what like? My gay lifestyle or my San Francisco lifestyle?
BTW, Craig’s list will help with the job hunt.
http://www.teacherreview.com has a thorough databank of student reviews of the teachers here at SFSU. Most are pretty intelligent; some you have to take with a HUGE grain of salt.
Welcome to SFSU! (Mojave66, mathematics, class of 2004)
Bring a fuc|<load of money.
Learn how to live without parking spaces.
Get ready for some of the worst traffic ever.
Prepare to meet some of the strangest people.
Accustom yourself to extreme homelessness.
Never call it 'Frisco.
ON THE FLIP SIDE
Brace yourself for some of the most beautiful scenery, bar none.
You will inhabit a most cosmopolitan city.
The restaurants are absolutely superb.
Culture oozes out of almost every doorway.
It is a shopper’s paradise.
The architecture is incredible.
I could go one for ages. I’ll be back later.
If you’re not adverse to commuting, BART will get you to SF from the East Bay and (opening in June or so) as far down the Peninsula as Milbrae.
I used to live in Concord, where I rented a house with two dogs. The commute on BART from Concord is 45 minutes to the Financial District, and one hour to Daly City station. The drawback is the fare is $4.15 each way, and there’s not a whole lot of legal ways to reduce it, other than buying the “high value” tickets with $48 fare on them for $45 at the grocery store. Woohoo! :dubious: There is no weekly or monthly ticket option on BART.
CalTrain does have a monthly pass, and would be a workable, if awfully inconvenient way to get from as far south as San Jose. A likely routing would be to ride the train into SF, then take a bus to the Embarcadero BART station, then BART down to Daly City. Ugh. They actually go all the way to Gilroy, but on weekdays, there’s only two trains going from Gilroy to SF on weekdays.
www.transitinfo.org is the be-all and end-all for finding out how to get from Point A to Point B on public transit around here.
Finding pet-friendly places in SF itself is a challenge. The apartment complex I’m in recently changed a 30-year old policy and started accepting dogs. (under 35 pounds)
As far as what to bring - money. Lots and lots of it. The tales you hear about how expensive it is out here aren’t exaggerations.
Both kinds of culture - artistic culture and in doorways all around downtown and SOMA, biohazardous culture. Yech…
There’s nothing like the smell of re-activated urine on the sidewalk after a light rain… Happily, we’re having a frog-drowner of a rain today, so the …stuff will be washed away.
But seriously, there is something special about this place. Why else would we put up with insane prices, non-existent parking and noxious beggars?