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So what is the alternative to a San Francisco Apartment? The Francisco Chronicle
"Smooth Sailing to the Office" front-page article shows the fastest ferry ride on the bay to San Francisco is
from Alameda. It is quoted as twenty minutes in the ferry schedule, but can be faster. Coffee and the Chronicle on the way to work, a glass of
Chardonnay and a sunset on the way home. Very civilized. Great apartments. Save money and live on the beach 20
min. from San Francisco. As a bonus you get
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power plants.
S.F. out of reach for many renters: Vacant apartments are scarce -
and the prices are scary
SAN FRANCISCO -- With available apartments already scarce, a supercharged economy has
sent San Francisco rental prices into the stratosphere and forcing many to give up hope of
finding a place in the city.
"Finding a job was easier than finding an apartment," said Sarah Pierce, who
arrived in San Francisco this month to work for a large financial institution. "You
can be 20 minutes late to an apartment showing and it's basically gone." Pierce, 23,
is one of thousands of young people who have flocked to the Bay Area in the past five
years, lured by lucrative positions in the booming technology and finance industries.
The scarcity of housing from San Jose to San Francisco has
put a premium on the smallest of living spaces. Apartment open houses now have the
mad-scramble atmosphere of a clearance sale, with crowds lining up hours ahead of time to
vie for shoe-box apartments going for princely prices. Apartment rents in San Francisco
rose 20 percent between the summers of 1996 and 1997, and that followed two years of 30
percent increase. These steep increases have continued to the present. |
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Apartment
open houses now have a mad scramble atmosphere... crowds lining up hours ahead of time to
vie for shoe-box apartments going for princely prices. |
San Franciscans pay an average rent that is the highest in the Bay
Area, according to
the latest quarterly data collected by M/PF Research Inc., a real estate research firm in
Dallas. At least 98.6 percent of the apartments in the city are occupied, a
nationwide rate second only to Newark, N.J., where 98.8 percent of all apartments are
rented, according to M/PF. Rent in that New York suburb, however, averages
much less.
By the time apartments
hit the papers, they often are already rented... prospective renters can be seen
mingling on the sidewalks and stoops leading to vacant apartments for as long as an hour
before an open house. |
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For people who can't afford the skyrocketing rents
and huge electric bills (up
300% this year alone), San Francisco is no
longer an option, so many who work there are increasingly unable to live there.
"We're becoming a city of Web-page makers and bankers, and there's a whole class of
people who work in the city and can no longer live here," said Gen Fujioka, an
attorney. By the time apartments hit the papers, they often are already rented,
owners say. On a typical Saturday or Sunday, dozens of prospective renters can be seen
mingling on the sidewalks and stoops leading to vacant apartments for as long as an hour
before an open house. "It's become like a job interview," an owner said
"We can be picky about who we choose." Competition can be so fierce that
some would-be renters try to "sweeten the deal" any way they can, occasionally
offering to pay the entire year's rent up front, Todd said. |
Pierce had her heart set on a studio she viewed in Pacific Heights, a
place barely big enough for its Murphy bed. She wrote a deposit check on the spot -- along
with eight other candidates -- and placed a call to the owner that night. But alas, the
apartment had been rented to someone else. Pierce settled on a studio apartment in the
Richmond District that rented for more. "I planned to buy a car when
I moved out here," she said. "But I don't think that is going to happen
now."
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