San Francisco & Silicon Valley Apartment Hunting — COVID19 Edition
I’ve always enjoyed browsing interior designs and looked forward to renting and decorating my own apartment, as I had lived in campus dorms throughout college. I never imagined my first apartment-hunting experience would be amidst a global pandemic.
Regardless, I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to live in the Bay Area. I spent 2 full days apartment hunting, each day in different regions of the Bay Area: Silicon Valley (Palo Alto to Sunnyvale) and San Francisco (Pacific Heights to Mission Bay). I have recently moved to the Bay Area to work at Facebook as a software engineer, and due to COVID plus the ease of remote software engineering, I expect to work from home at least until 2021.
I’m not sure how many months out of a year’s lease I’d be commuting to work… This indefinite work from home situation brought up some interesting and unusual considerations when choosing an apartment:
- Proximity to the office mattered much less, since I probably wouldn’t be commuting to work often for the indefinite future.
- Home environment and comfort mattered much more, since I would be stuck at home for practically all of my time.
- Roommate compatibility mattered much more, as everyone would be spending more time than usual at home and everyone’s behaviors could greatly affect everyone else’s risk of contracting COVID. This point made me strongly favor not having roommates, as I would’ve had to have strangers as roommates, so I looked for studios and 1-bedrooms.
- Proximity to enjoyable outdoor spaces mattered much more, as outdoor exercise and activities have become one of the best ways to pass time and stay sane during the pandemic.
The rental market has of course also been impacted by the pandemic. Rent is lower than usual across the Bay Area (down 12% in San Francisco and around 15% in various Silicon Valley cities) and there were many move-in specials since so many people were breaking leases and moving to cheaper areas where they could still work remotely. I didn’t have trouble finding leasing agents and basically all of them were still willing to do in-person tours, as long as everyone was wearing a mask.
Impressions from the Silicon Valley Apartment Search:
I was mostly looking in Palo Alto and Mountain View, since these areas had lots of decent options in my price range. This area, and Silicon Valley in general, are pretty quiet, suburban, and spread out. I’d say a car or bike is necessary to get around conveniently, unless you live very close to shopping squares where the grocery stores are or the small “downtowns” of various cities.
Most apartments I saw were older but nicely renovated. Most of the complexes are smaller, with 2 or 3 stories and apartments encircling a small pool or courtyard. Palo Alto’s apartment’s were on average older and more expensive than Mountain View’s.
Overall the area was nice but didn’t offer anything I was in love with. There’s a fair amount of parks, especially parks with tennis courts, in Mountain View, which was a plus. Interestingly, many complexes didn’t offer studio apartments, only 1-bedrooms.
Silicon Valley was definitely closer to work at Facebook’s headquarter office, and in normal times this probably would have stopped me from looking at apartments in San Francisco.
Impressions from the San Francisco Apartment Search:
I was excited to apartment search in San Francisco, as it was a cool way to see different neighborhoods. I was already pretty familiar with the city and knew that I wanted to live close to the Embarcadero/waterfront, Golden Gate Park, or the Presidio. All of these areas would be great because I’d have access to lots of gorgeous outdoor spaces and views while still being close to major freeways.
There was huge variety in type of apartments and neighborhoods that I encountered. I saw older units in classic, Victorian-style buildings on hilly neighborhoods as well as some new, high-rise apartments in the financial district. Some neighborhoods had a suburban, peaceful feel and others were in bustling areas that would normally be packed with tourists or business people.
I actually found rent that was lower in San Francisco than in Silicon Valley, which is usually unheard of. Another huge plus was that virtually every apartment I saw was in an area with distinct personality as well as within walking distance to groceries and parks. I ended up signing a lease for an awesome studio in Lower Pacific Heights!
My apartment hunting experience was unexpectedly quite smooth and in some ways actually aided by the ongoing pandemic:
- Rent is at historic lows due to shelter-in-place and remote work (down 12% in San Francisco and around 15% in various Silicon Valley cities).
- There’s much less competition for leases, as there’s more units available than usual and less people looking to move to the Bay Area. I’ve been advised to be ready to apply and pay holding deposits on-site due to fierce demand, but when I was touring apartments there was definitely a shortage of potential tenants.
- There’s many move-in specials (deals such as a month or 2 free if a lease is signed by some set date) ongoing, especially at larger complexes due to the need to fill units.
- A few landlords I met with offered furnished apartments for no additional cost or mentioned that current tenants wanted to sell their furniture quickly and for cheap due to impromptu moving plans.
Overall I’m quite grateful for how nice my I’m very excited to become a resident in one of the most iconic cities in the world!
