What’s up everyone,
Happy Father’s Day! Make sure to call your parents especially when you’re all the way across the country from them.
Today though, my post will be focusing on housing. If you guys don’t already know, it is notoriously difficult to find reasonable housing in the city. Studios are an average of around $2000/month here, which is the same amount as my 3-bedroom apartment in St. Louis!
How does one find housing that they don’t have to spend their entire paycheck on? Well, you should probably first find a roommate because the likelihood of you being able to cheaply spend a summer here alone is quite unlikely in my opinion. You could live in a startup house, but that’s more like a dorm where I feel like you have even less privacy. I found my roommate on the 2016 Bay Area Interns Housing Page on Facebook: someone had made a google document so that you could put down some information about yourself and the sort of housing you’re looking for. The bay area interns group consists of interns in Mountain View and San Jose as well, so if you’re working in the city you probably won’t want to be living too far from your office (San Jose is a good hour south of San Francisco).
Rooftop view
Rooftop view
My roommate and I started looking for housing in March. Our go-to was the San Francisco Craigslist subletting page. I encountered many scammers while trying to find housing: you can spot them when they ask you for a $2000 security deposit right off the bat and/or say that they cannot show you the apartment if you ask. My best advice for those of you who don’t have any friends or family in the area is to ask someone from your company to take a look at the apartment. I had someone on my team visit the place where I’m living in now, and that was how I knew that it was legitimate. A lot of housing posts pop up during late April and May on Facebook, so if you’re looking for more cheaper options and willing to wait awhile, I recommend that route as well. We got our apartment pretty early, but I don’t regret settling in this place at all. It’s a very spacious apartment and located well within the city. I live in the Mission District, which is considered to be the Latin American district of San Francisco. It’s a great neighborhood,and I especially appreciate the amazing Mexican food that I’ve been indulging in lately.
a sneak peak at the books in my summer apartment
That’s all I have at the top of my head about housing, but I can always tell those who are interested about my experience with apartment hunting. If anyone has any questions about finding housing in the bay area, you’re always welcome to stop by STS and chat with me!