calling all bay area residents

[Plasdom]

I will be relocating to the bay area (redwood shores) to work and have been looking for a place to live. The rent is crazy and even for that price I cannot find an apartment that has decent ratings on apartment ratings.com I comfortable place is high on my priority list for me and I am looking for suggestions. I don't mind communting 30+mins to work. So far I have been looking at sunnyvale. Looks like it has a few reasonably priced apartments.

Pay kinda sucks for that area ($55K+) but I am willing to shell out about $1500 a month for a good place. Where (specific apartment suggestions will be welcome also) would you suggest to look at critically. Thanks

 

[vladgur]

redwood shores is like the most expensive area north of palo alto. You can easily find affordable and nice apartments either north of that(South San Francisco, San Bruno, Belmont, San Mateo, Foster City) or south (Redwood city -- kinda ghettoish at times, Mountain view).
I live in Mountain View and work in San Jose currently, but my next job which I start in two days is in Redwood City(near the port) and the commute to the interview in the morning(9:30am) was like 15 minutes.

 

[KLin]

1500/month? I hope you enjoy living in a cockroach infested studio apartment.

 

[vladgur]

P.S. There is no reason to pay that much($1500) for a 1bd. For a 1bd you should aim at most at $1000. Check out Craigslist for apartment listings. I found myself a very nice 2bd condo in Mountain View for $950(I was lucky of course and it took me a month to hunt it down, but there is no reason you cant do the same -- when you move put most of your things in storage and rent out weekly studio suites -- theyre aplenty here, while you search for an apartment. Its much easier to search locally and see the places then trust the disgruntled apartmentratings.com reviewers.

 

[imported_paperclip]

craigslist.org is pretty good, especially for the bay.

 

[LordSnailz]

Another vote for craigslist!

 

[Dr. Detroit]

Apt. Ratings is a suck ass webiste. Very few complex's get a positive, only the negatives as people seem to have vendettas against leasing companies.

Pick up a ForRent book and have a look through there.

I agree, don;t pay more than $1200 for a 1bdrm, $1600 is tops for a 2bdrm.

No chance in hell you will make it to Redwood Shores in 30 minutes from Sunnyvale in morning commute traffic.

You working at Oracle or EA?

 

[LordSnailz]

Originally posted by: Fmr12B
Apt. Ratings is a suck ass webiste. Very few complex's get a positive, only the negatives as people seem to have vendettas against leasing companies.

Pick up a ForRent book and have a look through there.

I agree, don;t pay more than $1200 for a 1bdrm, $1600 is tops for a 2bdrm.

No chance in hell you will make it to Redwood Shores in 30 minutes from Sunnyvale in morning commute traffic.

You working at Oracle or EA?

Yeah, the traffic on 101 is horrible, I use to commute from Santa Clara to EA just for bball, but gave that up once I realize how much time and gas it was actually costing.

 

[mrrman]

Originally posted by: LordSnailz

Originally posted by: Fmr12B
Apt. Ratings is a suck ass webiste. Very few complex's get a positive, only the negatives as people seem to have vendettas against leasing companies.

Pick up a ForRent book and have a look through there.

I agree, don;t pay more than $1200 for a 1bdrm, $1600 is tops for a 2bdrm.

No chance in hell you will make it to Redwood Shores in 30 minutes from Sunnyvale in morning commute traffic.

You working at Oracle or EA?

Yeah, the traffic on 101 is horrible, I use to commute from Santa Clara to EA just for bball, but gave that up once I realize how much time and gas it was actually costing.

Actually its not bad now considering how traffic used to be on the 101/880

 

[Plasdom]

I was informed that the commute from San Jose is about 30 mins

 

[vladgur]

It depends on your hours, if you intend to go home before 7 -- youll be stuck. If you can do 9:30-7:30 workday, youll be fine. But still, why would you want to live that far from work if you can find affordable apartments closer? The price does not always go down with commuting distance. Unless youre talking about 1hour+ commutes

 

[777php]

Check out Foster City, its about a 10 minute commute and the area is really nice. I'm sure you can find an apartment in your price range there.

 

[Plasdom]

Originally posted by: vladgur
It depends on your hours, if you intend to go home before 7 -- youll be stuck. If you can do 9:30-7:30 workday, youll be fine. But still, why would you want to live that far from work if you can find affordable apartments closer? The price does not always go down with commuting distance. Unless youre talking about 1hour+ commutes

I really don't want to live far away. I was informed that apartments in San Jose will be cheaper. I am just having a hard time finding anything reasonable online. I will be there this summer so maybe that may help

 

[shopbruin]

Originally posted by: Plasdom
I was informed that the commute from San Jose is about 30 mins

NOT during rush hour. i used to drive san jose - sunnyvale in the mornings, and i always gave myself at least 45.

sunnyvale might not be that bad of a commute. my cousin lives in redwood city shores but i can't remember the name of his complex. he lives in one of those expensive ones.

foster city, mountain view, redwood city (look around). craigslist would be great, or even better would be to go out and scope out the places yourself.