Advice for finding a sublet in SF for June?
April 28, 2010 11:53 AM Subscribe
Advice for finding a sublet in SF for June?
I’m going to be spending the month of June in San Francisco. I’m hoping to find an apartment to sublet. I’m based in Toronto, so I expect I’ll have to do my looking from here, and won’t get to see the place till I go to SF. (I may have friends/colleagues in SF who can check out the place for me)
I have a couple of q’s about this:
a) Does anyone have any tips on how to avoid scams/disappointments when subletting on Craigslist? Do people generally find it reliable? The prospect of renting from a stranger I never meet makes me shade nervous (and I wonder, conversely, why a reasonable person wouldn’t be nervous to rent *their* place to a stranger).
b) Any other general tips/ideas for finding a place? Are there good resources other than craigslist I should know about?
I’m hoping to get a private apartment, not a room in someone else’s place. I’ll be mostly in SF working in the Mission, so Ideally I’d like to stay there, or someplace close to BART not to far away, though I guess I can be flexible. I’m hoping to pay $1500-$2000 (though less would certainly not be bad…) I'm not sure if that's realistic.
(You’d think these questions would have been asked/answered a million times here before, but I didn’t really find anything useful and recent. Apologies if I overlooked something obvious…)
Any tips would be much appreciated!
I’m going to be spending the month of June in San Francisco. I’m hoping to find an apartment to sublet. I’m based in Toronto, so I expect I’ll have to do my looking from here, and won’t get to see the place till I go to SF. (I may have friends/colleagues in SF who can check out the place for me)
I have a couple of q’s about this:
a) Does anyone have any tips on how to avoid scams/disappointments when subletting on Craigslist? Do people generally find it reliable? The prospect of renting from a stranger I never meet makes me shade nervous (and I wonder, conversely, why a reasonable person wouldn’t be nervous to rent *their* place to a stranger).
b) Any other general tips/ideas for finding a place? Are there good resources other than craigslist I should know about?
I’m hoping to get a private apartment, not a room in someone else’s place. I’ll be mostly in SF working in the Mission, so Ideally I’d like to stay there, or someplace close to BART not to far away, though I guess I can be flexible. I’m hoping to pay $1500-$2000 (though less would certainly not be bad…) I'm not sure if that's realistic.
(You’d think these questions would have been asked/answered a million times here before, but I didn’t really find anything useful and recent. Apologies if I overlooked something obvious…)
Any tips would be much appreciated!
Response by poster: Any ideas how to avoid the scam that wryly describes? I suppose the most obvious way is to have a friend go check the place out first, which I'm pretty sure I can do....
posted by ManInSuit at 12:29 PM on April 28, 2010
posted by ManInSuit at 12:29 PM on April 28, 2010
If there's any way to come a few days early, you might couchsurf for a few days while you look for a place. If not, yes, have a friend go look for a place. I found my first SF apartment via Craigslist, and none of the places I looked at were scams. You might also look at VRBO (something like this) - while it will be slightly more expensive, it will be much more reliable, and may even come with amenities like a cleaning service. You may also be able to negotiate on those, since June is not exactly high tourism season here.
posted by judith at 2:10 PM on April 28, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by judith at 2:10 PM on April 28, 2010 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Thanks, Judith! I didn't know about VBRO.
posted by ManInSuit at 4:20 PM on April 28, 2010
posted by ManInSuit at 4:20 PM on April 28, 2010
Check your MeMail. There's an outside chance I may be able to help.
posted by trip and a half at 4:52 PM on April 28, 2010
posted by trip and a half at 4:52 PM on April 28, 2010
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posted by wryly at 12:26 PM on April 28, 2010