ContentI’ve spent the last few days attempting to get a handle on the vagaries of the San Francisco apartment rental market. A9 was nice enough to fly me out here to look for a place before I moved (sorry, have I mentioned that we’re hiring?). I figured that I could arrive on Sunday, find a place Monday or Tuesday, have a day to wander around on Wednesday, then head home on Thursday to arrange movers and start packing.
At least, that’s the way it would work in New York. Apartment hunting in NYC is simple. You either don’t mind spending an exorbitant amount of (extra) money and you use a broker (there are many individual brokers, and several well known firms, in the city), or you do mind, and you use Craigslist. Of course, neither of those approaches will find you the $500/mo rent-controlled sunny 2BR that has been illegally passed between friends and family for 75 years like the holy relics of some secret cabal. For that you need either an unfathomable amount luck or somebody else’s family. And whatever you do, you know you’re going to need to spend a lot of money, because there are basically no good deals in NYC. (It is with a certain sadness that I listen to the optimistic hopes of people moving to NYC talking about finding a one bedroom place with “good light, lots of closet space, hardwood floors, in the east village. i can go as high as $600.”)
But if you can swallow the money aspect (though only the very rich really can stomach it without feeling ill), finding the apartment in New York is easy. Not because there are too many apartments, but there are enough. Mostly it is just simple economics. Because there is so much money at stake, and New Yorkers are always hustling. The hustle is what we’re good at, maybe better than anyone in the world. There’s never any slack in New York. If there’s an empty space, it will be filled, if there’s a dollar to be made, someone is making it. New York is the ultimate expression of the idealized modern economic theory of the mid 20th century. So when one calls a leasing agent in New York, that call is returned promptly, the apartment is shown promptly, and a least will be drawn up promptly. In fact, this pace often takes newcomers off guard, as they don’t necessarily realize that one goes to see apartments not just with an open mind, but also with an open checkbook.
San Francisco, on the other hand, seems to cater less to the very commodification of all aspects of human interaction. In New York, every inch, every minute, is for sale, has a price, has a market, and that market tends to optimize.. San Francisco still possesses that certain slack that allows for inefficiencies in everyday transactions. You can feel it buying tickets or getting change for BART and MUNI, while standing amid patient queues at coffee shops waiting for the single-tasking barista, or pacing yourself with the casual walking gait of people on the sidewalk. All of this is neither objectively good nor objectively bad, but it does serve to thwart a New Yorker in San Francisco for three days trying to find an apartment.
Since I didn’t know how the system out here worked, I sent emails to all of my friends that have been in San Francisco for years. I asked what neighborhoods they recommended (numerous votes for Potrero Hill, Hayes Valley, and the Mission), what places to check online (Craigslist, MetroRent, and Rent Tech), and if anyone could recommend a broker (”we don’t got no brokers in this here cow town”). Since I have this theory that pretty much anything can be found on Craigslist, (apartments, jobs, second-hand miscellanea, love, love substitutes, and concert tickets), and it is free, I turned there first. In fact, a friend of mine back home even confirmed my suspicion that the listing services that charge a fee are showing the same apartments.
So I would see listings for places that interested me, and I would both send an email and call the number given. Apparently, apartments in San Francisco are handled by rental agents, which is different than the apartment brokers of NYC. Brokers are paid directly by the person renting the apartment (for fees as high as one month’s rent, leading to pledges of “i am never, ever going to do that again”). The rental agents are paid by the property’s owner or management company. The advantage to a broker is that they have an incentive to show you places that you want, and are not tied down to one or two properties. Yes, the fees are exorbitant — up to a couple of thousand dollars for what can be a couple hours of work — but if you are desperate, you will turn there. And when the rental market peaked a few years ago, you actually had to use a broker because there were far more potential renters than apartments, and the properties didn’t even bother listing them to the public (and also relied on the broker to vet potential tenants).
Post market peak, particularly in San Francisco, things have changed dramatically. Many private brokers have left the business. Renters aren’t willing to pay the fee, not when they can simply find listings for free. And with the continued glut of apartments (many new spaces having been built during the boom), property owners are going out of their way to list them.
But what I wasn’t prepared for was that aforementioned slack in the San Francisco market. I would call agents, leave my number, say that I was on a tight time-frame, mention my price-range (which, coming from Manhattan, was very reasonable, at least according to what I had seen listed). And people wouldn’t call or email back. On the first day I left about 20 voice mails (and sent 20 emails). Of that, only four called back by noon the following day. My suspicion is that it wasn’t because people were terribly busy — when I connected with people they were all extremely friendly and forthright, and most seemed to be showing only an apartment or two a day.
Odder still is the number of properties that were only being shown once or twice a week at open houses. These were empty, and often brand new, properties as well. But the agent wasn’t showing them personally, they would just inform you of a time to go walk through the place. I could be mistaken, but it seems like a bit more aggressive sales effort would lead to more sales. I felt like I was a rather appealing customer for any agent — desperate and willing to write a check. I would express that when I spoke with the agents, and since the market is still slow, you’d think that people would jump all over that opportunity.
As time ran out I even considered posting an offer on Craigslist for $500 to anyone who could find me a place. A freelance, contract broker in effect. Fortunately, the next day I got a call back from someone who was able to show me a place that day. I ended up loving the apartment she showed me and took it on the spot. She understood my situation and was able to do all the background checks and whatnot and draw up the lease within 12 hours. I was impressed by her professionalism and effort — and, to be honest, it went a long way in enhancing my opinion of the apartment as well.
All in all, I probably contacted over 25 rental agents. I eventually received calls back from 10 of them, and none within 6 hours. I was able to schedule times to see maybe 10 apartments, and half of those would have been communal showings or open houses. All of this strikes me as suboptimal for the property owners, as there are a lot of empty apartments in San Francisco right now, and the majority of those are nice apartments on the high end of the price range. Moreover, properties are still charging up to a two-month rent as a deposit due at signing (a artifact, I suppose, of the high delinquency rates of young internet professionals left unemployed in recent years).
I wonder if I’ll ever get used to this difference between San Francisco and New York. And, if I do get used to it, how well I will manage when I go back.
[In an rather embarrassing footnote, when I called to cancel the remaining appointments, I inadvertently omitted a call to one of the nicest people, a woman who was actually driving an hour out of her way to show me a place. When she called to say she was running a few minutes late, and I, having already taken another apartment, nearly fell over myself with guilt. She generously and kindly accepted my sincere apologies (I still can't believe I did that to her). So I immediately wrote and mailed her a card apologizing again, and, like a good New Yorker, included a check for her lost time. (If you ever read this, Joan, I'm still sorry!)]