Welcome to Curbed Comparisons, a regular column exploring what you can rent for a set dollar amount in different neighborhoods. Today we head over to Oakland. Is one person's studio another person's townhouse? Let's find out. Today's price: $3,000.
↑ First, a two-bedroom, 1,200-square-foot condo in Oakmore with a wedding cake-like interior for $2,850/month. Most of the floors are laminated (with advertised new carpeting in the bedrooms), a small balcony opens onto the living room, and the building is only a hop and a skip from Joaquin Miller Park. The bathroom has a two-sink setup, which is intriguing albeit mystifying (surely your roommate can wait to wash her/his hands?). Cats and "small dogs" allowed. (Bigger than a breadbox?)
↑ Next, a three-bedroom, one-bathroom duplex in the Hoover Foster neighborhood near the freeway, with a powder-blue exterior and rose-colored interiors. The whole thing comes in around 1,400 square feet for $2,995/month — fireplace, hardwood floors, and second-floor balcony included. No pet policy mentioned, but maybe the dog can slip in on a "better to ask forgiveness" policy.
↑ Today's third offering is a "huge warehouse loft," 2,800 square feet with 26-foot ceilings for $3,000/month. The two-story unit comes with bamboo floors, exposed beams, a patio, two bedrooms, and 1.5 baths. It also comes with a bit of a mystery about where you'll find it; the ad says downtown but identifies the building as a historic Pacific Union Laundry, which according to periodicals from the time is actually in Hoover Foster, not far from the above duplex. Huh. Go figure.
↑ Slingshotting over to Uptown (on the border of Koreatown), we have a 722-square-foot, one-bedroom condo in the Broadway Grand for $2,850/month. A noted feature of the ground-floor unit is that it opens onto the building's courtyard. There's also granite counters in the kitchen, plantation-style windows in the bedroom, and — good news! — dogs and cats are both permitted. Bonus: The building sits only four blocks west of Lake Merritt.
↑ Bringing up the rear today is an apartment in West Oakland, a "lofted unit" with two bedrooms, one bathroom, and 985 square feet for $2,895/month. Lampwork Lofts at 1614 Campbell Street (once a lightbulb factory circa 1910) shows off 25-foot ceilings (note the high-angle, panoramic photos in the ad) with exposed oak beams. The building was a major rehab job; the only market-rate apartments added to the Oakland stock for most of 2014. Dogs and cats are both go.