Curbed Comparisons: What $6,000 rents you in San Francisco right now

Welcome to Curbed Comparisons, a regular column exploring what you can rent for a set dollar amount in different neighborhoods. Is one person's studio another person's townhouse? Let's find out. Today's price: $6,000.

↑ One of the only somewhat nice things about the crisis in Millennium Tower and subsequent spike in both media attention and rental listings in the building has been a potentially illuminating look at how some of the city’s wealthiest keep house. Take the case of this two bedroom, two bath, partially furnished tower condo renting for $5,900/month (or $6,500/month with furniture, but no mention of pets or other fees either way). If you’ve ever wondered who is buying the likes of tribble-shaped pillows, rhinoceros bath hooks, and fascinatingly odd shades of orange paint at home stores, well, now you have at least some idea. Despite the building’s high-profile woes, these listings seem to disappear pretty fast, suggesting that prospective tenants don’t worry too much about the building’s future, at least for the duration of a lease.

↑ Speaking of the Millennium Tower, this slightly weird but somehow likable powder-blue loft building in the Mission almost looks like a kid brother version of the taller building from the curb. Inside, a live/work loft that with one bed (the loft, of course) and one and a half baths even demands a comparable $5,800/month, albeit for over 1,800 feet of space. It’s a pet-friendly building, and you can scope out the ceiling height and banks of windows even from outside.

↑ For something a bit more down to earth at $5,950/month, you can head over to this Merced Manor manor, a pretty piece of work from 1935 with three beds, three baths, and over 2,300 feet. This two-story, Spanish-style home two blocks south of Stern Grove has popped up in Comparisons before but apparently still needs someone to call it home. The price has dipped a bit, so maybe it will compare better this time around. No matter what the rent, those front windows are so gorgeous on the inside that we want them to write us love letters. Sorry, no pets.

↑ Meanwhile, Bernal Heights promises the best of both worlds with a “house-like condo” on Richland Avenue, immediately next to Holly Park. What’s a house-like condo? Well, it’s big, for one thing: four bedrooms, three baths, and at 2,200 feet almost the size of our one genuine single family home. Two stories in all, it brings a whole lot of cherry wood floors to the table. The price: $6,000/month, but no pets allowed. That part is certainly house-like, so how do you think the rest compares?

↑ It’s a slightly odd day when a condo in Presidio Heights represents the most modest option out of a spate of San Francisco homes. But of the five, this two bed, two bath flat at Spruce and Clay is the closest thing to humble. The $5,850/month covers the utilities as well.