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: $3,600.
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↑ In a remarkable feat, the Bayview now has back-to-back Curbed Cup victories, so there’s no better place to start. Particularly since this two-bedroom, one-bath flat atop a Quesada Avenue building from 1925 is a real beauty, with banks of windows and small Deco touches throughout the interior. In true Bayview fashion, it’s also the most affordable of today’s comparisons, albeit at $3,400/month for a place that runs 1,850 feet. Notice how the glow of the inset lighting plays with the tile floors. Sadly, under pets all it says is “no.”
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↑ Lingering for a bit on the city’s south side, another real beauty presents itself in Ingleside Heights on Randolph Street, a three-bedroom house that really pops for the price of $3,500/month. Note that the staging here is from the last time this 1946 home sold. And with touches like red tile backsplash in the kitchen, it’s got a little Pac Heights style going at Ingleside prices. Strike two for your pets, though.
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↑ Although, of course, for the full $3,600/month, a place in Pacific Heights could well be yours instead, in an equally beautiful building from 1907 on California, right down the block from Alta Plaza Park. Though not quite as spacious at two bedrooms and 1,000 feet, it’s hard not to love decor like a box beam ceiling or the little antique iron fireplace in this apartment. Although there don’t seem to be any permits for the advertised new floors, it turns out this place did get a soft-story retrofit a few years ago, so sleep tight on that. Once again they’re turning away pets. Tough week.
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↑ And now it’s time for hands down one of the most unique homes ever to appear on Comparisons. There’s a place for features like exposed beams and pipes, but this one-bedroom, 1,200-square-foot apartment for $3,600/month might be taking it a bit too far. The 3D tour version makes the space look a bit less claustrophobic, though, so maybe it’s worth experimenting with. Though advertised as the Mission, this is actually almost right smack on the Upper Market stretch of Market Street. Here there’s no mention of pets at all—which is at least not a refusal, technically.
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↑ Things close out in Noe Valley, on Cesar Chavez Boulevard. This little single-bedroom apartment is admittedly the least bang for buck out of the five, charging the full $3,600/month for a tidy 750-square-foot space. But the neighborhood is always a favorite, and by some miracle it allows cats, so don’t count it out. The redwood deck on the roof is not half bad either.