What $5,300 rents 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? Today’s price: $5,300.

Now here’s a specific sales pitch you don’t see often: “Perfect for traveling nurses.” The reference is apparently to this Outer Richmond condo’s proximity to Howard Hughes Medical Center. Whether traveling nurses go in for two-bed, two-bath, 1,300-square-foot condos with furnishings and balcony overlooking the Great Highway and Ocean Beach remains to be seen. Note that the ad not only has a no-pets rule but even a “no small children” rule on top of it—which is actually illegal in California. Then again, how many new families can afford $5,300/month to begin with?

Maybe family matters are better suited to this Merced Manor house on Meadowbrook Drive, which offers four beds and two baths for slightly less—$5,250/month—all piled into more than 1,900 square feet. “In my opinion, the Center Patio House Plan has superior amenities, [including] an ‘open atrium’ with roughly 60 square feet that provides excellent light and air exposures to the dining room, breakfast/kitchen areas” writes this landlord, amidst an exhaustive description of the layout of all three floors plus timetables for ongoing renovations. No pets allowed.

Some SF classics never get old, as in the case of the Oriental Warehouse building in South Beach, a many-times Comparisons veteran that’s still a welcome sight every time a vacancy opens up. This circa-1867 brick building still maintains some of the city’s most enduringly fetching interiors, including this one-bed, two-bath, roughly 1,500-square-foot loft’s industrial artistry. Note that the ad also makes mention of an “office” that could potentially serve for a second bedroom—making way for someone to split the hefty $5,200/month rent. Happily, this offering allows pets, so nobody will have to fill up all that space on their own.

There’s an inscrutable something about this “not to miss” house on Lakeview Drive that seems not quite like any other San Francisco locale. Which probably has something to do with the fact that it’s not actually a San Francisco home at all; though the ad tries to slide this one under the radar by calling the locale “Ingleside,” it’s actually in Daly City—albeit barely. Still, Daly City listings sometimes get a grace when they offer more for less, in this case four beds, two baths, nearly 1,800 square feet, plus pets. Note that the property also includes an in-law, but that’s presently occupied. The price is $5,200/month.

Finally, nothing is more authentically San Franciscan than a place in the Castro, a “prime location flat” on Liberty Street just off Castro Street itself. The two-bed, one-bath, 1,100-square-foot setup offers unspecified “period detail” and pet allowances for $5,295/month.