What $3,300 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 is another person’s townhouse? Today’s price: $3,300.

↑ This MidMarket one-bath studio at the Wilson building presents itself as “788 square feet of pure awesomeness,” which is a lot to promise but also a good line. Truth be known, the most intriguing part looks to be the odd, putting green-like turf serving as a communal space on the roof, fenced in as if building management hopes that it doesn’t escape. The actual apartment has enough room to work with for a standard apartment. The photos here appear to be “typical unit” pics rather than shots of the advertised home, so it remains a mystery how that floor plan worked out. An odd selection, but it’s hard to resist investigating so much awesomeness per foot. The deal is a very specific $3,162/month, pets included.

↑ Whatever else anyone says about the Wilson, it’s a gorgeous building. On the other hand, the apartments at 1050 Columbus in North Beach are presenting substance over style. Although the place does at least try to do something with its staggered facade, it would be better if it didn’t; that awkwardness continues on into the unit with the tile that’s taken over half of the home. Still, most renters are more interested in putting a room over their heads than anything else, and this apartment at least offers a real bedroom and bath and a little more space over the previous listing. It’s $3,300, but the ad freezes out pets.

↑ On the other hand, this space advertises “prime Marina location” when what it should probably emphasize is its prime Marina style, set as it is in the bottom floor of a prototypical neighborhood charmer. Although the ad refers to it as a “cottage” (just what does that word mean these days?), it’s actually a one-bedroom, one-bath junior apartment for $3,195. Note that the accompanying video tour reveals that the junior bedroom is a bed tucked behind a partition no winder than its own frame. The Marina location is the real deal, though, right at Jefferson and Fillmore; the ad doesn’t specify whether or not the place allows pets, but it would be a real shame if it didn’t considering the Marina Green outside.

↑ Glen Park (nearer to the Sunnyside side of the neighborhood) comes to the rescue of anyone seeking a single family house at $3,300/month. In this case a two-bedroom, one-bath, 900-square-foot offering on Joost Avenue promises to be “charming” while “including gorgeous views of the historic Sunnyside Conservatory.” (One of the city’s hidden gems!) The deal includes “shared use of the backyard” without specifying who the sharing is with (an in-law or upstairs apartment, presumably), but no pets allowed.

↑ Finally, the Inner Richmond brings up the rear with some two-bedroom, one-bath apartment business of its own, fixed behind a starkly goldenrod-colored suite of bay windows, a color combo that doesn’t work as well in the context of the unfortunately dated tiles and carpets within. But you can’t win them all: It’s 800 square feet in the mid-level of a three-story building asking $3,300, and again no pets.