What $2,100 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: $2,100.

↑ We have to talk about what’s going on at this studio in Bayview. “Brand new detached cottage in sunny Bayview district, one block from 3rd Street conveniences,” is the pitch in the copy and that’s fine. But the photos tell a story about some interesting floor plan priorities that result in a U-shaped unit with kitchen and living room wrapped around a centerpiece loft that holds the sleeping area, such that only a few feet remain between the bedspread and the roof. Well, it’s creative, we’ll give them that, and the studio is actually quite stylish, but will renters be able to work around the claustrophobic effect of these quarters for $2,050/month? Time will tell. The ad doesn’t mention whether pets are allowed.

↑ This studio in the Inner Sunset provides some merciful headroom, described as a “large studio flat with beautiful hardwood floors.” Notice the somewhat retro looking 20th century wood paneling throughout; an acquired taste, perhaps? The ad also talks up the “classic wooden blinds and shutters” and also an ocean view, but doesn’t include the latter among the photos. (Although the Airbnb watermark in the featured photos is perhaps the more intriguing element; nice to see a unit circulating back into the long-term housing market if nothing else...) The price: $1,985. No pets allowed.

↑ The ad for this Tenderloin studio declares it a “victory for vintage,” although whether that refers to the corner apartment itself or the fact that it’s happily rent controlled isn’t immediately clear. The price for the O’Farrell Street apartment is controlled at $2,095 at the current rate, coming with “black and white tile vintage kitchen, windowed full bath with soaking tub, [and] storage nook.” Best of all: Because this is the Tenderloin, the building allows pets, although they do press the rent an extra $75/month higher.

↑ If studio living isn’t for you there’s always the in-law route, in this case a one-bed, one-bath “garden in-law” with “shared yard” in the Inner Richmond. Both the garden moniker and the yard are somewhat default positions given that the downstairs unit faces the yard, connected to the main house via a breezeway. But be that as it may it’s all still there, and in fact the garden may compare favorably with the size of the apartment itself. It’s $1,995, and again no word on pets.

↑ Not too long ago, Chinatown apartments rarely, if ever, popped up on Craigslist, and consequently rarely appeared on Comparisons. But they’re starting to become a semi-regular sight in the past year or so. In this case a “top-floor renovated corner” studio on Sacramento Street asks $2,095 for a remarkably slender 250-square-foot home. “Includes mahogany color floors,” according to the ad, but not pets.