What $3,200 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: $3,200.

Furnished rentals are something of an albatross—where to put your belongings with the owner’s stuff already stacked up all over the place? But for a particularly compelling home, a renter might take it under consideration. Take, for example, the case of this “furnished rustic charming one bedroom cottage” in Laurel Heights, a one-bed, one-bath setup with 645 square feet. It comes with 20-foot ceilings, skylights, antique claw-foot tub in the bathroom, upstairs loft, and backyard. “This hidden gem was once a horse stable,” according to the leasing agent. Odds are the horses didn't have to pay $3,150 per month. That’d be an awful lot of hay.

By comparison, this furnished Castro apartment, located on the wobbly western stretch of Market Street, is almost the same size at 650 feet but setup as a studio. The main house is a real knockout; however, by comparison the apartment itself is fairly basic, furnishings and all. This one’s banking a lot on its best-of-both-worlds location, which places it firmly in an out of the way residential atmosphere but just a few blocks away from the main Castro drag, Upper Market corridor, and Duboce Triangle. It’s a highly attractive triangulation, but is it worth $3,200 per month? No word on pets.

Further east, condo offerings in SoMa hope to beguile renters with the promise of luxury and prestige branding. First, there’s this Mint Plaza apartment, a “former model unit” and corner apartment in the 2 Mint Plaza building, with “soaring ceilings, exposed concrete, acid stained high gloss concrete floors, [...] custom kitchen cabinetry, island with custom glass bar top” and a “stainless steel soaking tub.” That’s in one of two bathrooms in the condo, though there’s only one bedroom. The place is nearly double the size of the previous listings at more than 1,240 square feet and pets are allowed, all for $3,200 per month.

The Beacon building in South Beach advertises “a luxury full service condominium complex” featuring “heated pool, fitness center, in-house dog park, indoor garage parking and 24-hour security/concierge” service. The condo is a 600-square-foot, junior-one-bedroom, one-bath unit with hardwood flooring. The junior bedroom itself is a small alcove to one side separated by a pair of doors, at first glance very reminiscent of a closet, though the floor plan in the ad allegedly justifies its qualifications as a sleeping space. This one is also $3,200 per month. Although the ad does not mention rules about pets, the repeated references to a nearby dog park should be a positive signal.

Finally, in Oceanview a full two-bed, one-bath house packed with “two bonus rooms,” “two car parking,” and (of course) a remodeled bathroom hopes to net some renters of its own for $3,200 per month. The ad is light on details besides that (no mention of pets), perhaps hoping that the mystique of those dark shingles will promote sufficient curiosity to investigate further.