What $2,800 rents you in SF 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: $2,800.

This garden apartment proclaims itself the “best deal in Noe Valley,” which is a sobering thought. The rental costs $2,800 per month for a one-bed, one-bath home sans pets. It’s also located just on the outskirts of the neighborhood on 29th Street. But all things told, that assessment might be true, because after all, it’s Noe Valley—a toehold here can be hard to find at any price below three grand. The tall and thin profile of the building makes for a particularly deep and narrow layout inside the apartment, and a spiral staircase connects the living area on top with the bed and bathroom below. The spearmint green paint scheme may be an acquired taste, but it does stand out on the block.

That same distinctive hue returns for a competing garden apartment in a Victorian, this one in the Inner Richmond next to Angelo Rossi Park. Rather than tall and lean, this house is low-slung and wide, with a long rectangular backyard (looking a bit overgrown around the edges). The unit comes with two bedrooms and one bathroom, with 1,000 square feet for $2,800 per month, with a note that it’s “convertible to three [bedrooms],” presumably by appropriating some sort of bonus room or additional space into an extra bedroom. No word about pets, either.

This Oceanview apartment comes with similar setup and terms as the previous home: $2,800 per month for two bedrooms and one bathroom, and scant details all around. It is, however, interesting to see how this unit’s potential appeal stacks up against the former thanks to a patio instead of a backyard, a southeast locale (right by Community College of San Francisco) instead of northeast, and an immediate proximity to the freeway and to Muni light rail. No mention of pets, though, so that won’t break any ties.

And speaking of small but critical differences, this studio on Geary Street markets itself as a “central downtown hotspot,” which isn’t quite accurate as the hotspot in question is Lower Nob Hill, only two blocks removed from the Tenderloin. The deal here is $2,795 per month ($40 more if you bring pets) in a circa-1916 building—notice the very contemporary lobby and foyer though, which clearly benefitted from a recent renovation—but not much else to boast off outside of the dark hardwood floors.

This one-bed, one-bath loft on Golden Gate Avenue is located a few blocks south of the previous studio—but a couple of blocks makes a big different, and not just because that puts it squarely in the Tenderloin. The Lofts at Seven building gets its name because it served as the onetime headquarters of ABC 7 and still preserves some of the station’s iconography in the entryway; the apartment is an “ultra-stylish residence” with “exposed concrete walls, oversized windows,” and quartz counters for $2,800 per month. No extra charge for the pets this time.