What $2,900 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: $2,900.

Located in Lakeshore right on Sloat, the deal here is a “luxurious ground floor in-law unit” with “living room, dining room, kitchen,” full bath with shower, new hardwood floors, and built-ins. (In most cases, it’s not necessary to assure renters that a prospective home includes a living room and a kitchen among the amenities, but you never can tell these days.) This one-bedroom, one-bathroom, 750-square-foot setup looks rather under-lit in these photos, but notice there is another window that allows for more natural light. The backyard is entirely bricked over, suggesting a dedication to drought-resistance that goes above and beyond the normal call. The price is $2,850 per month; no mention of pets.

The R-word strikes in the case of this “beautifully remodeled junior-one-bedroom in the heart of Cole Valley.” The building on Alma Street, with its puce exterior and thick carpets on the stairs, looks a bit vintage, but step inside the apartment and it’s 21st century San Francisco, with white interiors and gleaming new hardwood floors. (Though some of its original details peep through here and there.) However, there’s nothing vintage about the price: $2,895 per month for 561 square feet; no dogs allowed here, but cats are in.

Via Craigslist

If this “classic one-bedroom Beaux-Art Deco” apartment in the Outer Richmond seems familiar, it’s because they appeared on Comparisons less than a week ago. Sometimes previously advertised units make a comeback here on account of a price, but this one-bath, 743-square-foot pad might have set an all-time record by chopping its price mere days after its first appearance, now down to $2,875 from its previous $3,000 even. The voting wasn’t particularly kind to it last time, but maybe seeing it in a new light here will make a difference. Still no pets allowed—some things, sadly, never change.

Who says there’s no room for creativity in the all-white-interior craze? This studio in the Tenderloin promises “custard-colored digs” that it deems the “crème de la crème”—in practice this does not look much different, but points for putting in the extra effort. The circa-1928 building at 601 O’Farrell features one of the truly amazing lobbies for which the neighborhood is noted. And speaking of special features of the Tenderloin, this apartment allows all pets, although there’s an extra $40 worth of pet rent with the deal. Sans animal companions, it comes to $2,895 per month—a lot of custard, indeed.

And in the Outer Richmond, we have a home that’s both a “stand-alone rear cottage” but also evidently at least two stories despite appearances, as this is deemed a “top-floor unit.” (Technically, one-story homes are on the top floor as well, but that’s veering dangerously close to a tree falling in the woods with no one around type of thinking.) “This unit has two nicely sized bedrooms,” one bath, hardwood floors, two decorative fireplaces, and a striking black backsplash in the kitchen. No word about pets. Rent is $2,895 per month.