What $4,100 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 another person’s townhouse? Today’s price: $4,100.

This installment of Comparisons focuses entirely on oft-overlooked western and southern-lying neighborhoods, where renter dollars still stretch a tad further than in more in-demand blocks closer to downtown. And speaking of which, surely the natural place to start is with a single-family house parked in Parkside, right on Sloat Boulevard and immediately next to the San Francisco Zoo. It comes with two beds and one bath. The ad advertises a remodeled kitchen, new hardwood floors, and fresh paint. There’s also a garage, basement, and backyard, the latter sporting a surprising amount of greenery considering how many SF backyards received stonier treatments during drought years. It costs $4,100 per month. No pets allowed.

A few blocks north in the Outer Sunset, a competing house on Pacheco Street sports three beds and one bath packed into a space measuring just under 1,500 square feet. A few years ago this place was painted a distinct shade of green found in many SF residential neighborhoods, but now the owners have opted for a heart-stopping shade of deep blue. The ad notes freshly painted interiors and exterior. This is a “sun-filled remodeled home” according to the ad. The yard is shared with the in-law downstairs, and the rent price is $4,100. Cats are barred, but dogs are welcome.

This third house in Midtown Terrace next to Laguna Honda Hospital is the smallest of the lot at less than 950 square feet. But this home does come with two beds, one bath, a grassy backyard, and a “partially finished basement” that the landlord suggests for a workshop or an office. (Though turning it into a third bedroom on the down low might be perfectly acceptable.) A two-car garage is part of the deal too, but the ad doesn’t mention anything about pets. It’s $4,000 per month even.

On the other hand, Upper Market isn’t really a western neighborhood per se—but it’s not downtown either. And this one-bed, one-bath “urban paradise” condo on Dolores Street provides a welcome change with concrete walls and faux-industrial sensibilities. The 38 Dolores building pushes itself as “beyond green” and designed for “the greater good” (their term for it, not ours), but it’s a hard to tell what they mean by that beyond touting the building’s living walls and proximity to Whole Foods, neither of which quite make it into this upstairs unit with one bed, one bath, and over 700 square feet. Both cats and dogs are welcome here, but only if you’re up for the $4,095 per month price of it all.

Finally, we stop in Excelsior, still the last SF neighborhood where working-class renters can perhaps hold out for a deal. Here you’ll find a three-bed, one-bath, 1,000-square-foot house on Vienna Street that comes furnished along with the promise of “Victorian style.” Note that the latter point is by way of the furnishings, since the house itself sports little Victorian-era charm, although city records do date the building to 1895. No word about pets; the deal is $4,000 monthly.