What $4,900 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 another person’s townhouse? Today’s price: $4,900.

This single-family home in Potrero Hill, located next to a freeway, offers video tours, virtual tours, or simply a self-tour to prospective renters who are observing social distancing mandates. (You are still allowed to move during shelter-in-place orders throughout the Bay Area, FYI.) The house comes with two beds and one bath, and clocks in at just under 900 square feet, enticing tenants with hardwood floors, skylights, granite counters, patio, garden, barrel-fronted facade, and an old fireplace that’s been painted a dramatic turquoise shade. The best enticement of all is that it’s open to pets, though there’s an extra deposit on top of the $4,900 per month rent.

Anyone in the market for a house with more space can cast eyes toward Glen Park, where they’ll find a home with three beds, two baths, and over 1,500 square feet stacked up on two stories, along with a backyard and a two-car garage. The open floor plan has a lot of parquet to fill up the space, and notice that the tile in the bathroom is almost (but not quite) a perfect match the backsplash in the kitchen—a slightly retro yet welcome synergy. That master bathroom sports dual sinks and a skylight as well. This place is about equidistant from Mt. Davidson Park and Glen Canyon, but unfortunately, the ad does not cop to whether it allows pets for your $4,900 per month.

Although the trend of painting every room in a home a different, loud color remains was popular in the ’90s, perhaps it’s time for it to come back in today’s world all-white, antiseptic interiors. This pad, for example, comes with orange, sky blue, lavender, and green rooms spread out across the 1,200square-foot apartment in the Mission. Featuring two beds and one bath, this top-floor unit is marketed as “fully remodeled,” with oak floors, nine-foot ceilings, and the promise that the bathroom is “getting a social distancing refresh”—oh, what wonders does this year have in store for us yet? Pets are both good here, and it’s $4,800 per month.

Say what you want about amenities, location, prestigious neighborhoods, and historic buildings, the one true all-eclipsing perk is a downright beautiful home from back to front. That brings us to the example of this tasteful Victorian house in Bernal Heights, which has all of the poise, stained-glass accents, oversized windows, crown moldings, and balconies that a savvy renter could hope for—particularly if that savvy renter is paying $4,900 per month for it. The setup comes with three beds and two baths spread across two stories. While the home is about as far from Bernal Heights Park as you can get and still be in the neighborhood, it’s also right on the verge of Holly Park. Pets are also okay here.

Last up, the SoMa Grand building in, yes, SoMa sports a two-bed, two-bath, 1,200-square-foot condo on the 15th floor, asking $4,850 per month and sweetening the deal with building perks like clubhouse, gym, parking space, fifth-floor barbecue patio, and a Zip Car locale on site. But the listing doesn’t say anything about pets, so it might be holding out on one big perk yet.