My #1 Tip for Renting an Apartment on the Peninsula

Deciding where to rent a home on the Peninsula can be a daunting experience. Not only are there lots of different towns throughout the Peninsula, each with their own personality, but there are also several different types of apartment rentals, each with their own rental process. Having rented apartments in a number of towns throughout the Peninsula over the years, I’ve recorded my own learnings here for you, in the hopes that they will help you in your journey. Acknowledging that these tips are based on my personal experience and your experience may differ, let’s get down to business with the topic at hand…

In this post, I will share:

• Some basic background on the Peninsula apartment rental market
• An overview of your rental options and the typical rental process for each option
• My #1 Tip for Renting an Apartment on the Peninsula

Some Historical Background

Historically, there haven’t been a lot of large apartment complexes here on the Peninsula (or even in San Francisco for that matter). A lot of the Peninsula was developed in the 1950’s and 1960’s, and much of the real estate that was developed was built in communities of small, single family homes. My understanding is that, for many years, there was not much apartment complex development because folks already living here were trying to preserve a community feel (as well as their views of the ocean or of the hills, where relevant).

Apartment Rental Options

In recent years, we’ve seen a lot of apartment construction throughout the Peninsula, but, despite the increase in supply, there’s still a lot of demand (especially for affordable options). Your rental options presently are as follows:

• Rent a room in someone’s home or apartment
• Rent an apartment in a small, independently managed apartment building
• Rent an apartment from one of the major apartment complexes in the area, often managed by one of a handful of larger development companies (e.g., Prometheus, Avalon, The Irvine Company, etc.)

Based on personal experience and anecdotes from friends, if you are interested in one of the first two options, be prepared to:

• Keep an attentive eye on Craigslist and other online apartment websites
• When you see an apartment (or room) you are interested in, be prepared to either make an appointment as soon as possible or attend the scheduled open house
  • Note: these open houses are often scheduled as a one-time, short (i.e., 1 hour) event. If you miss it, you have likely missed your opportunity to see the property.
• If you are interested in the apartment, be prepared to either make a decision immediately (first come, first served) or submit an application that will be reviewed along with all the other folks who are interested in the apartment

Renting from one of the major apartment complexes (your third option) will likely provide more amenities and more options, but these options might also come with more red tape in the form of more strict, standardized contract language, etc. If you are looking for one of these corporately managed apartment complexes, you’ll likely find the biggest concentration in towns like Burlingame, San Mateo, Foster City, Redwood Shores, Redwood City, Mountain View,  Sunnyvale, and Santa Clara – though new complexes are being built elsewhere as well.

While it’s a common practice in some cities (e.g., NYC) to use a realtor to rent an apartment, my impression is that’s less common here on the Peninsula. 

My #1 Tip for Renting an Apartment on the Peninsula 

Just as in any market, renting provides much more flexibility than buying a home. Particularly if you are new to the Bay Area, even if your long-term plan is to buy a home, you may want to rent initially just to get a “lay of the land,” giving yourself valuable time to better understand the pros and cons of the many towns on the Peninsula, including things like your likely commute time, the quality of the local school districts, and the Bay Area real estate market.

While you are exploring all that the Peninsula has to offer, here’s my #1 Tip: If you are new to the Bay Area, I would recommend that you rent an apartment that is as close to your place of work as possible while still within your budget. While our traffic is nowhere near as bad as it is in some other parts of the country, traffic can be highly variable depending on location. As a result, before you assume that a 5, 15, or 30 mile commute will be reasonable, you may want to live close to work for a while and get a better sense for where the more painful traffic patterns are for venturing further out. You’ll thank me later…