Apartment hunting in San Francisco is
unique. Unlike New York, we don't have brokers who control the listings
and charge renters a massive fee to lease. And unlike the South Bay
(and the rest of America), we only have a few large apartment
communities run by billion dollar public companies.
Many,
if not the majority of rental units in San Francisco are privately
owned and barely advertised. Because the market is tight, most
landlords can find a tenant within a few days simply by putting a sign
in front of their building. For apartment hunters, it's a maddening
situation-- it can feel like the only way to find a place is to quit
your job and stalk every neighborhood looking for "for rent" signs.
This is not a life. But the good news is that there are a couple
solutions. Two of the best are Craigslist and MetroRent.
Craigslist works because the listings are free and convenient for the
tech-savvy landlord. MetroRent works because they keep close ties with
landlords, many/most of whom will not advertise anywhere else (of
course, it costs $45 to use MetroRent). Another service, Bay Rentals,
is based in San Jose and while they do offer San Francisco listings,
their service does not cover SF well and their website is very
rudimentary.
Here are some other resources worth looking into:
Top 10 Apartment Communities