Northern California → hard to find affordable room for rent in South Bay

I an in entry level IT with bachelors, ccna, and 2-3 years of experience where pay leaves a lot to be desired. I moved to South Bay from Chicago and its too expensive for my current income so I am looking for room to rent in shared apartment or house from Craiglist. But even that isn't easy because I find there are always other few others looking at places where I look and it either ends up me in waiting list because priority was given to another or whatever reason. I am looking for room for about $700-900 in South Bay. I thought about East Bay (Fremont, Pleasanton, Livermore) but I find it not really cheaper and worth longer commute in range 800-900 (unless I look at Hayward, Castro Valley, Union City, Newark where I don't wanna go).

I almost am giving up searching for room on craiglist. Almost every time I run into creepy situations either on listings or when I finally meet someone in person. I come across many annoying things related to room hunt. And since its craiglist in grey area not regulated like landlord/professional agencies offering whole apartments people sometimes find it easier to screw you in unfavorable conditions to get a room.

I remember when I graduated with my Associates and moved out there. It was hell finding a place to live, there is a severe shortage of housing, and I cannot understand why that is still the case, it is hurting the area's economy, even if the economy is better there than elsewhere.

Try Milpitas.

San Francisco, South Bay, East Bay are building up, but new housing cost a lot of money, they are not subject to rent control and more expensive than older. Forget about Pennisula (Mountain View, Palo Alto, Redwood City etc). Nothing is building up there and COL there is outrageous thanks to NIMBY citizens who don't wanna their towns to turn into cities. Roads there are narrow, set at low speed and public transit is very limited. As Far I know in more recent years job growth have been faster in San Francisco than in Silicon Valley for IT jobs.

Here in CT we also have the NIMBY mentality, everyone wants the benefits without allowing it where they live. The well off feel entitled, and leave us with cities that are black holes.

Speaking of Silicon Valley, that HBO show is crap, their characterization of SV Wizards is bullcrap and marginalizes what really is going on there.

Frankly, if you cannot get a job that pays at least 60K, it's kinda crazy to move out there. I graduated and took a job for 14 bucks an hour, I had no idea what I was in for, that was back in the mid 90s. You can't survive there on that kind of pay, and I had no way to know, those who knew better didn't warn me, either.

I love it out there, but if you don't make really good pay and don't have excellent credit and if you have any black marks that could prevent you from getting a lease, forget moving there. Eventually I found a condo, but after rent and utilities, I had very little left, and my rent was very cheap all things considered.

I only took it because I was unemployed and laid off at previous job. I considered the longer I leave my work history gap in resume its only gonna get worse. And I figured if I never move to Bay Area, its gonna be hard to find anything later better remotely from Chicago because most employers prefer locals. I found (cheap but still kinda expensive) studio on my own in East San Jose, passed credit, paid security deposit and first month rent but moved in lightly only with bed, kitchen table and chair. Had very little left since I did not get any sort of relocation package.

Its actually fun story. In the beginning I interviewed for the same company in Chicago location but I did not advance there to next round. I asked recruiter about position in Bay Area, they scheduled interview, I flew in, I interviewed. 2 days later quick I got offer, but was disappointed getting kinda lowball offer, but since they offered it at night with differential I agreed.

Now that I work swing, I can live with others. I have been looking. But its hard to get favorable judgement. If its good apartment, room it goes to someone else, if its shitty room its available but well a lot below my expectations. Many expect you to move in now, while I can't do that because I still have old lease to continue for at least 30 days from written notice and cannot afford to pay 2 rents and let alone find time to clean up, move all stuff next week while working full-time.

I never watched this show but I imagine its almost no different than Entourage that marginalizes on racist, homophobic, sexist jokes and make all adults including CEOs of big film studios look like stupid, unprofessional high school teenagers. I don't think in real world, aggressive talent like Ari Gold would ever survive and be taken seriously with the foul language and bad treatment of his employees.

Some SJ tips:

If you like Vietnamese food, I don't remember the exact street, but in the downtown SJ vicinity there is a Vietnamese Banh Mi joint (sandwiches, to die for). There's a lot of Vietnamese places because there's a big population there. The light rail is fantastic, you can bring your bicycle on board, I recommend it. When you get a chance, take a day trip out to Pescadero State Park, you can bring your bike, too. Another good Vietnamese joint is in SJ right next to Milpitas, it's called Super Bowl, and the serve Pho, and ONLY Pho, it's the best I've had.

You'll notice that things are a little grubby in East San Jose, lots of graphiti, but it looks worse than it is. Watch out for the cops out there, the only honorable ones are CHiPs, there have been some major cases over the years, one SJU student was badly beaten up by a SJ cop, but a classmate video'd it, and busted the cop. In Milpitas they had speed traps where you'd obey the limit and they'd still ticket you for speeding.

If you enjoy fishing, go up into the delta, there's a lot of fantastic fishing there, large mouth bass, even sturgeon. I used to fish in the bay off of San Mateo Pier (former bridge) and catch about one or two leopard sharks an hour (I'm strictly catch and release).

It's nice there, you will love it. Expensive as hell, but the best produce in the world can be had in CA, you can drive out to the farms and get it right from the fields from farm stands. If you like Mexican food, Vietnamese food, or any ethnic food, the Bay Area is the place you wanna be.

Even rents in Phoenix have gone up. I am glad I have a house, ok bank still does, as my mortgage is cheaper than current rents by far.
California in good areas has always been expensive. During the boom years people sold ghetto houses in California and moved into upscale neighborhoods in AZ with the profits.
I would see people moving into $250,000 plus upscale homes in very good neighborhoods in AZ from California with ghetto furnishings, clothes etc. It was like they won the lottery.

Funny, the gang in my shop here in SV can't stop laughing over how it's *exactly* like what is really going on here.

Guess it depends on where you've worked.

Regarding COL - lots of people making lots of money + no undeveloped land inside the valley = very expensive housing. Go far far away and spend your life commuting, or find many people who will be your new best friends and share something, or rent a micro-space for solo living. The weather is nice, you don't need much indoor space.

Yeah, they sold homes costing $800K that were 1300 sq feet, built in the 50s, and never updated. They had ghetto furnishing because their 3k-5k/mo mortgage payment was 65% of their takehome pay. And they probably made 300K in equity if they held on long enough to catch the cyclic housing bubble.

If I could stand AZ, I'd buy a block there too

To quote myself, from your other thread:The cheaper areas are going to be either:
A) slums/ghetto
B) far away
C) or both

You don't want a long commute and you don't want to lower your standards. I'm sorry but you're gonna have a bad time.

That my previous post was about searching for apartment. Now I am looking just for room to rent in a shared apartment in case if you have not noticed.

very interesting post! thanks!