In this YouTube video, Austin Klar—formerly a lawyer and now a real‑estate agent and developer in San Francisco—shares why he chose to make the city his permanent home and why prospective movers should consider it. He opens with a brief personal biography, describing his Southern‑California upbringing, undergraduate studies at UC Irvine, law school in New York City, and his 2013 move to San Francisco for a law‑firm job that ultimately led him to real‑estate. Klar then outlines five concrete reasons he loves the city: (1) its strategic location on the peninsula, offering iconic views, proximity to the Pacific Ocean, the Bay, and easy day‑trip access to Napa, Sonoma, Monterey, Big Sur, Los Angeles, Portland, Washington, and Las Vegas; (2) the distinctive residential architecture—from Victorian and Edwardian homes to modern high‑rises and landmark structures like the Painted Ladies, Transamerica Tower, and Salesforce Tower—providing daily inspiration for his real‑estate work; (3) an unparalleled food scene that spans Michelin‑starred restaurants, food trucks, casual pizza and burger joints, and extends across the Bay to Oakland, Berkeley, Marin, Napa, and Sonoma; (4) exceptional walkability that reduces the need for a car, with many neighborhoods offering flat routes, nearby grocery stores, coffee shops, and bike/scooter options, while the hills provide spectacular vistas; and (5) abundant outdoor amenities, including temperate weather, numerous parks (Marina Green, Crissy Field, Dolores Park, Alta Plaza, Lafayette), waterfronts, the Ferry Building, Fisherman’s Wharf, Alcatraz, and nearby Muir Woods. Throughout, Klar emphasizes his professional services—offering market insights, neighborhood information, and real‑estate assistance—and encourages viewers to contact him via the description, subscribe, and enable notifications for future videos.
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I grew up near the beautiful beaches of Southern California. I've lived in New York City, and one of those places is where I thought I'd ultimately set down my roots and spend my life. But no city has captured my heart the way San Francisco has. And if you're wondering if this is the right place for you, I'm gonna give you the top 5 reasons why I love this city and why I've decided to make San Francisco my home. And the 4th one's probably gonna surprise you, so definitely stick around for it. What's up everyone? This is Austin Klar, your lawyer turned real estate agent and real estate developer in San Francisco. Every day I put my courtroom advocacy and contract negotiation skills to work for clients looking to relocate or buy or sell homes in San Francisco. San Francisco. I've lived all over the city since moving here in 2013 and have firsthand in-depth knowledge and experience of what it's like to live here and about the San Francisco lifestyle. By the way, if you ever want to know more information about the San Francisco housing market, or if you have any particular properties that you're interested in, or any communities that you want more information about, feel free to reach out to me. My contact information is in the description below. And if you want more videos just like this, subscribe to my channel and hit the bell so you get alerts every single time I post a video. As I mentioned at the start of this video, I grew up in Southern California. I went to undergrad at University of California Irvine, which is a few minutes away from some of the most beautiful beaches in the world. Newport Beach, Huntington Beach, which is actually where I lived during college, Laguna Beach, Dana Point, all these amazing places that you see about on TV. After graduating undergrad, I attended law school in New York City where I did all the things that you would expect somebody living in New York City would do. Eating all the amazing food, seeing shows on Broadway, comedy shows, seeing all the sights, going to bars, going to clubs, doing everything that a 20-something-year-old does. In New York City. And I thought that after graduating law school, I probably was gonna go home to Southern California. You know, it's where my family was. It's, you know, where all my friends were from high school, friends from college. And it's ultimately where I thought I wanted to be. I interviewed for a lot of jobs, you know, in Orange County, where I'm from originally, in Los Angeles. But I also interviewed at a big law firm up here in San Francisco, and I liked what the job had to offer. I liked the people that I met with, and I'd been to the city a few times and liked it enough. Thought I'd give it a try for a couple years, and Orange County and LA, they'd be there in a couple years if I decided to move home. Pretty quickly after moving to San Francisco, I completely fell in love. San Francisco has its own beautiful beaches. It's got amazing parks. The architecture, especially the residential architecture, and the cultural diversity here, you know, from the food and the people and the art, the music, you know, rivals New York City. So I bucked my plans to move back down to Orange County. I've lived in San Francisco for over a decade now and honestly have no intention of leaving anytime soon. And I'm gonna give you the top 5 reasons why I love this city so much and why I decided to set my roots here. Reason number 1, location. San Francisco is situated at the very top of the peninsula. To the west of it is the Pacific Ocean. To the north and east of it is the San Francisco Bay. As most people probably know, the city is famous for its very hilly terrain, but those hills give residents and visitors some of the best views that people travel all over the world to see. You know, think about driving through one of the world's most beautiful national parks onto one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World, Golden Gate Bridge, and now imagine that being your daily commute or something that you see every day when you just go on a walk or you walk your dog or you go to the grocery store, you're just getting some coffee. It's pretty wild to think about all the things you get to experience living here that people sometimes don't even get to experience in their lifetime or travel from all over the world to see. Not only is San Francisco close to one of the most iconic stretches of ocean, uh, you're about an hour south of Napa and Sonoma. You're about 2 hours north of, you know, some of the most beautiful areas in California like Carmel, Monterey, Pebble Beach, Big Sur. And if you really want to get away, you know, you're an hour from Los Angeles. You're 2 hours from Portland, 2.5 hours from Washington, and you're about an hour from Vegas. Reason number 2 I love the city is the architecture. San Francisco has some of the most stunning residential architecture in the world. It's one of the main reasons that I got into real estate in the first place. I'm obsessed with residential architecture and design, and I get to look at these beautiful homes every single day. Yeah, I never thought I would like living in one of these old homes, but once you enter one and you see the scale that they build these homes with, that they don't build with anymore, and that you don't see really outside of this city, you immediately understand how special the architecture here really is. And it's pretty diverse too. You go just a couple blocks away in the very same neighborhood, Queen Anne Victorians, Edwardians, Moderns, Contemporaries, Tudors. You have the world-famous Painted Ladies. There's the Bank of America building at 555 California. There's the Transamerica Tower, which is currently undergoing a, you know, billion-dollar redevelopment. You have Salesforce Tower. You have super cool, like, multifamily residential buildings like the Mira SF in the Pacific. You have The Sentinel Building, you have Chase Center, which is where the Golden State Warriors play, this brand new arena. There are so many historic homes, historic buildings. You're never ever ever going to get tired of the architecture here. It is a guaranteed reason why you will love this city. Reason number 3 is definitely the food. You know, I've lived in Southern California, been all over Los Angeles, lived in New York City for a couple years, and personally, I think that San Francisco has probably the greatest concentration of awesome food. Out of anywhere. And I'm not talking about just, you know, the multi-star Michelin restaurants, and there are a bunch of them here. I'm talking about like food trucks and just casual pizza spots, burger spots, you know, you name it, this city has it. And it's not just food in San Francisco. You can go east across the Bay Bridge and get really great food in Oakland, in Berkeley. You can go north across the Golden Gate Bridge, great food in Marin, Napa, Sonoma. There's a ton of stuff to eat all over the place. Number 4 is the walkability. I actually get asked by a lot of people who are visiting here why I like this place so much compared to a city like Los Angeles, for example, and I always say the walkability, and I swear they always laugh at me. But, you know, unlike Southern California, you actually don't need a car here. Is it helpful to have a car here? Sure, and that'll be the topic of another video that I make, but you don't need one. There are, you know, grocery stores, coffee shops, there's so much stuff that's pretty much within walking distance of almost anywhere that you're going to live in this city. You really don't need a car, and it's very easy to get around. Yes, there are hills all over the place, but it's not as if there's a hill on like literally every single street. Uh, there are a lot of flat areas in San Francisco. There are some neighborhoods that are entirely flat. There are some neighborhoods that are entirely on hillsides. There are some neighborhoods that are a mix of both. Um, there are a lot of routes in San Francisco that you can take if you're walking or driving or on a bike to, you know, avoid hills. Yes, takes a little longer, but definitely doable. Um, and even though there are hills, and if you're gonna walk up one of them, you know, it's probably gonna take some getting used to. It might be a little tough on your legs. The fact that you're on one of these giant hills means you're gonna have some of the best views that people travel all over the world to see. You're gonna have views of the Golden Gate Bridge, views of the Pacific Ocean, views of the San Francisco Bay, views of the Bay Bridge, views of the city. Being on a hillside, yes, tiring, worth it 100%. Me personally, I walk to the gym almost every single day. I walk to the grocery store, I walk to get coffee. I personally didn't own a car here for the first 3 years that I lived here, But I love cars. I'm from Southern California. I grew up loving cars. And there was one that came out that I really wanted, so I bought it. I ended up selling it after about a year and a half because I literally drove it once a month. I mean, I lived a block away from multiple grocery stores. I walked to work every single day. You know, the only time I would ever use it is when I was like, you know, going up to wine country or something like that, or I had to, you know, go buy something at, you know, a store that was, you know, too big to carry myself. And it was honestly more of a burden than anything else. I didn't need a car, so I sold it, and then I didn't buy a car again until I got into real estate. So for the majority of time that I lived in San Francisco, I didn't have a car at all. Didn't need one. There are a ton of options available for you to, you know, rent one for the day if you're gonna go on a little day trip. There are scooters and bikes everywhere. Truly, it is a very walkable city, super easy to get around, even with the hills. Reason number 5 that I love it here is all the things that you can do outside. The weather here is, you know, pretty temperate. Yes, it does get cold. Yes, it does rain sometimes, but for the most part, the weather's great. There are a lot of things that you can do outside to really enjoy that, you know, the beauty of the city has to offer. There are a ton of parks and open spaces. There's, you know, Marina Green and Crissy Field, which are, you know, waterfront areas where you can picnic, you can jog, people play, you know, organized sports there all the time. There are coffee shops and restaurants near there. There's Dolores Park with views of the entire city of San Francisco. Alta Plaza Park, Lafayette Park, super dog-friendly, super family-friendly. There are playgrounds, basketball courts, tennis courts, a ton of open spaces for everybody to enjoy. There's Fisherman's Wharf, there's the Ferry Building with all the food and shops there. You can go to Alcatraz if you want. There's the Muir Woods where George Lucas filmed Return of the Jedi, is just across the Golden Gate Bridge. So there are a million things to do in and around the city that I don't think you're ever really going to get bored. So there you have it. Those are the top 5 reasons why I've decided to make San Francisco my home. And again, if you want any additional information about the city, about the market, about any particular neighborhoods, reach out to me. Contact info's in the description below. And if you want more videos just like this, subscribe to my channel and don't forget to click the bell so that you're notified every single time I post a new video.
