San Francisco Real Estate Explained: Where Should You Live?

San Francisco is going to boom in the next decade with AI and all the massive changes coming to downtown and the central waterfront. And if you're moving here for work like I did over a decade ago when I moved here to start work as a lawyer in downtown San Francisco, or you're moving here just because you like great food, walkability, and the overall San Francisco lifestyle, you're probably wondering, how the heck do I figure out where to live? What are the right neighborhoods for me? What are the wrong neighborhoods for me? There are nearly 90 to choose from, and it's really difficult figuring out which one is right or wrong for you. Depending on where you live, your day-to-day lifestyle and experience is going to be completely different. Different food, different amenities, different walkability, different weather, different architecture. So picking the right neighborhood is really, really important. I'm Austin Klar, your lawyer turned real estate agent in San Francisco and Marin County, and in this video I'm going to go over a ton of different areas to consider based on different priorities and how they'll impact your day-to-day lifestyle and how you're going to spend your weekend. And I'll also be talking about some hidden gems I bet you've never heard of. So let's start breaking down how to prioritize different areas based on a number of these factors that I just talked about. And the first one is going to be weather. If warm weather is an absolute must for you, then you should be focused on areas on the southeast side of San Francisco. The warmest areas in San Francisco tend to be closer to the central waterfront, areas like South Beach, SoMa, Mission Bay, Dogpatch, Potrero Hill, Rincon Hill, East Cut, and as you get further into central SF, places like Noe Valley, for example. These areas are not only great for warm weather, they're closer to the business hubs of San Francisco, especially SoMa, South Beach, Mission Bay. They're all walking distance to downtown, easy to get to Caltrain and BART, the Bay Bridge, and the highway. And for the most part, these are going to be very flat, or at least relatively speaking, flat neighborhoods. So very easy to walk around. They're close to great amenities like the Ferry Building, Union Square, a lot of San Francisco's Michelin-starred restaurants like Benu, which has 3 stars, and Saison, which has 2 stars. There's also Angler on the waterfront, which has 1 star. Um, and a lot of the homes are going to be more, you know, modern condos in amenity buildings. You're not really going to get that historic SF architecture or, you know, a lot of single-family homes if you live here. Uh, but you get great walkability, great weather. And then you have places like Dogpatch and Potrero Hill, which are a little bit farther from downtown, So, you know, not necessarily walkable to downtown, but still very close by, easy to get to with public transportation or a very short drive. They're really close to like the Chase Center and the Central Waterfront, which is where OpenAI just leased about 500,000 square feet of office space. So you might be moving there to work at an AI job, but they're not going to be walkable to downtown. Also, Dogpatch and Baccaro have very different architecture from each other. Dogpatch is a lot of, you know, converted lofts. It used to be very industrial and now it's a lot more industrial, you know, style loft spaces or converted condo spaces. More modern, whereas Potrero Hill, most of the housing stock tends to be a little bit older. You have a lot more Victorian homes, a lot more single-family homes, but you do still get a mix of modern condos as well. And as far as, you know, walkability and amenities, the Dogpatch area is relatively flat, very easy to walk around, but there aren't as many options for, you know, shops and restaurants. So you're likely going to be leaving Dogpatch if you want to do any of those things. In contrast, Potrero Hill, as the name might suggest, it is very hilly, so it's a lot more difficult to walk around. Depending on where you live, you might be walking distance to their main commercial corridor on 20th Street, which has a ton of great food. One of my favorite places to get brunch, Plough, is in Potrero Hill. Awesome spot. Definitely recommend checking it out if you're in the area. Just expect to wait in a very long line. And neither of these places really have, you know, a burgeoning, like, nightlife scene. So if you're looking for a place with, like, bars or, you know, late night options, you're probably going to be leaving these areas to go find those things. It's not where you want to be if you want those things. Noe Valley also is not really walkable to downtown, but it's one of the warmest areas in the city. Great food, family-friendly, you know, they have events all throughout the area at all times of year. There's a ton of, you know, small parks and some of the most beautiful Victorians and modern condos in all of San Francisco. It's also very hilly, so you aren't likely to be walking around town a whole lot, but there is a lot to do in the area, especially along 24th Street, which is, you know, their main commercial corridor. And it's also, you know, about 10, 15 minutes drive to downtown, so not too far far away. If warmer weather isn't a must for you, then your options are pretty much unlimited in San Francisco. General rule of thumb is like the farther west and north you get, the colder and more foggy it tends to be. So places like Outer Sunset, Richmond, you know, West Portal, St. Francis Wood, things that are closer to the ocean or farther north are going to be a lot colder and more foggy than the places that I just talked about. They're also a much farther commute to downtown San Francisco. So a lot of people who work downtown don't like living there because it takes so long to get to downtown. But on the flip side, you're closer to some great amenities like Golden Gate Park and Ocean Beach. And unlike the type of housing that you get, you know, living in the areas that I just mentioned, it's a lot less dense as you get farther out, you know, towards the ocean. So you get a lot more single-family homes or very small, like 2 or 3 unit buildings. So it's a much different living lifestyle than say, in like high-rise condos in like SoMa or South Beach, for example. A lot of the housing stock out there also tends to be older. So because it's older, colder, and farther from downtown, you know, places like the Sunset and Richmond, for example, are on average going to be less expensive. As you get closer to the north central parts of San Francisco, the weather tends to be a lot more mild. So places like Russian Hill, Nob Hill, Pacific Heights, Presidio Heights, the Marina, Cole Valley, Haight-Ashbury, North Beach, all these tend to be milder weather between the west and eastern parts of San Francisco. And the architecture The architecture also is, you know, tends to be a little bit more historic than modern. There's, you know, some new construction interspersed in all of these different neighborhoods, but most of the single-family homes are near a century old, and most of the condos there are in older buildings. Many homes were, you know, converted over the years into, you know, 2 or 3 unit buildings, and there are some even like high-rise, you know, pre-war buildings. So the housing stock tends to be a lot more historic in these areas, and the architecture follows that. And depending on which of these areas you choose to live in, you know, where you spend most of your free time, like your nights and weekends, is also, you know, going to vary. So if you live in Pacific Heights or in the Marina or Cow Hollow, you're probably going to focus most on like Chestnut Street in the Marina, Union Street in Cow Hollow, or Fillmore Street and Sacramento Street in Pacific Heights. If you live in Russian Hill or Nob Hill, you'll focus more on Polk Street and Hyde Street. If you live in Cole Valley or the Haight-Ashbury, you'll focus more on Cole Street and Haight Street. North Beach, you'll spend more time on Columbus Street or Bay Street. But no matter which of these areas you live, you're, you know, only 10 to 15 minutes at most drive, if not walking distance, to all these other great places. So, you know, you don't necessarily need to be afraid of being pigeonholed into, you know, the entertainment-type amenities of a particular neighborhood. It just, you know, on average, you're probably going to be spending more time around where you live. So that's kind of how I segregate the city based on weather. You can kind of think about it in 3 general quadrants: West, Middle, and East San Francisco.. So the next big factor to think about is commuting. If commuting easily to downtown is a priority for you, you're actually going to follow a lot of the, you know, similar rules that I just talked about because the areas closer to downtown San Francisco tend to also have warmer weather. But there are some exceptions to that where, you know, areas that aren't the warmest are great for commuting. When I first moved to SF, as I mentioned, I was working as a lawyer in the financial district on California and Kearney Streets, and I actually lived in North Beach, which is not one of the warmest parts of the city. It's a lot more mild along the North Waterfront of San Francisco. And it was walking distance to the Financial District. Every day I would walk to work. It was about a 22-minute walk, largely flat, very mild incline. So it was very easy to do. There was a ton of great food along the way. So I would always, you know, stop on the way home and get food if I didn't happen to be cooking that night. So if you work in the Financial District and want more of like a classic San Francisco vibe with great food, definitely think about North Beach. It is an awesome area. I lived there for 5 years and I loved it. Nob Hill and Russian Hill are also great options. They're really close to the financial district, but you know, as the name suggests, they're not flat. You should expect to be walking up and down hills to get to or from work. So not necessarily, you know, an easy walk, but they are a very short drive or bus ride, or you could even take a cable car to get downtown, which is kind of nice. And if you don't have a car, but also don't care about, you know, walkability, there are other options for you as well. The Muni is San Francisco's bus system and it runs all over town. It can be late at times and, you know, sometimes run slow. So it's not necessarily like the most convenient way to commute, but it is definitely workable. BART is the other main form of public transit, but it largely only runs kind of like in a straight line along Market Street and then further south in San Francisco. So if you live on the north side and want to get to downtown or you live far west and want to get to downtown, you're not going to be able to rely on BART to get you there. But if you live in places like Glen Park or Castro or Mission, Eureka Valley, you're going to be very close to a BART line, relatively easy at least to get to a BART stop. So you could take BART into downtown San Francisco. West Portal is another great option. The Muni trolley runs right through West Portal. So even though it's a bit farther away, really easy to get to downtown, 20-minute commute, give or take, door to door. And there are some awesome food options and bar options in West Portal. I had clients working at Google and in finance that were looking for something that was an easy commute, and West Portal wasn't even on their radar, and they were a little skeptical about going to that neighborhood and looking for houses. But as soon as they did, they found one that they loved. It's a historic 120-year-old home. They fell absolutely in love with it and the neighborhood, and they absolutely love living there. Another factor to consider when you're thinking about a place to live is entertainment. So if you prioritize entertainment, maybe you're single and want an active nightlife, or maybe you just really like going out to bars and restaurants. Then there are definitely neighborhoods in San Francisco that I would say are better to be in than others. The best places are going to be places like the Mission, Castro, North Beach, and the Marina. These all have a really high concentration of bars and restaurants, and they tend to be open later than other places in the more residential parts of San Francisco, like Pacific Heights or Presidio Heights, for example. Now, like, obviously there are bars and restaurants in a ton of neighborhoods across San Francisco. Like Sunset has Irving Street, Richmond has Geary and Clement. West Portal has West Portal Avenue. I mean, I talked earlier about like Russian Hill, Nob Hill, Pac Heights. You're going to have options wherever you live in those areas relatively close by. But the highest concentration of nightlife and bars and restaurants that are open later are going to be in places like the Mission, North Beach, Castro, and the Marina. Another thing to think about is views. If you prioritize views, then there are certainly going to be areas that are better than others, but it's also going to depend on like what views you prioritize. If you want views of the San Francisco Bay to the north, then you can live in parts of Pac Heights, Presidio Heights, Seacliff, Cow Hollow, Nob Hill, Russian Hill. If you want bay views to the east, you can live in Russian Hill, Nob Hill, South Beach, SoMa, Potrero Hill, Noe Valley, Glen Park, Bernal Heights. If you want ocean views, then you're going to want to focus on places like Seacliff or the Outer Richmond or Outer Sunset. And if you want city views, you can live pretty much anywhere in the city, but the best places will be on elevated parts of town on hills like Russian Hill, Nob Hill, Twin Peaks, Clarendon Heights, Alamo Square, Noe Valley, Glen Park, Cole Valley. All of these places will give you great city views depending on what street you're on. And if you don't really care about all that stuff and you, you know, prioritize peace, quiet, and safety, then there are also great options for you all around the city. Places like St. Francis Wood and Forest Hill on the south-central part of San Francisco have some of those beautiful historic architecture. You know, everything there is detached single-family homes. There are no businesses in these neighborhoods, so it's incredibly quiet. But if you want to go out, it's like a very short walk to West Portal or a short drive to places like Castro, Mission, and downtown where, you know, most of the late-night bars and restaurants are going to be located. Seacliff and Lake District are also incredibly peaceful and quiet areas on the north side of San Francisco. Incredible parks nearby. You can get ocean views in Seacliff. And in Seacliff, there aren't really any businesses either, kind of like St. Francis Wood, and all the homes are detached. So it is a very, very quiet area. You see people walking around these places with dogs or with their kids all the time. You've also got Jordan Park, which is right next to Richmond and Presidio Heights and Pacific Heights. You know, big, flat, wide-open streets, historic homes, extremely quiet there. Then you have Presidio Heights and Presidio Terrace, where a lot of San Francisco's billionaires and CEOs live. Very residential, very walkable, very safe. These might be the sleepiest neighborhoods in all of San Francisco, but all of them have their own great amenities, are within a short walk or drive to great parks. Great parks. Great restaurants, great bars. So they are great refuges in San Francisco if you like all those things that San Francisco offers, but don't want to live directly in the hustle and bustle of town. There are so many other ways to break down the city based on different priorities like architecture or food or proximity to different schools or commutability to the North Bay or East Bay or South Bay. So if you're having trouble figuring out what the right neighborhoods are for you based on what your needs and priorities are, definitely reach out to me. I'd be happy to help. Like I said, I moved here over a decade ago from Orange County without really knowing a whole lot about San Francisco, but I've now lived all over town, so I'd be happy to help and give you guidance. And if you want to learn more about other neighborhoods in San Francisco, check out another video I made where I rank in tiers a bunch of popular and not so popular neighborhoods in SF. Um, there are almost 90 neighborhoods in San Francisco, so I didn't go through all of them. That would be like a 4-hour video. But I did go over a ton of great and some not so great areas. And compare them so you can see how they stack up. And if you want to know how certain areas stack up against others that I don't mention, definitely reach out to me. Again, my contact info is in the description below. And make sure to subscribe to my channel because I make videos every single week about all the different areas to live and different lifestyles in San Francisco. I hope you enjoy them, and I will see you in the next video. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]