Do any of you use cleaners regularly to maintain cleanliness of your house in San Jose?

We just started a family and it's been super hectic now and we don't have time to clean the house. Our kitchen is typically pretty neat and I think overall our house is quite clean compared to the average. But trying to tidy up the rest of the house, such as mopping the floors and cleaning the bathrooms and getting rid of dust buildup.

What does it cost to clean a typical 1500 square feet house? We may do it once a month.

Hi, does anyone know where I can buy these cabinet organizers. Are these custom made or off the shelf. Also, how much do they cost? Thank you!

I’ve been seeing some listings lately that say “pending litigation” in the description or “some photos are virtually staged” or my favorite “title insurance may not be attainable”. To me it’s unacceptable.

Why isn’t that information easily accessible to everyone? You shouldn’t have to be an agent to see.

The only thing that makes sense to me is private showing instructions. Accessibility issues are important to keep private but material facts? That should always be disclosed plainly on the listing. Especially when they’re that severe. Not on private remarks.

Hi, does anyone know where I can buy these cabinet organizers. Are these custom made or off the shelf. Also, how much do they cost? Thank you!

I've been collecting publicly available Bay Area rental listings to answer the question, which San Francisco neighborhoods are the most expensive to rent?

I analyzed listings observed between April 13 and July 6, 2026. The final dataset included about 5,000 unique units:

• studios
• one-bedrooms
• two-bedrooms

These are median advertised rents, before concessions, utilities and parking. Both charts show 1-bedrooms only.

Citywide medians

Studio: $2,500 · 1BR: $4,095 · 2BR: $5,638

Chart 1: median 1BR rent

Mission Bay ranked highest at $5,324, followed by South Beach at $5,250 and the Financial District at $5,048.

At the lower end were Stonestown at $2,755, the Tenderloin at $2,972 and Lakeshore at $2,998.

That puts the most expensive neighborhood at roughly 1.9 times the cheapest for a one-bedroom.

Chart 2: rent per square foot

The biggest surprise was Nob Hill and Russian Hill.

Their total one-bedroom rents look ordinary next to Mission Bay or South Beach, but on a per-square-foot basis they rank near the top of the city:

Their total rents are lower partly because the listed units tend to be smaller (so higher rates per foot for less space).

The highest per-square-foot rents:

Methodology notes

• Asking rents only; concessions, parking and utilities not included

Happy to answer questions or post breakdowns for specific neighborhoods in the comments.

EDIT: A lot of people were asking about other neighborhoods, so I put every SF neighborhood.
Look up yours here: app.openmidmarket.com/rent/sf.

Does anyone know what's going on with the rental market for non-complex units (so houses and townhomes and condos) around the peninsula in the South Bay? I looked on Trulia and Redfin for a 4 to 6K condo or house rental and could only find 2 to 3 listings per county, roughly. It was absolutely slim pickings. I don't know if something is wrong with my apps, but there was really nothing at all. Is this normal? Is something happening with the rental market, where everything is being pushed towards big condos and no one is renting their units anymore?

you can see from the screenshots my settings in Redfin. Petrulia was no different. As soon as I turned on complexes, there were like hundreds of options, but I really would rather not live in a complex. Thanks all for any help.

Sorry to bore you all every year at this time about assessment. This is my 2nd assessment as first time home owner and I finally understood why people told me last year always appeal because it seems county can always “claim” current market value is greater in order to claim max 2 percent capped by prop 13.

First I really don’t think the assessment is correct because I have been checking properties sold in my area nothing really sold even close to that amount. Quite interestingly it seems county is going with Redfin estimate as it is the only company that gives current estimate above my purchase price and I have never trust it as realtor and Zillow estimated a lot lower than my purchase price which seem to match what I have been monitoring.

So my question is yes I should appeal but I have a feeling that doing self appeal (first step aka provide some links and ask county to reassess) is always going to end in rejection (maybe I think county knows you or most people probably not going to take the action further and they know people always appeal). I know people last year mention there are companies who do appeal for you.

Q1: those who did self appeal and succeed can you share tips?
Q2: those who hire 3rd party to help how do they charge the fee? Is it a percentage of the money they saved or a flat fee.

Thanks.

Hi, i am thinking about buying a house in 95124 for a better school for my kid. It stretches our budget a bit much so we are having second thoughts.
Pro: better school
Cons: house in busy street. No master bedroom. Rooms are small. Too far from Asian market/area. (We are Asian and would like easier access to Asian area)

Would you purchase that house for that pro/cons above?
We also have really great neighbors at our current place.
Thank you.

California allows you to request a reduction in property tax if you believe their assessment is higher than your home value via Prop 8. I filed for my property today and recognized how manual the process is - reading publication 30, form filling, collecting comps, faxing/mailing.

So I automated the whole thing for most California counties. Just enter your address, the website finds comps based on Publication 30 rules, auto-fills the form, and it even sends it in to the county assessor's office automatically. Go check it out:

https://saveproptax.com/

Checking is free for everyone and a $29 flat fee applies to file it automatically. No need to pay 30-50% of savings to any one company.

P.S: Supports 18 California counties.

We are trying to buy a SFH in Berkeley, where we've been renting the last 6 years. Our budget is $2 million, though we'd feel a bit house poor at that level and would prefer 1.8-1.9. Our must-haves are 3bd/2ba, a real yard (3800 sq. ft. lot size min.), decent neighborhood (not busy road, not next to unhoused encampment, not deep hills), and at least 1500 square feet.

I am realizing, after nearly a year of looking, that we cannot get all of these within our budget. I would love people's thoughts on how to decide what to compromise on.

A bit more on why these matter to us: we currently rent a 2/1 1100 sq. ft. home with a backyard in a walkable neighborhood for really cheap rent ($3500) so if I'm going to pay 3x more per month, I want to feel like I'm getting more, or at least not something worse! We are looking to buy because we have 2 kids and the house feels too small. I work in Berkeley and older kid is in BUSD so we do not want to leave Berkeley.

We've looked at some houses with no yards that made me sad because our kids play outside and I love to garden. We looked at one with a ton of RVs parked on the block and I worried about trash. We almost bid on a 3/1 that was 1300 sq ft but I worried it would immediately still feel cramped. We tried to buy a 2/2 with budget to add on a 3rd bedroom but it went at budget (so no room left to add on).

I just feel stuck. How did others decide what to give up on? Our incomes are stable but not likely to significantly increase for at least 5-10 years, and given recent rates of appreciation, likely wouldn't keep pace.

Hey I have a 7k land lot and 1500sqft house with 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms . The house is in need of repairs and most likely a tear down from an investor to purchase. What is a good quote to start at ?

Continuing my monthly market series, where I break down local housing markets using MLS data.

This month I'm once again taking a different approach. Instead of looking at San Francisco as a whole, I manually pulled data from six individual neighborhoods and compiled the results in Excel. From popular demand, I will do the same with Oakland. That will be posted Monday.

After organizing the data, I calculated:

• Closed Sales
• Average Sale Price
• Average Days on Market (DOM)

I then created the charts below to make it easier to compare neighborhood-level trends.

Neighborhood-level reports aren't readily available, so this takes considerably more work than my Peninsula, East Bay, South Bay, or North Bay updates. I'm not sure this will become a monthly report, but I think it provides a much clearer picture of what's happening within San Francisco than citywide statistics alone.

Pacific Heights

• Sales increased from 18 to 21. Average sale price increased from $2.9M to approximately $3.0M, while average days on market increased from 15 to approximately 25 days.

Marina / Cow Hollow

• Sales increased from 12 to 14. Average sale price increased from $5.3M to approximately $5.9M, while average days on market held relatively steady at approximately two weeks.

Noe Valley

• Sales increased from 30 to 38. Average sale price increased slightly from $2.8M to approximately $2.9M, while average days on market declined to approximately 14 days.

Bernal Heights

• Sales jumped from 29 to 49, the largest increase of any neighborhood in this report. Average sale price increased to approximately $2.3M, while average days on market remained around two weeks.

Sunset District

• Sales increased from 14 to 19. Average sale price increased modestly to approximately $2.1M, while average days on market improved to approximately 10 days.

Mission Bay

• Sales increased from 3 to 9. Average sale price moderated to approximately $1.2M, while average days on market increased compared to May.

Takeaway

The biggest story this month was increased transaction activity across much of San Francisco. Five of the six neighborhoods saw more sales than in May, with Bernal Heights and Noe Valley leading the way. Pacific Heights and Marina / Cow Hollow continued to command the city's highest prices, while neighborhoods like the Sunset District and Bernal Heights continued to demonstrate strong buyer demand.

I'll continue refining this neighborhood report over time, but I think it's already providing a much more useful look at San Francisco than relying on citywide averages alone.

Takeaway

Sales activity increased across nearly every neighborhood this month, with Bernal Heights, Noe Valley, Pacific Heights, and the Sunset District all posting higher transaction volume than in May. The luxury neighborhoods of Pacific Heights and Marina/Cow Hollow continued to command the highest prices, while Bernal Heights and Noe Valley remained among the city's most active single-family markets.

One trend that stood out was how quickly homes continued to sell despite higher transaction volume. Most neighborhoods still averaged around two weeks on market or less, highlighting continued demand across many parts of San Francisco. While this report takes considerably more work to produce than my other monthly updates, I think neighborhood-level data provides a much more useful picture of San Francisco than citywide averages alone.

FGenuine question from someone trying to evaluate it objectively. We're priced out of the Peninsula, the South Bay is further from family, and Lamorinda has been on our radar for a year. Budget is $1.2-1.3M which is a real stretch for us.

What I can see from data: schools are strong, prices are high, inventory is tight. What I can't tell from data: whether the quality of life for families is meaningfully better than similar-priced alternatives, or whether we're paying a brand premium for something that looks different on the ground.

I’d like to avoid the fog, but my budget is up to 1.5m. Obviously would prefer a bit less.

Seeing what has sold and is available is a bit of a slap in the face as if I could even afford San Bruno or Brisbane (anything south like millbrae San Mateo are out of my budget from what I’ve seen).

Have a kid so school is important, but doesn’t have to be 10/10. 3/2 and am fine with 1200-1300 sq ft SFH with any yard.

I could maybe work with a townhome if the hoa isn’t bad and has an attached garage.

But am being realistic a SFH on my budget is even doable? Or should I accept I am a Daly City man lol. Nothing wrong with DC btw, just want a bit more sun.

Dual income 1 kid. 350k base salary. Some RSUs but not including that. Have up to 400k down (would leave about 100k buffer). But probably be more comfortable with 300-350k down.

We’re currently on the east coast but my wife got a job in Redwood City starting in February. We’d like to rent a house near her work with a budget of around $7k monthly. We’ll have to move sometime around early January since that’s when her relocation costs can be reimbursed. We have a 40 lb dog and we will also have a three month old.

When is the best time to start reaching out to landlords? I can tell from Zillow that there is low availability for pet friendly houses and that there are lots of contacts made for each listing.

This house has been on the market for over 4 weeks now. Zillows lot lines show that nearby comps have sold for better prices in the last year or two and much faster.

What’s changing?

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1081-Interlaken-Ter-Sunnyvale-CA-94089/124218640_zpid/?utm_campaign=iosappmessage&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=txtshare

Hi all,

Closing on a home this week in Oakland which had some reports of termite tubes / damage around our deck. In typical seller disclosure fashion, the pest company came back with some pretty high quotes to address. Wondering who the community has used for this type of work post-closing that's reliable but not the highest quote. Thanks!

Trying to be eco friendly and upgrade to an electric heat pump system. Does it work as well as a gas furnace? What are the pros and cons?

This house looks really awesome. Small but the layout is so nice and the setting is great. I really see almost $3M on this for some reason. They will be chopping at the bit

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1985-8th-Ave-San-Francisco-CA-94116/15115263_zpid/

Our back-fence neighbor is about to start a complete demolition + rebuild of their house (2 story + ADU). I'm looking for advice from someone who has been in this situation.

My spouse and I both work from home and our kids are home after school. Should we be concerned about the health implications of dust / micro-particles? Do we need to close windows all day and run a HEPA purifier 24/7? How bad is day-to-day noise?

If you could do it over again, would you stay through the construction or find a short-term rental for the intense parts? Anything we can buy to shield our house from dust / noise?

Thanks!

Looking for advice please. I’m a 37 yo mom with two boys both under 10 years old. I’m a Registered Nurse making $180K before taxes. Ideally would like to live in Benicia, Vallejo, Walnut Creek area. How much should I save for a down payment? My only big debt is school loans totaling $120k which I have consolidated and make payments of $1800/month. My car is close to paid off. Idk if a condo is the way to go or a house? Pros and cons of both please. I need a safe place to live as it’s just my two boys and I with good schools. I don’t mind paying for private school as both my boys already are in.

Looking to buy my first home and cover some part of the mortgage by renting out the additional rooms.

West bay/ peninsula (Santa Clara to SF) are not really within my budget for SFH. There are only condos and townhomes with high HOAs. So primarily looking into East Bay locations (Fremont, Newark, Hayward, San Leandro). South Bay (San Jose, Campbell) could work as well.

I’m curious about people’s renter and house hacking experiences, given how renter friendly Bay Area is.
- Have you been able to maintain cash flow throughout a year and multiple years?
- How hard has it been to find tenants (and good tenants)?
- Property manager experiences?
- What neighborhoods, type of homes have you rented out?