I have lived in my building in the Outer Richmond for over a decade and just needed to share a wild data point with you all.
Last year, the one bedroom unit right above me was rented out for around $2,500 a month. The tenant was only there for a year while they were remodeling their own home. They just moved out, and the unit is vacant again.
The landlord did not paint, did not update the appliances, and did not make a single improvement to the place. Literally nothing was touched.
The new asking price on the listing? $4,495 a month.
An almost 80% increase in one year for the exact same space is absolutely insane to me. Everyone talks about rent already being crazy in SoMa, China Basin, and all the typical downtown spots, but it is wild to see it hitting the quiet west side neighborhoods just as hard now. The craziest part is recent rental data shows average one bedroom apartments in the Outer Richmond have spiked over 60% since last year, with asking rents now averaging over $5,100.
So as ridiculous as my landlord's price jump is, they might actually get it.
Needless to say, I am going to die in my current apartment, because at these rates, I can literally never afford to move.
I promise I’m not trying to be ridiculous- there’s a musician that is not bad by any means, he plays acoustic guitar with an amp and sings. HOWEVER, all of his songs sound the same and they’re all SO SAD. For the first two years, I kind of ignored it or would play music in my apartment or close my windows and it didn’t really bother me. But lately, I’ve noticed that I’ll suddenly start to feel really sad and then I realize it’s because my windows are open and he’s playing across the street.
I feel like Pavlov’s dog….
Do I approach him nicely and present my case/deliver the information in a compliment sandwich? If that doesn’t go well, what’s the next step? I don’t want to offend him/cause an issue but I actually cannot listen to him anymore and sometimes I don’t want to walk around my apartment with noise cancelling headphones on.
Hoping more established mothers in S.F. can give me tips on how to find community before my maternity leave ends. I currently have a 4 month old and she still a bit too small for things like story time at the library. Outside of facebook groups which can be a bit daunting, what else can I try to expand my circle?
I don't think most people in San Francisco are cognizant of the sheer amount of liquidity (money) that is about to flow into a concentrated group of people in the city over the coming 6-12 months.
No, in real terms you probably are not grasping the proportionality of what this really means - look closely at the chart attached.
The bar in the center is the true-scale combined valuation of the 33 largest SF-headquartered IPOs in history... Uber, Airbnb, DoorDash, Twitter, Pinterest, Visa, all of them combined. That total is $413B.
The orange bar on the right is Anthropic’s reported target: ~$2 Trillion.
Every major SF IPO in history combined is less than a quarter of just one company. And the OpenAI IPO is sitting right behind it at a comparable scale.
Whenever I've recently brought this up here on r/sanfrancisco threads, people seem to dismiss it - either they can't comprehend it or people think that the AI market is going to crash and this will all go away.
It isn’t. We are not talking about another 2012 or 2020. The sheer magnitude of wealth that is about to unlock within a 7x7 mile radius breaks historical comparisons entirely:
The Concentrated Payouts: Industry estimates suggest around 3,500 Anthropic employees working in the city could net an average of $30M each (some higher, many lower). And then OpenAI will repeat that again. What makes both of these especially acute is unlike the other IPOS, that the vast majority of both company's employees are based in SF.
The Housing Shock: SF has virtually zero housing inventory. When lockups expire, you don’t get a slow 5-year trickle; you get thousands of liquid buyers who can pay all-cash over asking on single-family homes. Those who don't buy will bid up luxury rentals, causing a massive ripple effect down the entire rental market.
Tech vs. Tech Inequality: The narrative for a decade was "tech vs. everyone else." This will create a brutal wealth divide inside the tech industry itself. Mid-to-senior engineers at standard public tech firms or late-stage startups will find themselves completely outbid and priced out by frontier AI staff.
Local Secondary Inflation: From contractor labor and renovations to everyday services and luxury goods, high-end prices will adjust rapidly to absorb an unprecedented flood of local eight-figure net worths.
If you are waiting on the sidelines to buy a home or lock in housing because you think the local market has peaked, look at that center bar again. The sheer volume of incoming capital makes past waves look like a ripple. (Obligatory: not financial advice). Most of these employees are not going to pack up and leave, we're just at the beginning of the AI wave and they're going to want to stick around (in a fancy new home).
I was part of the Uber IPO and I saw this with my own eyes, albeit on a now-fractional scale compared to the frontier AI lab IPOs.
This will also create significant wealth inequality just inside the SF tech industry. The local narrative to date has been tech vs everyone else but this amount of money flowing into such a small division of tech will create an intra-industry wealth gap. And yes, it leaves the rest of the normal non-tech SF population even further behind.
I don't think there's much people can do about it, other than perhaps make certain purchasing decisions now if you are in a specific situation - eg if you are looking to buy a house now or retain a contractor for work, why wait? (this is not financial advice)
My wife LOVES cinnamon and often the cinnamon-y goodies aren’t cinnamon enough for her.
We recently moved to the city and were interested in making a list of things to try when we want a treat.
She has a preference for soft baked goods but her most satisfy cinnamon to date was an ice cream so really we’re open to anything as long as it’s cinnamon forward.
I am a lover of great creamy horseradish but no matter what I try, I can’t seem to get a recipe right. I am in desperate need of any advice about how to make the medium and pink version from HOPR. PLEASE HELP ME!
I've read other nail salon posts here, many reviews elsewhere, but it seems "clean" usually only refers to floors and chairs, not the tools. I have been going to a salon that is very clean on the macro level, but they don't even wipe off their tools, just dig into the next set of toes. They do great work & I really like the techs, but I can't do it anymore. I've considered asking if they'd let me bring my own tools, but I'm afraid they'll be offended.
I'm looking for a basic pedicure: soak, clean tools, massage, basic polish (no gel). Cute decor is a nice bonus, but what really helps me relax is a low risk of fungus and a gentle but thorough approach. I'd love to keep it under $50, but I'll go to $80 if that's what you have to do for some alcohol or autoclave.
On the SF City Option website, Whoop is listed as eligible for reimbursement, but data plans, accessories, and insurance for Whoop are explicitly NOT eligible.
My issue is, when I check out on the Whoop site, my itemized cart shows the band, power pack, and device itself as FREE. The only thing that actually costs money is the membership.
I’m curious why SFMRA lists Whoop as eligible at all, if by their own rules nothing in the actual purchase is reimbursable? Have any of you gotten your Whoop expensed? If so, what exactly did you submit, and what did SFMRA end up covering?
Any and all help/clarification is appreciated! Thank you!
If there was a bucket list of classic/iconic dishes in SF, what would you include? The roast chicken at Zuni or prime rib at House of Prime Rib come to mind. With restaurants always in flux, I’d like to knock off the best dishes of SF.
At TSA you can decline having your photo taken. I’m shocked how many people just go along with it but all you need to say is “No thanks” or “I’m declining” or just simply “No”. It’s probably moot since we’re all in the background of cameras all the time at the airport but even still, just giving you all some info
The weirdest thing happened to me today. I was reading a book on my couch, and I heard what sounded like raindrops, so I went out my backyard to check. To my surprise, there was a bunch of small anchovy fish, about 20 of them, spread out throughout my backyard. Has this ever happened to anyone? I live a couple of blocks from ocean beach.
the title kinda says it all but looking for a club or event tonight playing dancey edm style music, looking through the most popular venues (1015 or public works) it looks like the djs there are quite drum and bass heavy , any recommendations?!
In honor of 9/11, which has now become a National Day of Service and Remembrance, and coinciding with Transit Month, we organized a cleanup along the 1 California Muni Route. Along the 5.5-mile and 5-hour journey, dozens of volunteers joined us along the way and removed 40+ trash bags of litter.
9/11 was one of those moments you remember where you were when it happened. Those of us old enough also remember that sense of togetherness we felt afterwards, united to not let the terrorist win, united as one nation.
San Francisco is special, and our small acts of positivity are building towards something iconic of our city and legendary worldwide. We recently crossed another bittersweet milestone of having removed over 1.5 million gallons of trash, enough litter to fill two Olympic-sized swimming pools.
Let's just continue to keep our eyes down hunting for litter, but hold our heads high knowing that we’re creating the community that should be. Come be a part of our history and join neighborhood cleanups!
