The economic health of San Francisco is strongly aligned to the health of the tech industry. Therefore, given the strong technology foundation, San Francisco enjoys a sturdy economy. This makes it a highly desirable place to live in. Moreover, the simple law of less supply and more demand makes the rental market in San Francisco dynamic.
There is a huge wave of new residents coming in with lots of technology jobs being created in Bay area and Silicon Valley. These young residents work for technology giants and start-ups like Zynga, Twitter, Google and Yahoo. They want to come and live in San Francisco and benefit from the commuter buses that drive them to work and back. The bus alternative is a no cost convenient way to live in San Francisco and work in the Valley. Therefore, the rental market is particularly hot for demand of studios and one bed rooms.
These young people prefer to live in San Francisco in a studio or one bedroom over Palo Alto. According to Gordon Management Property, being in and around an area where one can walk to things is important. San Francisco apartments are skillfully laid out in close proximity to city. As a result, locations close to the Google or Yahoo bus and walk ability are huge factors that are impacting apartment preference. People want live in a location where they can walk out of their apartment to get a coffee or a meal or to able to walk to a club.
Thus, if a rental doesn’t have an attractive location, it is advised to have it fixed to make it attractive. This will get the property owner the best tenant with highest paying rent. At Gordon Property Management, founder and President Stephanie Gordon with over 25 years of experience states there are several things that can easily be done to increase the value of the property. The most important thing is making a great first impression by painting the unit. A clean, painted, modern looking apartment will stick out compared to a unit where the carpet is not fresh; it is dirty, dingy and not painted. Additionally, given San Francisco’s rent control, a poorly kept unit will not get the best rent.
Other top facilities identified by Stephanie Gordon are parking space, in unit washer/dryer and wood laminated flooring. Although, more and more people are using bicycles and transportation like the Google bus, parking is still huge wanted amenity. Olden days of a laundry room in the basement, are not attractive anymore. No one wants to take the laundry down to the basement. Hence, adding a washer/dryer inside the unit will be worthwhile. And lastly, tenants no longer want to come and live in a place that has old carpet with stains. Ripping out the carpets and putting in wood laminated flooring whenever possible is an added turnaround to attract potential tenants. Thus, adding all these amenities to the unit is an excellent way to make your rental property stand out.
In short, by following these easy guidelines for the rental market in San Francisco, any property-owner can land an excellent tenant for the highest paying rent.
From what I understand San Francisco is definitely a hot market right now, hope business for you is flourishing! if you’d like to see the state of the market in the Key west check out my blog at https://blog.keywestpropertymanager.com/2014-key-west-rental-market-forecast/