It takes about a million bucks to buy a home in San Francisco, and people are still moving there. So what is it like to live in The City by the Bay? Three Redfin agents who live within its seven-by-seven-mile boundary shed some light on that question. Derrick Lee, Miriam Westberg and Mark Colwell explain why you’ll leave your heart in San Francisco (or maybe why you’ll leave it alone).
1. You can’t wait for Burning Man each year.
“I love Burning Man, and not because I’ve ever been,” said Lee, who grew up in Marin and lives in The Sunset District. “It’s because the city just empties out. You can get into restaurants. There’s less traffic; it’s noticeable, which is weird.” If you do head to the dusty Nevada desert, you’ve spent months planning your trip, preparing your campsite, making costumes or building art cars — and there’s no place you’d rather be.
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2. You never buy bottled water.
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It didn’t faze you when the city passed a ban on the sale of plastic bottles earlier this year (to be phased in over the next few years). “Why would you pay for water in a single-use container when tap water comes straight from Yosemite National Park? SF is probably the only place where you go to any tap and not think about it,” Westberg said. “I carry a water bottle everywhere. Looking at people’s desks, a branded reusable water bottle is a standard employee giveaway no matter the type of business.”
3. You won’t settle for Starbucks.
And you weren’t surprised to see SF on the list of the best cities for coffee snobs. “The city has so many options for it,” Lee said. “Everyone has their coffee niche that they prefer.” Philz Coffee and Blue Bottle are the most recognizable boutique brands. Peet’s Coffee, started in Berkeley and widely distributed in the U.S., “is a big kid on the block but it’s still pretty good,” Lee allowed. “There’s no shame in holding a Peet’s compared to a Starbucks.”
4. You know each neighborhood’s microclimate.
“It’s like a different time zone weather-wise from one neighborhood to another,” Colwell said. “I’ll leave the Mission and go to the Richmond and it’ll be 10 degrees cooler.” San Franciscans plan accordingly. “It’s almost like going to another place entirely,” Westberg agreed. “I’ll leave in a scarf and a hat and by the time I arrive, I’m in sunglasses and a T-shirt.” And that’s why …
5. You never, ever leave the house without a jacket (ever).
Westberg: “Always bring a jacket.”
Lee: “No matter what, bring a jacket.”
Colwell: “Don’t go anywhere without a jacket.”
The only consistent thing about the weather in San Francisco is that it’s going to be chilly at some point.
6. You don’t flinch at an invite to a drag show.
“A drag show is way more entertaining than you might think,” Colwell said. “I was sure I wouldn’t like it but when I went, it was really cool.” That’s because drag queens take their craft very, very seriously. “Even the small shows on tiny stages in the Mission are great,” he said. “There’s a crazy amount of thought put into the performance — it’s like a Broadway show.”
7. You see an extra bedroom as an unfathomable luxury.
“A friend from New York City asked if a one-bedroom condo was a sound investment. Couples don’t want a one bedroom out there,” Colwell said. “And I thought about how much of a luxury a second bedroom is here and that most of the couples I know live in a one bedroom.” The rent checks you hand over each month would shock most people. “If you’re visiting your friend in SF who lives in a one-bedroom off of gritty Sixth Street in SoMa, he could be paying three times your mortgage back home,” he said.
8. You get anxious when you don’t carry cash.
“I always try to have cash on hand because you have to,” Lee said. “If I don’t, I’m taking a risk if I park somewhere before I know where I’m going for lunch. A hole-in-the-wall place in the Mission probably won’t take credit.” Cheap lunch places aren’t alone; it’s not unusual for bars to have a vintage cash register and no credit card machine. “Having a bank that reimburses ATM fees instead of tacking on an additional, out-of-network charge is important to a lot of people here,” Lee said.
9. You’ve seen the city from a sailboat.
Every afternoon, a sea breeze dependably builds out in the Golden Gate, making it an ideal place for sailors, kiteboarders and windsurfers. “I do a bit of sailing — if you’ve never been, I can tell you that there’s something pretty magical about it,” Colwell said. “Seeing the city from a sailboat is hard to describe. And it’s easy to do; you can probably find someone who needs crew on Craigslist.” For those less invested in learning how to sail, booze cruises are popular for company outings or groups of friends. “Get out on the water, but don’t fall in,” Colwell warned. “The bay is friggin’ cold.”
10. You can’t remember the last time you ate fast food.
For starters, it’s hard to find. There are ordinances prohibiting chain businesses in many neighborhoods. And many San Franciscans are foodies. The result? “Your fast food is a burrito,” Westberg said. “Nobody goes to McDonald’s. You go to get a sandwich, which ends up being more of a gourmet option. That goes along with not scoffing at paying $11 for a sandwich. But generally, there aren’t many places to get fast food.”
11. You’ve only been to Fisherman’s Wharf for an In-N-Out Burger.
You do get the occasional fast food craving, but it has a price: You have to go to Fisherman’s Wharf. “People that live here never go to Fisherman’s Wharf,” Westberg said. “It’s insane down there and not representative of San Francisco. It’s like any waterfront boardwalk you’ve been to before. The upside? It has an In-N-Out Burger.”
12. You’ve been to a Giants game whether or not you like baseball.
San Francisco is smitten with the national pastime and, until the Warriors relocate from Oakland, “baseball is the only professional sports activity in the city proper,” Westberg said. AT&T Park’s gorgeous waterfront location, close to the Financial District and accessible by light rail and multiple bus lines, makes it easy to pop over after work. “It’s very social,” Westberg said. “We’re good, too, so that has helped. There’s a lot of interest, even if you’ve gotten sunburned and frozen at the same game before.”
13. You know the tour of Alcatraz is really good, but you’ve never been.
“A good number of people have never been out there that live in the city,” Westberg said. “It’s a tourist activity. I think if you didn’t have to go to the Wharf and get on a tour boat it would change things.” The self-guided walking tour, however, is anything but a Disney-style experience. It’s narrated by actual former prison guards and inmates. The 19-month occupation by Native American activists in the ’70s isn’t glossed over. And prison riots and jailbreaks are described in grisly detail.
14. One ridesharing app isn’t enough for you.
“Not only do San Franciscans have a ridesharing app,” Colwell explained, “they have a folder on their phone with multiple ones for peak demand times and different rates.” Cab companies’ lousy reputation combined with a tech-savvy population made SF an ideal breeding ground for ridesharing startups. In the bad old days, “cabbies would refuse to go to a lot of neighborhoods,” Westberg recalled. “With ridesharing, there’s no strange haggling with someone who doesn’t turn on the meter or insists on cash because their card reader is ‘broken.’”
15. You watch where you step — carefully.
There are 120,000 dogs in the city, but that pile on a Mission Street sidewalk may not have been put there by a pet. “Some homeless people are pretty bold about where they relieve themselves around here,” Colwell said. “I’ve seen it at a crowded bus stop.” The issue is made worse by SF’s low annual rainfall, reduced further by an ongoing four-year drought that is threatening the Public Works Department’s ability to wash city sidewalks.
16. Your kid’s school district wasn’t a factor when you picked your neighborhood.
“Anywhere else, school quality is a top factor for where you live, but there’s a lottery system here,” Westberg said. “I rarely have clients with families ask about schools. They’re more concerned with parks and general neighborhood. Out-of-town clients will ask what school districts are preferred and you have to tell them proximity doesn’t matter. If it’s a huge concern, you move to Marin.”
17. You can’t stand conference season.
“Oh my God, Dreamforce,” Lee said of Salesforce’s annual conference, which drew 165,000 attendees this year, or 16 percent of the city’s population. “Convention season just ended and it was nuts. I literally won’t go downtown during those times. If a tour comes up to see a property downtown, I’ll give myself an hour to get there.”
18. You follow the fog on Twitter.
Yes, the city’s famous fog has a name (it’s Karl) and a Twitter handle (@KarlTheFog). “Now people refer to the fog like he’s a friend or another person in the room,” Lee explained. With roughly 60,000 followers, Karl is pretty popular, too. Is it due to his confidence and wit?
Trying to float away for the @BlueAngels, but I’m really bloated you guys. Quickly eating an entire city was not my best idea. #indigestion
— Karl the Fog (@KarlTheFog) October 10, 2014
19. You’re used to long lines and know how to avoid them.
The Tumblr account “SF Loves Waiting in Lines” has been backing up that statement with photo evidence for years. “People wait in line for just about anything, but it’s usually for a trendy new restaurant,” Colwell said. “The strategy is to try and not wait for two hours, obviously.” Fortunately, many restaurants will text or call you when the table’s ready. “Everything is layered with tech,” Colwell added. “Some places will only take online reservations, but that’s a double-edged sword.” In one controversy, tech-savvy diners created “reservation bots” that snatched up the best time slots the moment they became available.
20. You hike every weekend.
“Everybody likes hiking and you don’t need a lengthy road trip to go on one,” Westberg said. A trip across the bridge puts you right in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area with an abundance of trails. Mt. Tamalpais State Park is just beyond it. “Urban hikes are pretty good, too, since there are so many hills and scenic vistas at the top of them,” Westberg said.
21. You know costumes aren’t just for Halloween.
And costume boxes aren’t just for kids. Adults all over the city will dig into one for just about any occasion, be it Star Wars Night at the Giants game or a Burning Man-style event at a local club. “I have younger friends who will get decked out in a costume for no better reason than it’s Friday night,” Colwell said. “Then you have Bay2Breakers, which is basically one giant costume party.”
22. You know that Mark Twain didn’t actually say that.
“‘The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco,’ isn’t really attributable to Mark Twain,” Lee said. “But it’s still a great quote.” So what does that even mean? In the summer months, California’s Central Valley heats up, pulling the chilly sea air across the San Francisco peninsula, creating wind and fog and chilling ill-prepared tourists.
23. You’re resigned to the snail’s pace of public transit.
With an average speed of 8.1 miles per hour, there is no slower major transit agency in the U.S. than San Francisco’s Muni. But it’s still your best bet, since parking is scarce and expensive, and you’ll have to pony up at least $525 if you’re towed. Muni is $2.25 per trip so “I tell guests to use public transport as much as possible,” Lee said. Westberg added, “If weird smells and live animals are not shocking to you on public transport, you’ll be fine.”
For all the San Franciscans out there, which “signs” did you like the best, and what did we miss? Tell us on Facebook, Twitter, G+ or in the comments below. And if you’re thinking of buying or selling a home in San Francisco, be sure to get in touch with our local Redfin real estate agents, or check out what’s on the market on Redfin.com.
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