Brian's place was absolutely perfect for me. I was working in the city for a 3 month internship January through March and wanted a taste of SF without being somewhere unsafe or noisy. I am going to miss this apartment very much.
- The room itself: Quite small but I didn't feel like I needed more room. Having your own private bathroom is really really nice. The bathroom was cleaned once a month so things were kept nice. The bathroom is really nice by the way! It seems recently refurbished. Shower had decent water pressure and was very tall. Bed was very soft. Desk and chair were perfectly fine for days when I worked from home. The room gets a ton of light throughout the day even though the window faces west. There was also a blackout curtain that kept things pretty dark if you wanted. My only complaint is the landlord of the apartment ran the heat all night every night so my lips got very chapped. The vent that lets the heat in does not have a cover so you cannot control how warm the room gets. On the other hand, if you're there during the day and you feel cold, there is a space heater provided that does a great job. The room's walls are pretty thin so if you have a noisy neighbor you'll be able to hear them no problem. Luckily my neighbors in the apartment were very quiet so I had no issues. Outside noise wasn't an issue either--I was facing a school playground and it wasn't loud at all. Very easy to not notice honestly.
- The kitchen: The kitchen was perfectly acceptable (microwave, gas stove, oven, dish washer etc) but I would suggest bringing your own pots and pans. The selection they had was limited and the poor pans were in really sorry shape. I also brought my own utensils because I didn't want the other guests using mine.
- The location: I completely fell in love with the inner sunset. It feels like the city but still has a bit of a suburban feel (people walking their dogs on the weekends, spending time with their family outside, etc). There must have been half a dozen coffee shops that I tried and eventually picked my favorite (snowbird's for coffee, Arizmendi for their daily scone). I loved that I could walk one block up and go on a run in golden gate park, which is absolutely gorgeous and amazing to spend time in especially when you don't have to worry about parking. Also inner sunset has some of the best asian food in the city, and being that close to San Tung was tough to resist every weekend! But *by far* the best part of this apartment is being literally across the street from Andronico's. It's a very nice grocery store and I can't tell you how many times I would get home late from work, hop across the street to grab a sandwich or soup or something, and then go right back home. I never had to grocery shop because if I needed something, I would just go get it. It is so amazing being that close to a grocery store especially if you're not planning on bringing a car (don't bring a car, it's super not worth it--there is some parking around but it's not great) and don't want to haul a bunch of groceries by yourself every week.
- Transportation: this apartment was just one block away from the muni N line and in the three months I was there I only had serious problems with transit twice. People like to say that NY transit is way better than SF but honestly I had no issues. It's about 30 minutes to montgomery BART from the stop during rush hour and the metro was never full when I got on. But if you live even 10 minutes closer to downtown, like around Noe, the train would often be really really full for those people. So I thought it was completely worth it to be a bit farther away but always be able to get on (and sometimes I would even get a seat!). If you want to get to any other part of the city, the bus system wasn't too shabby either. I would say this is a great location if you want to explore the city but return home somewhere quiet and peaceful.
- The host: Brian was really nice and any time I had a question he would promptly answer. But I didn't have very many problems so we didn't have much reason to talk. When I first booked the room he sent me a message warning me to bring a warm jacket because it was going to be cold in the winter, which I thought was very thoughtful! It was a bit chilly but not too bad.
Overall this apartment was 9.9/10. I only had very minor complaints as you can tell from above and I would live here for much longer in a heartbeat. I would also say the price for me was a complete steal for san francisco. If this place is available and you don't take it you're a fool.