Good luck with the move, I’m in Sacramento and cannot offer one bit of advice. Oh wait! Yes I can! Don’t move to Hunter’s Point or the Tenderloin?

Have you considered looking in SoMa? It can be kind of dicey I guess, but it’s proximate to both the FD and the ballpark and there’s been a lot of new construction in the last 10 years that might be less than full due to the real estate bubble bursting.
I live in Bernal Heights and like it quite a bit – it’s close to the freeway, neighborhoody and not on the way to anywhere.

Staying near the BART lines west of the Castro is either not a great idea, or not in the City.

SOMA’s residential areas are mostly newer (in that they’ve been built/rebuilt since about 1985 or so), so you’ll get a better chance of having a place that’ll have a spot for a car, but expect to pay a premium for that.

My friends that lived in the City used to debate what brings a higher premium to have to try to live with in the city: A car or a dog? At this point, I’m not entirely which one is less welcome to people who rent in the City.

Sunset for parking and not getting shanked and you can bus it to FiDi. Not so much lively.

unless you can say more about “lively neighborhood”.

Also, it seems like you are definitely bringing a car, in which case you need to think about finding parking where you live, when you get home. Unless that $1000 is used to rent half a house somewhere in the Sunset or Richmond. Anywhere in whitebreadland like the Marina is going to be near-impossible for that, and even some like Noe Valley are a drag for finding parking in the evening.

Actually if you can drive to work, Bernal might be an OK choice for you.

Driving in the city sucks, so even if you have a car and parking in both places it might not be the best way to go. Here are my thoughts on some of the neighborhoods.

SOMA/South Beach/Mission Bay – Plusses: Ballpark, can walk to financial district or take the light rail which is typically not very crowded (except coming home during game time), better weather than most places; Minuses: Not much of a neighborhood feel down there.

Northbeach/Telegraph Hill – Plusses: tons of bars and restaurants, can walk to the financial district; Minuses – no street parking at all, broadway on weekend nights is sketchy

Russian Hill – plusses: nice neighborhood, great views, bars and restaurants on polk, about at 20-25 min walk to downtown; Minuses: I suppose parking and price but it’s not that much worse than anywhere else in the city.

Marina – plusses: nice neighborhood, close to chrissy field and gg bridge, lots of bars and restaurants; Minuses: far from downtown

Nob Hill – Nob Hill varies a lot depending on where you are. It can be sketchy closer to the tenderloin or it can be some of the nicest buildings in the city. Near polk and CA there are lots of bars and restaurants. About a 20 min walk to downtown. No street parking at all.

Pac Heights – Fillmore Street has a lot of restaurants and shops, and a few bars. Two nice parks. About a 30 min bus ride to downtown or a 50 min walk.

Richmond – Far from downtown. Bad weather.

Outer Sunset – Far from downtown. Bad weather.

Mission – Possibly the most interesting neighborhood with tons of places to eat and drink. Easy access to downtown with 2 bart stops. Downside is it can be pretty scketchy there. I lived there for a year and never had a run in with anyone but it’s generally not considered the safest place.

If you can park your car at work overnight, I would definitely garage it there and pick it up when you want to get out of town. You may also want to consider monthly rates at 24/hr garages or lots, as they can sometimes be competitive with the difference you will pay to have parking at your flat. Commuting downtown on Muni from just about anywhere is fairly straight forward, and will greatly enhance your enjoyment of living in this city (there’s a lot to see and do everyday that you would miss out on if burdened with a car commute).

Finding a good housing deal where parking is included or available on the street is a lot tougher than most people think. When you see an ad that says “plenty of street parking”, I would advise that you check it out after 7pm on a weekday. It’s rarely true, even if the neighborhood doesn’t require parking permits. They usually say that to help justify the rent price. If you park on the street overnight, an alarm and locking lug nuts are recommended, no matter how quiet the neighborhood (ricer punks will jack your tires/rims).

Use Craigslist.org and filter for the situation and neighborhood you’re interested in. Also, don’t bother with ads without pics.

Reasonable neighborhoods to check out:
 - Inner Richmond
 - Outer Richmond
 - Inner Sunset
 - NOPA
 - Lower Haight
 - Noe Valley/Eureka Valley
 - Russian Hill
 - Lower Pacific Heights (thin, but good stretch… once you see bars on windows, stop looking)

Avoid:
 - Tenderloin/Civic Center (sometimes referred to as “Lower Nob Hill”)
 - Western Addition (big area with a few neighborhoods, but if they use this name to describe it, it sucks)
 - Mission (high nighttime street crime and gang turf, has good blocks, but hard to define… good for visiting though)
 - Bayview/Hunters Point/Potrero/Filmore (lots of projects and section 8)

Over-priced/Over-rated:
 - Marina
 - Hayes Valley
 - Upper Haight
 - Nob Hill (up the hill=overpriced, down the hill=Tenderloin)

Great if you can find it (but good luck):
 - North Beach/Telegraph Hill
 - Union Square (sometimes you can find a decent 1rm/studio for not too much)
 
If you can be flexible with the car, your options will open up wide! Good luck, and welcome!
 

Thank you all for the advice! Every bit helps and the task is a little less daunting now.

you know, Excelsior/Crocker-Amazon/Ingleside/Sunnyside/Parkmerced, etc?

I’m biased, because I grew up down there, but there ARE strong points to these areas.

The downsides:

- Pretty unsexy. Half the people in town won’t know where you live. Of course half the people in town are transplants from Ohio who don’t know the City from their ass. Not that I’m bitter.

- Can be kind of a haul to get downtown (though if you live near Balboa Park it’s a breeze to get downtown).

- Can be sketchy in some places. Balboa Park is fine, I’ve been going in and out of that station for 25 years and it’s ugly, but it’s perfectly safe. Nobody is giving you crap there.

- Not that much to do. There’s a really great bar I go to, and some real good pizza/burrito places, but it’s not a social area. It’s a bedroom community.

The upsides:

- Can be real cheap. When I lived in SF I lived at home so I’m not the most knowledgeable person on rents, but I’ve heard people paying $600 for a pretty nice room in a 2-3 bedroom apartment, and a nice apartment at that, in my area. FWIW, it seems like everything else is cheaper down there too, from burrito prices to beer at the bars.

- You won’t be struggling for parking. At all.

- Personally, I’ve enjoyed living at arm’s length from the more hectic side of SF while still living in the city. I used to work in the Marina (which is East Coast douchebag heaven) and commute through the entire city to get home, and I loved doing the grand tour every day before ending up in my sleepy hamlet of Crocker-Amazon, where things go a little slower. I live in London now, and basically live in the London equivalent of Crocker-Amazon, and love living there for the same reasons. SF’s transportation system is not the NYC subway, but I’ve never had a problem getting anywhere as long as I budgeted enough time for it and I never had a car.

- Jerky but true: the farther from downtown you go, the more people are actually from SF. Nobody walks around in Yankee hats their mom sent them from Westchester out here.

It’s not for everyone, but it’s a cool neighborhood that has its benefits.

I’ll throw one thing in. If you live in the city and drive, be advised that gas prices in SF is among the highest in the country.

You never really know what is going to be available and where. Look on craigslist, see what is available and interesting and go from there. Every single area in the city has spots that would work and spots that wouldn’t. There are areas in the Mission where parking isn’t a big deal. There are areas where parking will make you want to kill hipsters. Well, the Mission in general will make you want to kill hipsters.

You could find an in-law or studio for $1000 in some parts of the city. If you have no pets you will find 4-5 times more places. This city is incredibly pet unfriendly. It’s an easy way to filter out the thousand or so interested parties in any available space.

for $1100 you can get very nice apartments in the East Bay, very close to BART. You won’t have the city nightlife outside your door, but it’s not like it is far away. Also, if you are in a poor parking area, it may take as long to find a spot as it would have to drive home to your assigned parking spot.

Good luck!