How to Find Cheap Housing In California

It is easy to live in California and pay a ton of money on housing. It is also easy to live in California and not pay a ton of money on housing. The choice is yours.

First, close your eyes and imagine California and its perfect year-round weather. Spoiler alert: people live in California to spend time outside, not inside!

Scenario 1: California Living - no spouse/pets/kids
You have it easy! Grab a roommate or two (or five) and you'll be golden. Bonus points for living close to work and riding your bicycle everywhere. You will be able to find lots of housing options - keep looking until you find something <$750/mo. But I bet you can find something much cheaper. Even with a starting salary of $38k you should be able to save 60% of your income. Utilities are also super low because the weather is always nice.

Scenario 2: Live-in significant other, pet(s), and/or shared custody of kid(s)
Marginally more difficult but still completely doable. I can answer this one in 4 words: be a master tenant. It will be hard to find a place when you're responding to every craigslist posting like "Hey! your place looks great! the only thing is I have a pet ferret and a boyfriend that will be living with me too. is that cool?" ... "<Silence>". That strategy won't work. But you know what will work? "Seeking a roommates for beautiful 3bed/2bath house. Full house privileges. Utilities included. You will share a hall bathroom with another fun roommate. Couple lives in the master with their adorable ferret." Boom. Now you are in control. All you have to do is sign the lease as the master tenant. Landlords are generally very accepting of this because then they only have to collect rent from 1 person, not 3 or more.
Bonus: In some places in California, as the Master Tenant you can rent out the other rooms for market rate - get this - up to the full amount of rent. For example, if rent is $2000/mo for 3bed/2bath you can rent out each room for $1k/mo and pay nothing for housing.

Scenario 3: DAH BUT I NEEEEED TO LIVE IN SAN FRANCISCO
Okay, clam down. There is a hack for that as well. Again roommates will cut your cost in half (at least). But if that isn't good enough, SF has almost the opposite rules as above and you can use it to your advantage. In short, total rent must be divided by tenants by bedroom square footage. The hack here is that there are a lot of people in SF live in rent-controlled apartments and rent out the other rooms for market rate (like above). However, this is not allowed in San Francisco. If you find yourself in a situation where you are paying more than your fair share (or proactively seek it out for this very purpose), you can nicely tell the master tenant that if they don't divide rent equally you will be taking them to court. And you will win. And you will be living for very cheap in San Francisco.

Scenario 4: Family & kids
This one is harder. If you don't currently live in California and are thinking of moving you need to take a good hard look at your income/spending and how that would change in CA. A $20,000 raise looks great until you realize it's only $13,000 after taxes and housing is an additional $18,000. There are also probably additional expenses that will come with the move (e.g. flights to see family if you move away from them). But there will also be expenses that go down when moving to CA. You can now bike year-round in the amazing weather, spend very little on gas, and take advantage of zillion fun things to do outdoors for free. I'd also suggest an audit of current expenses; I bet you could be spending much less than you are right now. Finding savings in places you are currently spending and moving that to CA housing budget could very well put you on top. If you can do it, living with family/friends/roommates will save you some serious cash. You could also find a place with an in-law unit and rent that out. Employers are also well aware of housing costs in CA and sometimes you can negotiate a generous housing stipend. It doesn't hurt to ask and just may be the extra amount you need. 

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