A Toehold in San Francisco, 30 Years Later

Valerie Sobel-Twain remembers the exact moment she found her home. In 1994, she’d just returned to the Bay Area after college, stepping into a city that felt both familiar and altered. Her father had recently died, and she was living with her mother, a temporary arrangement she knew couldn’t last. She needed her own space, but back then — largely pre-internet — finding a place meant pounding the pavement, scanning bulletin boards and flipping through binders at rental agencies.

The view from the deck spans the east side of the city and San Francisco Bay.

She spent hours sifting through listings in San Francisco before one caught her eye: a rent-controlled three-bedroom apartment in Noe Valley, for $1,250 a month, with annual increases capped at just 1 percent of the cost of living. Her share for a roomwhen she moved was $375 a month.

“It seemed reasonable, so I reached out,” she said. “And as it turned out, my roommates and I already knew each other from Vassar.”

That connection sealed the deal. She moved in, never imagining how deeply intertwined her life would become with that house. Over time, the roommates she’d first moved in with drifted on to new chapters, but to Ms. Sobel-Twain’s surprise, when they left, the landlord put her name on the lease.

“I got locked in — forever,” she said with a laugh.

Now, 30 years, 13 roommates, two husbands (one of whom died at home), and one child later, Ms. Sobel-Twain is still there.