Guides
Every page quotes its source with the date we read it; first-hand experience is marked first-hand; where a page says nothing, we say so.
- What SF landlords actually write down — Every San Francisco listing description in our own set, counted: how many mention an SSN (zero), income, credit, a guarantor or a fee, which multiples and fees are stated, and where the real rules live. Re-measured monthly.
- Renting with no US credit history — What San Francisco landlords actually require when you have no US credit history — seven property managers' published rules, quoted, with the day we read each one.
- Opening a US bank account without an SSN — Which US banks say in writing that you can open an account without an SSN, which quietly require one, and what you can do before you land.
- Your first US credit card without an SSN — Cards that state they approve applicants without an SSN, what a secured card really costs, and why a deposit does not equal your credit limit.
- A US phone plan without an SSN — Prepaid works on day one. What each US carrier's own page says about credit checks and SSNs — including the one that says less than people think.
- Rental scam red flags in San Francisco — The rental-scam warning signs the FTC and California's Attorney General actually publish, plus the two aimed at people who have not landed yet.
- Your first month in San Francisco — Phone, bank, apartment, utilities — the order they have to happen in, and the deposit, screening-fee and insurance rules that already exist.
- What an AI moving agent actually does — The 30 days before and after a move as a dated task list: which tasks an AI agent drafts, calls and prepares, which only you can do, and the four legal deadlines it counts from — with the statute.
- SF apartment tools, compared — Listing sites, AI search assistants, and the half most tools skip — acting on your behalf. What each SF apartment tool actually does, with sources, and where Put Roots fits.
- The no-SSN index — A hand-checked index of what banks, carriers and landlords require when you have no SSN — every line carries its source and the day we checked it.
These pages answer the how; the product runs the same answers against each listing and branch for you: open the map.