imagine the incredibly fortunate residents hots live in 575 pearce and corner apartment 102, alex steupan sing the praises. >> i love the design. the amazing view. >> reporter: now the surprise. alex pays just $1200 a month in rent for a room that doesn't hold a lot of stuff. that's the twist. >> what's that? >> the bed. actually. >> reporter: directly above and not exactly easy access we might add. talk about high rents in san francisco. alex steup lives in a 10x4 1/2 foot closet. >> that was my bedroom for many years. >> reporter: that's her roommate tristan who grew up here. tristan recently enlarged the living area by adding plywood. he's hiv positive. >> i built that out to expand this space because this room could stand to lose a little bit and i needed the money. >> reporter: did he envision yourself at 33 living in a closet. >> i don't like to call it that. >> reporter: what do you call it? >> a second living area. uh-huh. >> reporter: beyond the semantics of it, we have a case of outside appearances sometimes being deceiving. it is old news to sam moss, a devoted advocate for p