Moving to East Bay. Will rent. Looking for property management company recommendations
We are making a long distance move to the Oakland area. Looking for 4/5 bedroom houses along BART, Amtrak or express/commuter bus lines. We have a specific budget because of our military housing allowance. Is there a property management company that anyone can recommend that would be knowledgable about and accustomed to working with families like ours? Do renters get "help" finding a rental from these companies? Also open to town recommendations! Some that appeal to me (from afar) are Martinez, Mare Island, Antioch near the future eBart, perhaps Brentwood if close enough to the park and ride, Fremont, Hayward, Castro Valley, etc. We homeschool, so schools aren't a huge consideration, but I'm learning more about the interesting charter school homeschool opportunities, so that's fun. Thanks for any insight and advice!
Parent Replies
In general, the best way to find a rental in the SF Bay Area is to use Craigslist. I doubt that you will find someone else to do the search for you.
I have several rental properties and the way the rental market is right now there's no point in using a property management company,. use Craig's List. Not sure what you budget is for a 4/5 bedroom house but in Berkeley, Concord, Hayward, Martinez, for a 1 bedroom apartment prices start in the are in the $1,500 to $2,500 range and people are waiting in line.
Not sure if you have to commute but to during commute hours some of the cities you are asking about can be a 2 hour or more commute to and from Oakland each way.
If you are looing for affordable housing try Rio Vista, Tracey/Manteca or Morgan Hill. If you are military you might want to contact Travis AFB for assistance.
Hope this helps. Good luck in your search.
So, I actually did come across a "finder". They charge a percentage of a month's rent. Our budget is thankfully better for 2017 than it would have been last year. The housing allowance in that county went up. Max for us will be about 4000... Would like to find something around 3000 but that would be OUT and not close to Oakland. Looks like Antioch has a lot of homes in that range and close proximity to the future ebart. We will only be in the area between 10 and 11 months, so the next problem will be lease length and finding an owner open to a slightly shorter lease. We won't actually be attached to Travis, so I'm not sure what help they could offer us. But we will probably look into it at some point. :)
The commute will be into downtown Oakland, so priority is living close to a BART or one of those park and rides with an express bus to a bart. OR a place like Martinez with an Amtrak to bart.
Thanks for y'all's advice :)
I will third the recommendation for using Craigslist. That's what everyone here uses & it will provide the widest variety of options. Given that you want a short term rental, Airbnb could also be an option -- especially if you want furnished. Given how costly and crazy the rental market can be here, you will probably be better served spending your limited housing budget on housing & not on fees. Your budget of $4000 isn't much for what you want -- a 4-5 bedroom house with transit accessibility.
When you're deciding where to live, make sure you take into account the cost of utilities & the cost / time for your commute. These are not negligible. You may get a far better deal on housing inland & then get crushed with commuting & utility costs that you wouldn't have if you choose a more expensive location closer to work.
For example, a commute from Antioch could easily take 1.5 - 2 hours each way even if you drive to BART and ride. From Martinez, the commute using Amtrak to BART is better -- maybe an hour each way -- but it will cost $300+ per month in fares. Do you want to spend your 10-11 months here with a long and expensive commute?
Electricity is also expensive here -- double the base rate of a lot of the country & tiered meaning the more you use the higher your rate. The more inland locations are much hotter in the summer & will require more air conditioning to remain comfortable (especially if your family is home all day). Our friends who lived in a 4 bedroom house in Pittsburg near the BART regularly had $800 electric bills in the summer -- and they kept their house at 78-82 F. In the bay bordering cities (Richmond, El Cerrito, Albany, Berkeley, Oakland, Emeryville, San Leandro, Alameda, etc), you will not have or need air conditioning so the electric bill will be much lower. Maybe $100 - $200 per month depending on if your dryer & range are electric or gas.
Good luck with your decision & your move!