Vallejo California Rental Market Question

[Ria Blackburn]

I purchased my first home about a year and a half ago in Vallejo, CA where I now live. I am thinking of buying a second home as an income property nearby. My goal would be to buy and hold and I am looking for some cash flow. This doesn't seem to be the best area for cash flow, but I would like my first income property close by. I would love to hear if any of you have rental properties in this area. What are the vacancy rates and how has it been finding tenants? Looking on craigslist, many apartments and homes seem to be sitting vacant. Any thoughts or advise? 

Thanks!

[Account Closed]

There are so many people who work in the SF Bay Area who are willing to commute now, I think you should try targeting them.  

I have friends with a rental in Fairfield and one thing they did to get their place rented quickly, was advertise that they'd take large breed dogs on approval, that were not breeds on any restricted lists.  This worked great for them.  It's so hard to find rentals that will take dogs at all, but especially large breed dogs.

Then, be sure and meet the dog and get a good dog reference from their last landlord.

If your rent makes it worth it to commute to the Bay Area, people will rent from you.  I'd target the SF Bay Area Craigslist ads, and include info on commute time to SF, and how close the rental is to the Amtrak station, etc., for commuters.

My friends live in Fairfield and work in Martinez.  Vallejo is much closer to the Bay Area than that.  Heck, people are commuting from as far away as Tracy and Los Banos.  Of course, they're usually buying homes, but still, rents are so high now that people will commute if you market it to them.  You could even find out how far it is to the closest point the free Google or Yahoo, etc., buses will pick up workers and include that in your ads.

BTW, I used to manage a 26 unit building in Santa Clara - retired November 2013, so I'm pretty familiar with that market.