Consistent rent growth can signal strong demand.Job Market & Population Growth: Rental demand often follows job and population growth.

It's awesome you are considering where you want to be and flexible with that.I'd look at your high growth markets, where there is a diversified economy, job growth, income growth, population growth, business friendly environment. 

I also know that people are hesitant to buy property because of the aging population of Japan.

Also does anyone use the premium subscription to populate leases? 

Criteria can include location, population growth, job diversity, amenities, desirability of bedrooms and bathrooms, size, and comparable rents in the neighborhood.

Similar to you, I wanted to find somewhere less expensive, still close to the Bay Area (drivable), but without the high property taxes, more favorable tenant/landlord laws, no state income tax, and consistent job/population growth. 

I faced a similar problem and ended up creating custom designed Excel spreadsheets that auto-populate with each other.

Having a property manager is the solution for dealing with matters that occur with problematic elements of our population, and in alleviating yourself from these kind of stressful encounters.  

I just took a course and was learning about market research, like looking at population per capita in an area and average income, among other things, and comparing those factors in one community where there may be a property you are interested it to another community.

Lots of companies building out here like Amazon, Honda, Google, Meta, etc. which drives population growth and job growth.