I managed a building in Santa Clara and I was approached by a company that hires traveling nurses, and they asked if they could rent a unit in my building as corporate housing, where they could put their traveling nurses.  

I managed a building next to a university in Santa Clara, CA.  

I used it to manage 25 units in Santa Clara for 8 years.  

It's what I used to manage a large building in Santa Clara for many years:http://www.nolo.com/products/the-california-landlo...It's even on sale for Father's Day.If you already know you want to rent it to your co-worker, you just need a contract.  

Wei Wei, I did rent to quite a few tenants who were relocating to Silicon Valley (Santa Clara) for jobs or for college, sight-unseen.  

The building I managed in Santa Clara didn't have separate meters, so utilities were included and some tenants were still conservative even though they didn't have to pay for them, but others weren't.   

@Michael Delpier I used to manage an apt bldg in Santa Clara. 

I just think you'd have better luck in the long term with a property that you live close to, and can manage yourself.My management experience was in a building next to a university in Santa Clara. 

I just tried to look that up and Santa Clara County Tax Assessor's site does not have a 'search by name' feature so I was unable to get the answer.

It's a great book on landlord-tenant law in California, contains all the contracts and forms you need, written by lawyers, and it's not a difficult read:https://store.nolo.com/products/the-california-landlords-law-book-lbrt.htmlIt was my bible for almost 10 years managing 26 units in Santa Clara.