I was pleasantly surprised at what a neat area it is. 

Considering the location and the high vacancy of the area, I would be surprised a traditional bank would want to touch this let alone a down deposit of only 20%. 

You're going to be really surprised by this...

To our surprise not one person flinched at that.

It's surprising on how much of a difference just a few items can make compared to a completely vacant house.

(And I wouldn't be surprised to see it go 50% higher by the end of the decade)"Oakland had the highest apartment rent growth in the U.S., at 9.1 percent in the year ending Sept. 30, outpacing San Francisco’s 7.4 percent, and tying New York for the tightest occupancy..."

I am not saying paying higher fees is necessarily bad if it give you peace of mind and the company does a good job, just make sure you don't get any surprises - tenants can be surprising enough. 

@Jeff Kushner That's my exact same philosophy; surprise people with the amount of value you can add to the conversation, and the good deed often comes back around by someone like-minded. 

You would be surprised how easy it is to qualify for a FHA loan.

That's not a surprise that spiders and ants are showing up.Some people may say "in my lease it says tenants are responsible for pest control," but it it came down to an infestation, the owner is going to be cited by the city, not the tenant.