They are elementary at best and NOT tailored to the clients’ specific needs or interests which should have been conveyed to us at the beginning.

We currently have no mortgage on the property since we paid in cash, so we would love to work with you and you shouldn't have to worry about that specific requirement.

Since my parameters are quite specific ( NOT, hey I’m looking for a good deal, LOL) the responses rate while low is usually of fairly high quality.  

Any advise or reviews? 

Oakland, but open to advise if I should not be doing this and why. 

If you are going to only take partial payment - which I would advise against 100% - then you take payment of first months rent, not deposit, so that you have something you can keep while you are trying to re-let the property after they bail when they find something better/cheaper. 

Any specific neighborhoods within the region to look into? 

Where most wanna be investors lacking capital make their mistake is that they don’t understand that if you lack capital you need extensive knowledge; and that knowledge is NOT obtained from a guru mentorship focused on some specific (often fantasy) technique.  

If you choose to go this route, talk to an agent and they will be able to better advise you as to what to do.

I would advise you not to use this as a launch pad for your real estate investment business if you aren't well capitalized.