# House Hacking in San Mateo (94401): Landlord-favorable and rental-dense at the B St station · The Rent Hacker > San Mateo 94401 for house hackers: An affordable, landlord-favorable, rental-dense submarket walkable to an in-ZIP electrified downtown Caltrain station, with Canonical: https://therenthacker.com/house-hacking/san-mateo-downtown-94401/ Source: The Rent Hacker (https://therenthacker.com/). License: RSL, attribution required — https://therenthacker.com/license.xml --- [Peninsula guide](/house-hacking/peninsula/) · Tier S · Rank #7 of 28 # House hacking in San Mateo (Downtown / North Central / Shoreview). An affordable, landlord-favorable, rental-dense submarket walkable to an in-ZIP electrified downtown Caltrain station, with an active downtown density-bonus pipeline. **Status check:** Verified 2026-07-16: Measure T (approved Nov 2024) has produced a materially larger pipeline than the synthesis captured, roughly 15 applications totaling ~6,000 potential units citywide, making San Mateo the most active city in the county. Named projects include 668 E Third Ave (128 units), 616 S B St, 715 N San Mateo Dr, and 1700 El Camino Real. Tier moved A to S on that basis, a unanimous jury. No per-ZIP research file exists yet for 94401, so this check ran against the summary row only. ## What's actually happening in 94401 - Operational Downtown B Street electrified Caltrain station in-ZIP, operational Sept 2024. [Caltrain](https://www.caltrain.com/news/cost-caltrain-electrification-increases-project-track-2024) - Adopted + update in progress Final Downtown Area Plan (adopted 2009) plus an in-progress Downtown Specific Plan update resetting downtown density and height. [City of San Mateo](https://www.cityofsanmateo.org/1894/Final-Downtown-Area-Plan) - Under review through approved Density-bonus pipeline piercing voter caps: 1 East 4th Ave (236 units, 14 stories / 202 ft, under review) and 230 S El Camino / W 3rd (28 condos, approved Feb 2026); the citywide pipeline exceeds 6,200 units. [City of San Mateo](https://www.cityofsanmateo.org/4870/230-S-El-Camino-Real-Mixed-Use-Developme) - Settled policy No local rent control: Measure Q was defeated in 2016 with 60.94% opposed; a landlord-favorable posture. [Ballotpedia](https://ballotpedia.org/San_Mateo,_California,_Rent_Control,_Measure_Q_\(November_2016\)) ## The numbers Median price ~$1.4–1.5M (city median; below 94403) Market rent ~$3,500/mo avg; 1bd ~$3,100, 2bd ~$3,999 (Zumper, Jun 2026) Property tax (San Mateo County) 1.26% combined effective average (range 1.08–1.52% by tax-rate area; purchase resets the assessed basis to sale price) Per-bed rent band $1,150–1,600/mo per bed ADU rent band $2,500–3,100/mo Whole-home rent band $4,000–4,800/mo whole-home Underwriting vacancy 3–4% underwriting vacancy Appreciation scenarios 3.0 / 4.5 / 5.5 %/yr (conservative / base / upside) Small-multifamily-dense flats in North Central and Shoreview. Appreciation basis: The B St station plus the density-bonus pipeline; no rent cap means clean turns. Rent bands are city-level medians; confirm the specific parcel before trusting any of them. [Run your own scenario in the calculator](/calculator/). ## Buildings we underwrote in 94401 5 buildings in 94401 carry a record. 0 beat renting and index funds; the rest did not. Every row links to its own page, with the numbers it was scored on. Property At our defaults Status [201 S Idaho St](/property/rh-g4u6r7/201-s-idaho-st/) 2 units · $1,699,000 −$556,116 S&P 500 Underwritten — the index wins at our defaults [143-145 N Humboldt St](/property/rh-2xcdrs/143-145-n-humboldt-st/) 2 units · $1,780,000 −$1,019,219 S&P 500 Underwritten — the index wins at our defaults [444 Villa Ter](/property/rh-r3vab9/444-villa-ter/) 4 units · $2,495,000 −$1,451,319 S&P 500 Underwritten — the index wins at our defaults [664 N El Camino Real](/property/rh-2h0ekj/664-n-el-camino-real/) 2 units · $1,828,000 −$1,525,359 S&P 500 Underwritten — the index wins at our defaults [4 Warren Rd](/property/rh-al63wf/4-warren-rd/) 2 units · $2,280,000 −$2,122,226 S&P 500 Underwritten — the index wins at our defaults The full [board](/board/) shows every region's current week; this table is every record we hold for 94401, newest basis first. ## The house-hack angle Older small multi (duplex or triplex) walkable to the B St station, or SFR plus ADU on the Shoreview and North Central flats. No rent cap beyond AB 1482 means clean turn and room-by-room economics. ## What breaks it - The Downtown Specific Plan update is still in progress: the density reset is unadopted - The pipeline is entitlement or under review: discount it versus delivered - Don't attribute the Rail Corridor TOD (Hillsdale/Hayward Park) to 94401: it serves 94402/94403 This page is the standing analysis. The weekly part, actual San Mateo-area listings that pass the math, lands on the Peninsula board every Thursday. [This week's Peninsula board](/board/sf-peninsula/) [This week's Peninsula board](/board/sf-peninsula/) · [Read past Peninsula issues](/issues/sf-peninsula/) · [Every pick, on the record](/track-record/) · [How a deal becomes a pick](/methodology/) Data synthesized 2026-07-05, catalysts re-verified 2026-07-16. Mortgage-rate basis: 6.43% (Freddie Mac PMMS, week of 2026-07-02). Sources are the public planning documents and market listings named above, fetched on the synthesis date. Nothing here is investment advice; every deal needs a bindable insurance quote and parcel-level verification.