Free edition The Rent Hacker SF East Bay, CA · July 29, 2026 5,590 listings scanned · 253 passed screen · 82 beat the S&P 500 We scan ~5500 listings weekly so you don’t have to. |
This week, our screen ran across 6 ZIPs in East Bay. The funnel: | Active listings, East Bay metro | 5,590 | | Passed market-research screen | 253 | | Cleared S&P 500 on paper | 82 | | This week's top 5 | 5 |
Assumptions: 3% down, 2-year owner-occupy, then full rental. 10-year hold vs S&P 500 total return. |
What changed this week Exits Last week pick 5315 Cole St went pending on 7/14 (accepted offer at $617K) after two weeks on the board. Debuts The East Bay feed took in 58 new listings this week. a 1890 fourplex in Fruitvale BART corridor re-enters at #1, back on market $40K below its July ask. |
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★ Pick #5 · Unlocked for free readers 219 Barrett Ave, Richmond, CA 94801 Iron Triangle / Downtown Richmond · 94801 $879,900 · 8 bd / 4 ba · 3,288 sqft · built 1968 |
Wealth advantage · 10 years +$473,328 vs S&P 500 · S&P would need 14.9%/yr for 10 years to match |
Strategy Live in one unit, rent the other three | Financing Owner-occupied at 3% down | Live-in rent $5,250/mo | Full rental $7,000/mo | Renter pool Federal / medical / refinery workforce | Catalyst Richmond BART/Amtrak intermodal station (0.77 mi) |
The case, and the catch A 1968 fourplex in the Iron Triangle / Downtown Richmond, 0.77 mi from the BART/Amtrak transfer, renting three units for $5,250/mo while you live in the fourth. Newer stock than most of the board means a lighter capex reserve, and the $130M Metrowalk II village anchors a 5.5% appreciation base. Beating it would take the S&P 14.9% annually for a decade; all four rented is $7,000/mo. Our number one, the $629,500 Fruitvale fourplex, posts the strongest breakeven on the board, but it earns that spot partly by being a foreclosure that just came back at a $40K cut, and foreclosures hide their condition. We model a rehab reserve and the deal still clears at cautious rents: three units cover $7,100 a month while you live in the fourth. The honest risk is deferred maintenance you cannot see until you are inside. If a full gut runs past our reserve, that 18.5% breakeven erodes toward the middle of the pack. Verify the roof, the foundation, and unit legality before you fall for the basis. The model's at therenthacker.com/methodology if you want to challenge any of the inputs. Why pick #5 is the free unlock The free issue hands you the five addresses and the cautious-rent math. What it cannot give you is the per-unit rent build and the three-scenario sensitivity behind each pick, the numbers that tell you which of these still wins if rents come in 10% soft. That is the paid issue. |
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Deals #1 – #4 this week · paid only The top 4 ranked deals are behind the paywall You unlocked #5 above. Each of the 4 below clears a wider S&P delta than your free pick. Addresses and breakeven math locked. |
Every one of this week's picks sits within a half-mile of a BART station or a major hospital campus. |
Get this week's full report 5 deals cleared this week. Here's the shape of the pool you're getting: | | Median price | $592,000 | | Median S&P breakeven | 11.8% | | Median margin vs S&P | $157,339 | | By units | 14 × 1 unit (17%) · 45 × 2 units (55%) · 5 × 3 units (6%) · 18 × 4+ units (22%) |
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5 ranked deals: every correction we made, and every number we couldn't verify. Get the full report on all 5 deals that cleared the cautious-case S&P benchmark this week: address, price, and stats verified against the live listing, the cautious rent math behind every number, downside-to-best-case sensitivity on the top three, and one-click calculator imports to re-run every assumption yourself. Refund the first two issues if they don’t pay back the $29. Reply with the word ‘refund’ and a human reads it the same day. Subscribe · $29/mo, first two refundable →$29/mo · cancel anytime |
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This week's 4 ZIPs | 94801 | Richmond · BART/Amtrak terminus, $130M Metrowalk II | | 94601 | Oakland · Fruitvale BART, SB 79 upzoning, 26 index-beaters | | 94609 | Oakland · MacArthur BART, $1.6B UCSF Benioff rebuild | | 94607 | Oakland · West Oakland BART, 762-unit Mandela Station TOD |
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New: the East Bay ZIP knowledge bases are live |
We published the research behind every pick: neighborhood-by-neighborhood appreciation bands, rent comps, and the transit and job catalysts driving each ZIP. Browse the East Bay knowledge bases to see the data we screen against before a single listing earns a spot on the board. Browse the East Bay ZIP research |
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Every figure uses cautious rent estimates backed by documented comps and computed distances to named growth catalysts. Property taxes are modeled at each ZIP's median effective rate unless a parcel-verified figure is stated; confirm the actual tax basis with the county before you underwrite. No invented numbers. No hype. This is not investment advice. Know someone hunting for East Bay deals? Forward this — they can pick their region at therenthacker.com. The Rent Hacker · SF East Bay, CA · July 29, 2026 Manage regions · Unsubscribe |
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