Mission San Rafael Arcángel under palm trees in downtown San Rafael.

Property management
in San Rafael.

From Terra Linda and Marinwood to Gerstle Park, the Dominican, and Peacock Gap. We place the tenant, pay every property bill, and handle every repair. You keep the peace of mind.

Serving San Rafael & Marin County

Everything is handled.

We place the tenant

Marketing across Zillow and the major Bay Area platforms, full screening, the lease, and the move-in walkthrough. Every showing is hosted by us. No placement fee.

We pay every property bill

Mortgage, insurance, property taxes, HOA, and utilities, all paid from rental income. Nothing forwards to your inbox.

We handle maintenance in-house

Repairs run through Bay Vista Construction, our CA-licensed general contractor. Optional for every owner, and the work is under warranty.

We run the day-to-day

Rent collection, tenant communications, inspections, lease renewals at no fee, and move-in/out documentation. All logged in your owner portal.

We keep the books

Monthly statements, ACH deposits, and year-end 1099 preparation, all in your owner portal.

You pay one annual rate

Custom-quoted per property. No leasing fee. No percentage of rent.

What drives rent in San Rafael.

Every marker is a reason tenants choose San Rafael: transit, employers, schools, and the places that anchor demand. Select a marker to see how it supports your property's rent.

Map of San Rafael highlighting local rent-value drivers.

San Rafael property management, in depth.

  • Full-service residential management across Marin County
  • Every property bill paid from rental income: mortgage, insurance, taxes, HOA, utilities
  • Optional in-house maintenance through Bay Vista Construction, a CA-licensed general contractor, with the work under warranty
  • 24/7 tenant communication and emergency response
  • Same-day response, from a person
  • Every showing hosted by us: no lockboxes, no self-guided tours
  • Thorough screening and placement with no placement fee
  • One flat annual rate, custom-quoted per property
  • Monthly statements and ACH deposits in your owner portal
  • Move-in and move-out inspections, fully documented
  • Local knowledge of San Rafael neighborhoods and rents
  • 12-month agreements: no long contracts, no exit fees

San Rafael is the center of our Marin coverage. We take on single-family homes, townhouses, and condos citywide, and every property runs full service: tenant placement, every bill paid from rental income, every repair handled, one flat annual rate.

It's a strong place to own a rental. Marin's county seat holds the county's job base, Kaiser and BioMarin among the anchors, and rents run premium from downtown to the hills. Tenants who land in a well-run San Rafael home tend to stay. Running the home well is our job.

Street-level knowledge matters: what a home should rent for on one side of town versus the other, which repairs matter to which tenants, and how each neighborhood prices. These are the San Rafael areas we work in every week.

Neighborhoods we serve
Terra Linda Marinwood Lucas Valley Dominican Gerstle Park Sun Valley Peacock Gap Glenwood Bret Harte Downtown

The industry standard is 8 to 10 percent of the rent, plus a leasing fee every time a tenant is placed and a renewal fee every time one stays. We quote one flat annual fee, custom-quoted for your property. No leasing fee. No percentage of rent. That's the whole bill.

Every agreement runs 12 months: no multi-year lock-in and no exit fees. If we're not delivering, you leave at the end of the term with no penalty. We've built this business on long-term owner relationships and referrals, and that only works when we earn your trust every year.

We also take on fewer properties than we could. Every one gets managed properly. That's the trade, and it's deliberate.

Repairs run through Bay Vista Construction, our sister company and a California-licensed general contractor. Optional for every owner, and the work is under warranty. In-house crews mean small problems get fixed before they become expensive ones.

Move-in and move-out inspections, mid-tenancy checks, and a spend threshold we agree with you upfront keep the property maintained and the surprises off your statement. At each renewal we reassess the rent against the local market so the property earns what it should.

Marin rents are premium, tenants stay for years, and the appreciation record speaks for itself. The owners we meet aren't struggling with the investment. The work is what wears them down.

Many of them no longer live here. They've relocated for work, moved closer to family, or kept the house after buying the next one. Owning from a distance makes every task on the list harder.

We built Bay Vista PM for exactly that owner. We collect the rent, pay every property bill, handle the tenants, and put our own construction crews on the maintenance. The deposit shows up each month, wherever you live.

Find out what your San Rafael property should rent for.

Get my free rent estimate

What our owners actually say.

Bay Vista owners, in their own words, from our public Google reviews.

★★★★★
We had a great experience working with Sean to prepare and lease our rental property. He gave us a realistic rental estimate, and we ended up leasing the home above our asking price.
Nathaniel Google review
★★★★★
Sean and the staff have been amazing with me as a new client. They walked me through their procedures and have been genuinely helpful as I navigate being a landlord.
Rose Google review
★★★★★
We are so glad to have chosen Sean and Bay Vista Property Management to handle our rental property in Petaluma. They were professional, effective, quick at communicating and answering any questions-concerns we had and able to have our house rented in 10 days.
Alice Google review
★★★★★
Sean at Bay Vista Property Management was referred to me by my trusted real estate agent to manage my rental property. He is very experienced and efficient, he took the time to answer my questions about their services.
Gordon Google review
★★★★★
Had a wonderful experience dealing with Sean O'Farrell at Bay Vista. Extremely professional and efficient. He helped me to get a great tenant. Also helped me when they moved out.
Shamim Google review
★★★★★
As a Realtor, I'm always looking for trusted professionals to refer my clients to, especially when they decide that selling isn't the right move and would rather rent out their property.
Anna Google review
★★★★★
Great smooth transition from purchase to renting! Love their professional seamless efforts!
Steve Google review
★★★★★
Sean is very professional and had beautiful photos of my unit and we got renters the first weekend it was on the market. He made the process seamless and responds quickly when I reach out to him.
Janice Google review
★★★★★
I lived at Walnut Park Condominiums for seven years and worked with Sean O'Farrell throughout my time there. Sean was always professional, kind, responsive, and easy to get in touch with whenever I had a question or concern.
Joel Google review
★★★★★
Very professional, trustworthy.
Hossein Google review

San Rafael owners usually ask.

Yes. Everything from Terra Linda, Marinwood, and Lucas Valley to the Dominican, Gerstle Park, and Peacock Gap is in our service area, along with the rest of Marin: Novato, Mill Valley, Larkspur, and San Anselmo.
Yes, and it's a situation we know well. We can take a property from empty to rented: our construction arm handles any work it needs, we set the rent to the market, place the tenant, and run everything from there. You get one custom plan upfront and a monthly statement after.
That describes many of our owners. Everything is built to run remotely: your rent estimate and custom owner plan arrive by email, agreements are signed electronically, statements and inspection reports live in your online owner portal, and your deposit arrives by ACH. We agree on every decision upfront, so there is nothing that requires you to be local.
Bay Vista Construction, our sister company and a California-licensed general contractor. Repairs are handled in-house with the work under warranty, which matters on San Rafael's hillside lots where drainage, decks, and retaining walls need real attention. Before we start, we agree on a spend threshold below which repairs proceed without a call to you.
It depends on the neighborhood, the property, and its condition, so we don't quote generic numbers. Request a free rent estimate and we'll send our number for your specific home within one business day, along with a custom owner plan and your flat annual management quote.
One flat annual rate, quoted for your property. No leasing fee. No percentage of rent. The industry standard is 8 to 10 percent of the rent, plus a leasing fee. We quote one flat annual fee. That's the whole bill. Because the number depends on the property, it arrives in your custom owner plan, delivered within one business day of you requesting your free rent estimate.
For covered properties, state law caps annual rent increases at 5% plus local inflation, never more than 10%, and requires just cause to end a tenancy. Many individually owned single-family homes and condos are exempt when the tenant receives the required written notice, and newer construction is exempt for its first 15 years. We track exactly which rules apply to your property and keep every increase and every notice compliant.
Since July 2024, California caps security deposits at one month's rent for most landlords (AB 12), and pet deposits count inside that cap. Small landlords who are natural persons with no more than two rental properties and four total units can collect up to two months, except from service members. We set your deposit at the maximum your property legally qualifies for and run the deposit accounting and refund timelines to the statute.
Tenants reach us 24/7. Emergencies dispatch immediately to Bay Vista Construction, our in-house CA-licensed general contractor, with the work under warranty. Non-emergencies are handled the next business day under the spend threshold we agree with you upfront, so you are never woken up for a decision you already made.
Your rent estimate and custom owner plan arrive within one business day. Most owners are fully hands-off within 30 days of signing, and we regularly take over mid-tenancy: the existing lease, deposit, and tenant relationship transfer to us without disturbing the tenant.
Careful screening makes evictions rare, but when one is unavoidable we manage the process end to end: proper notices, just-cause compliance, coordination with eviction counsel, and re-leasing once the unit is back. You get informed decisions at each step, not surprises.
We do, in person. Every showing is hosted by us. No lockboxes, no self-guided tours. Hosted showings protect the property, and we meet every applicant before an application is ever reviewed.

Find out what your San Rafael rental
should be earning.

Request a free rent estimate for your property. You'll hear from us the same day, from a person, with what it should rent for in today's market. If you like the number, we'll show you how we take everything off your plate: the tenant, every property bill, every repair. No commitment.

Free, no obligation  ·  Takes 60 seconds  ·  Same-day response, from a person