I briefly looked at Davis but was surprised it’s a pretty expensive market. Who’d have thought? Any parents buying houses in Davis for their kids?
Which part of the town and can you share some reference numbers?
20 years ago Davis was a sure thing…I know one silicon valley engineer who accumulated $30m buying Davis apartments on an engineers salary…My Sac buy was a home run from 1999 to 2002…should have sold then…Finally raising rents 15 years later…Davis rents have skyrocketed along with tuition costs…
One townhouse in Roseville, and one big SFH also in Roseville. The TH is doing very well, $1600 a month, and SFH is less well, only $2100. I learned from that SFH to always buy around median price. Ventured too much higher than median and rent won’t compensate for the extra money you paid.
I bought both back in 2012. Price was pretty low back then.
Davis apartment buildings can be a good income source. Not sure about appreciation though. There are tons of guaranteed tenants there. I was pretty surprised when I saw there are actually houses in Davis selling for 1M+.
My expediter architect did when one of her kids went to school there. No dorm or rent payments for her kids!!! Must be nice. And I believe the house was no slouch, 4-5 bd spread…
In crime rate, general, Sacramento is around the same as Stockton and Oakland. Like these two cities, Sacramento has expensive neighborhood and inexpensive places depending on location inside the city. North Natomas one area you can account nice location, where we were looking at 2011 period.
In simple terms, wherever HOA is there and HOA employs private security guards, location is maintained well as crimes are less with added security/gated communities.
It is tricky for outsiders. Better to get local realtor and work with.
I do not know current situation as I find good deals locally in San Jose.
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Not only 20 years, but during 2010-11 too. My kid started going UC Davis, many times we thought of buying nice condos at 180k-300k range, but did not have confidence to get in ! Now, those deals are not there.
I know people who bought in Davis; low vacancy rate because college kids and faculty members need to live near campus.
If I ever want to get into apartment buildings I’d seriously look at Davis. College rentals can be pretty lucrative and if you can get their parents to co-sign leases, much less chance of running into deadbeats. Also if apartments turn over once every couple years there is no issue of rent control. Win win win. If only I can find deals… 
Sounds like Davis apt market may be a tad too much now. Maybe UC Merced immediate surrounding areas might be a good play? Should be cheaper at least. A bit far for my tastes though…
Doubtful on co-sign issues.
My kid was initially sharing with six other friends, only two of them -including my kid- parents supporting kids, rest of them support was limited funds from parents. Those four friends worked part time and making their student life.
Then, my kid moved to studio apartments, again same situation but half of them supported by parents. Often seen managers vacated the property and keep the materials out of door. My kid used to inform me that those students not paid rent on time, their stuffs are on the road after legal notice on door. That was 32 studio apartment complex, every visit, we noticed this.
Only good place was college run Graduate Dorm, neatly maintained (compared to these apartment complex).
Instead of US Davis, you can review Berkeley as it is near to bay area, but you can not avoid such story.
Apartments are attractive ROI, but needs to have tough legal hand (Manager) to enforce rent.
I looked at Merced a while back. You can also play for the HSR angle. But like you said it’s a bit far.
Sacramento is a good place to live. Salary is only a bit lower than Bay Area but housing costs is a lot lower.
If you like it hotter than hell in the summers and having blocks and blocks of fast food joints everywhere…
I take that to mean you haven’t really been to Sac? 
It’s about as hot as the east coast in summer time but without the humidity. Winter is mild. Sac mid town is pretty trendy nowadays with a buzzing restaurant scene. They even have a basketball team…
Unfortunately, I know Sac Town pretty well, in a forgettable past part of my life…
Sac is changing a lot…Now has great resturants and grocery stores…My favorite is the Korean owned KP international. …It is the BA thirty years ago…a large growing Asian and Russian population. …Plenty of room to expand and great weather…AC makes the summers very livable…Great boating and water sports…Skiing 1.5 hours away…just like Denver. …Much more attractive place to live than Denver or Salt Lake…2.5 million in the MSA and only 1.5h to SF…But the biggest attraction for investors is an unlimited source of money…State government spending growing forever…
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When I worked in Oakland’s Chinatown, there were always two prices for the produce at the markets. The “white guy” price they would charge me. And, the “native” price they would charge my co-worker from HK who laughed at my inability to understand and negotiated the real price for me in Cantonese. 