Zabace has provided homes to thousands of residents in Davis, California. And, we have a growing network in Woodland, Winters, and West Sacramento. We are the exclusive agents of the property owners, but, we do our very best to be sure all tenants are treated fairly and ethically.

We always want to provide great personal service while providing flexible methods to contact us including our 24X7 emergency line and online access for both tenants and owners.

A few key statistics about us:

  • In 2013-2014, the vacancy rate for our properties was 0.3% compared to the Davis average ~3%
  • In 2013, 50% of our tenants received 100% of their security deposit back.
  • In 2013, 80% of our tenants received 80% or more of their deposit back.
  • ~5% of tenants typically do not receive any security deposit back (they are the exceptions..not the norm!). Unfortunately, as the intermediary between tenants and owners we do not always get a positive review. But, see example reviews below from many of our great tenants and owners.
  • In both 2013 and 2014, approximately 75% of our tenants renewed their one year lease.

We hope to have the opportunity to provide you great service too!

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Example reviews from some of our many wonderful tenants and owners!

Tasha H., 5 of 5 Stars, 07/31/2014

After reading the reviews on Zabace, I would be afraid to rent from them. However, I have already rented from them and am so grateful we did. We had a very sweet and good natured Rottweiler and no one was willing to rent to us. They had a situation where a tenant moved out quickly and they worked with us and our dog, Max. I found them to be nothing but kind and helpful. If there were things that needed to be fixed quickly, they fixed them quickly and often had several people working to resolve an issue. If there were things like fixing the weather stripping on a door, it took them a couple of weeks as they were really busy. When we moved out, we worked really hard to clean the house and I know it wasn’t in perfect condition. They didn’t charge us anything. In the midst of that time, we lost our dog Max and I even ran into Derrick at the store who listened to me crying about my boy. These people are very kind and very helpful. I recommend them!

Kelly W., 5 of 5 Stars, 02/23/2014

We recently started renting a house through Zabace, and have been there for ~1 month. So far our experience with Zabace has been great. Everyone has been friendly and helpful, and they have been very flexible and easy to work with. The online portal for paying rent/requesting maintenance is very convenient.

Kelly H., 5 of 5 Stars, 02/22/2014

Zabace has been on our side since the first contact. My wife and I needed to rent for five months while I attend the UC Davis Master Brewers Program during a horrible time of year, halfway through the UC Davis school year (AKA not a lot of rentals and not many willing to take a short lease). We have a rottweiler which only made it more of a chore; Derrick found us a nice rental in under 24 hours. We love the place and the neighborhood! We have gone through a few minor repairs since moving in and they have taken care of them, quickly and professionally. I would not hesitate to recommend them to anyone and honestly feel that they model how every property management company should run!

Manushi W, 5 of 5 Stars, 02/19/2014

Seems like a lot of people have had a negative experience with Zabace, but I’ve just recently rented through them, and they have been very accommodating to my needs. I was unable to pay the deposit in whole so they spoke with the owners to work out a payment method. They were always available to answer questions, and I feel comfortable communicating my needs.

Megan L., 5 of 5 Stars, 12/13/2013

I had such a fantastic experience with Zabace! They were very helpful and understanding in getting me everything I needed. I quickly had to find a new place to live and move in, and they were efficient and very nice. They work really well with students and their parents. I went into the office and everyone was very helpful in getting me all the documents I needed as well as e-mailing and calling me to finish up the process. I was amazed that everything was online and a quick process compared to other slow, paper systems that I was used to around Davis. Derrick was quick to respond to all my needs and made it a very quick and easy process. I would highly recommend leasing from properties that use Zabace becuase they make it so easy on students. You talk to real people and they make it easy and understandable to you and your parents. Really a great place!

Brenda M., 5 of 5 Stars, 12/12/2013

I had one of the best experiences with Zabace. All of the people who work there are extremely helpful and very kind. I had to transfer my lease over to another girl and they made the process very easy. I worked with Derrick Underwood, the property manager, and he was the nicest, most helpful person! He emailed me with very clear directions and made the process very easy. I had to transfer my lease to another girl within a couple days because she wanted to move in, and Derrick made it his priority to get everything settled and ready in a way that made everything very easy for me. He was very nice and outgoing, told me everything I had to do step by step, responded to my emails within 5 minutes, and even offered to stay after closing in order to make sure I could give the appropriate papers to transfer my lease. In the end, he was able to transfer everything the next day. He definitely made my experience with Zabace a very good one!! I would recommend Zabace to anyone looking for housing, for they are truly very helpful and very kind!!

Cindy C., 5 of 5 Stars, 12/12/2013

My family had a great experience working with Zabace. The staff are very friendly and helpful. They were very fast responding to every email and issue I had with the house we are renting. We worked with Derrick, he was awesome and so helpful. He made it his priority to help his clients first which made our move smooth. The maintenance Ryan was also very helpful and attended to our needs in a well manner time. Every time I have gone into the Zabace office the staff were so helpful and friendly. Five stars to you Derrick!!Thank you!

Kallie K., 5 of 5 Stars, 12/01/2013

I just had a very positive experience working with Zabace to fix up my house and re-rent it after a tenant moved out after 13 years. The house and yard were a wreck and the tenant moved out mid-way through the lease at the worst time of year to find renters in a college town. Zabace staff came to the rescue and swiftly helped me make decisions about new flooring, paint, fixtures and landscaping. Derrick, their maintenance and property manager lead, was awesome to work with- always prompt with e-mail and honest in his assessment of the situation, both technically and financially. He managed several sub-contractors, spent time researching options and sending me choices, and had the place cleaned, repaired, restored and rented in less than a month- even in December. I give him 5 stars for his effort- what had started as a huge headache for me ended with a happy story- a nice couple with two little kids is moving in this weekend and my house looks beautiful for them.

Tenant Review: Brooke R. 4 of 5 Stars. 7/19/2014

My family and I have lived at a Zabace managed property for almost 8 months and overall their service has been very professional and quickly responsive on repairs. I do feel they have hired some more qualified customer service reps more recently who have been very delightful to work with like Jennifer. Andrew is also on top of getting problems solved right away. I feel the biggest issues that happen when renting are more the Landlords, not the property managers. We also love the online payment system makes things very easy to pay rent. Also their choice in repairmen are always top notch, like the plumbers they recently sent over from Lance’s Plumbing were so professional and friendly. Their fix-it man Al is also very sweet and efficient. Overall I definitely would re-lease would Zabace!

Tenant Review: Corey H., 4 of 5 Stars, 3/26/2014

We have had a good experience with Zabace so far. We were looking for a place, and everyone I talked to at Zabace was very helpful when I had questions and/or wanted to schedule a viewing. The first place we looked at really fit our needs, so we started the lease process. The agent Derrick was on time for our viewing and was very helpful and friendly–we really felt that he was on our side through the whole process, and would always answer emails the same day. One thing that could have been improved was more frequent updates as to what was happening with the application (there was a little delay) instead of us having to inquire, but overall it worked out and we look forward to living in our new place.

Tenant Review: D.F. , 4 of 5 Stars, 03/26/2014

While I haven’t officially rented from Zabace yet, my parents did 2 years ago and had zero issues while they were tenants. I’ve been dealing with another local property management company since last year and after having some problems with them, I’ve decided to give Zabace a try.

As far as customer service goes, Derek has been so great. He has gone above and beyond to help us and he’s been very informative. There’s never any pressure to make quick decisions, and that’s something I appreciate!

With Davis being a college town, these properties will get rented with no problems. I mean, they practically sell themselves, with or without a helpful leasing agent. But with that said, the process is much more enjoyable when you’re working with someone who genuinely wants to help you secure a good home for Fall.

Tenant Review: D.F. , 4 of 5 Stars, 03/26/2014

While I haven’t officially rented from Zabace yet, my parents did 2 years ago and had zero issues while they were tenants. I’ve been dealing with another local property management company since last year and after having some problems with them, I’ve decided to give Zabace a try.

As far as customer service goes, Derek has been so great. He has gone above and beyond to help us and he’s been very informative. There’s never any pressure to make quick decisions, and that’s something I appreciate!

With Davis being a college town, these properties will get rented with no problems. I mean, they practically sell themselves, with or without a helpful leasing agent. But with that said, the process is much more enjoyable when you’re working with someone who genuinely wants to help you secure a good home for Fall.

Dannie K., 4 of 5 Stars, 02/26/2014

Had a problem, they had someone call me and talk me through and rectified all the issues. Really reasonable in how they handle and respond to things and I leave one stay in hopes that they find better contractors.

Kevin G, 4 of 5 Stars, 05/07/2013

Very helpful in our House search in Davis. We’re still in the process of deciding, but we met with zabace for several properties and found them professional, on time and helpful. We have applied for one of the properties and they have been very helpful as we decide on whether to take the property.

Ernest W., 4 of 5 Stars, 09/06/2012

I think its funny that people take so much time to complain about perceived slights when it comes to property management companies in Davis. It’s obvious from the comments online that the people posting these complaints have very little rental experience in other places…if they had, they wouldn’t complain so much!

I’ve rented from several property management companies in Davis over the years. All of them have pluses and minuses, but by far, Zabace is the only company that wanted to give me back my security deposit in full. I followed their check out list and was surprised to get my entire deposit back- no hassle at all.

The rental process was straightforward, all adults in the household had to apply online, pay an application fee and then follow up with the leasing team on the lease. The lease process was as expected, a few back and forth corrections, negotiations for the due dates for deposits and that was it. Hey, these guys are handing out the keys to a place worth more than $400k- they have to secure the lease and property with something!

Working with Zabace is OK, if you’re comfortable with online only. Most things are done via email- you can pay online and check your account.

Non-emergency repairs can come slowly, especially if you’re living in a home owned by someone who doesn’t want to fix anything. But mostly, my repair requests were taken care of in due time.

Finding a place in Davis was the hard part. There are so many slum lords out their putting the poor property managers in the position of showing their crap! Fix something, have the place painted, make an effort!!!! Renter beware on this front, what you see at the showing, is what you are going to get, don’t expect any more.