I don't believe that $2,167 is unreasonable. There are many young individuals and couples who work and share space. A lease is reasonable, especially when a unit is new.

Compared to what is $2167 reasonable for barely 500 sq feet?

Those rents are market priced. If people can't afford the price and the units go empty, the rents will come down.

That's really all there is to it.

Remember the stories that ran here about those who sublease their apartments to multiple families under the table? I assume these new units won't be any different.

the probability of new units going empty is not high, not w/in 50 miles of SF/SJ/Penn etc etc. Just look at Dougherty Valley. As soon as a home is released, it is SOLD!

All in all, I would think that the rents are reasonable for the current market. When I first moved here around 1990, I paid $630 per month for a one-bedroom apartment and the median price of a house in Pleasanton was around $220K. With one-bedroom apartments now around $2000 per month and the median price of a house around $800K, the rent has gone up by a factor of about 3.2x and the price of a house has gone up by a factor of about 3.6x. So it appears that Pleasanton rental prices and Pleasanton housing prices have remained consistent with each other.

They need to be priced well above what Section 8 housing recipients can afford. Unless you want your place to look like the projects in the slums of Chicago. I have owned rental properties, single family and multi-family for nearly 40 years. Never once lost a single day of rent because I have a wait list of renters who are willing to pay for the time the property is turned around just to be able to get into it. My rents have always been 10-20% above the highest in the area because I want to wash out those looking only for a bargain. Again, unless I wanted my place to look like the projects.
If people cannot afford these then the units will go vacant. Simple economics. Why should any landlord, individual or corporate, be required to rent to the lowest bidder and then take the hit when the property is trashed?

$600 per mth housing:

Web Link

Hi Longtime Landlord: Our family has been in the rental business for years also. However, most units purchased in the 1960s had eventually become rent-controlled areas. We're eventually pulling out slowly from those areas to others in the tri-Valley, since we had experienced costly problems with tenants in some units. Your idea of renting even above market rate to avoid problems is something we had not considered, so will consider that when there is another vacancy.

Well they better be well over Section 8 housing. I certainly do not want to be making their rent payments for them !! I hope we have some way to 'police' the occupancy, i.e. NOT multiple families shuffling through, and not on public assistance. That crap will not be tolerated.