Page 29 | Pacific Sun | Marin County, California

Local Cornucopia, A Market for Makers

Nov 18, 2025

A “made locally” store is stocked with much of all we make here. In a right world, there would be one of these stores in every town and village.

In a righteous world, there would be more than one store and kiosk, differentiated in concept (home goods, clothing, food, art and apothecary), as the local production of mutually supporting artisans displaced the cheap importation of mass manufactures.

Made local stores incubate local brands emerging from local garages and kitchens, producing local culture and sense of place, paying local sales tax and circulating local dollars in an upwardly spinning trajectory of green, blue, pink and golden prosperity.

Blinking that dizzy vision out of my eyes, I see that we now have two of these stores. One is in Santa Rosa, and one is in Novato. And for that give credit to Willow Fish Peterson, owner and steward of Made Local Marketplace. For this edition of the column, I visited the second store, newly opened in Novato, at the corner of Grant and Machin.

With a high window carved out from a former monumental bank, it is at once classical and rustic, in the farm and antique style of Fish Peterson’s furnishing and display. Divided into small departments, the store has sections for local home goods, clothing, art, apothecary, dry good provisions, jewelry, beer and wine.

Rather than reproduce the content of her successful Santa Rosa store (and stretch the concept of local to regionality), Fish Peterson reached out to small producers in her new Marin neighborhood, which now constitute 40 of the 90 local artists and makers represented in her store.

Cincinnatus Hibbard: Willow, what is your connection to Marin?

Willow Fish Peterson: My husband is from Marin.

You’re a growing success. Why do people like your stores?

People like that they can come in and find a truly unique gift—without having to do that online thing we do for convenience but not for joy. It’s a joyful experience to shop at one of our stores. You can touch and smell things, turn them over and feel their worth in your own two hands.

I understand that your store employees are some of the local makers represented here. Is it true that they know the local names and stories of all the producers in the shop?

Yes (laughing).

That is special, and distinctly different about the Made Local store—you know the names of the lives you touch. Let me choose one product at random… That display of local purses caught my eye; they look as fine as anything you would see at Coach.

That’s Ann Victor, and Ann Victor is her label (laughing). She’s been making them for a long time and has a closet full of them, but this is her first time selling them—and they are just flying off the shelf.

Besides the heart, I’m interested in the numbers. What is the deal you offer your makers?

All the information is on our website, (as well as the) application to apply. We offer makers a 50/50 split. It is consignment based, and they are paid at the end of every month. At the end of the month, I get to write 170 local checks.

Learn more: The new Novato Made Local store is at 881 Grant Ave. The Santa Rosa store is at 2421 Magowan Dr. Visit their website at madelocalmarketplace.com. Shop their ever popular local cornucopia gift baskets there. To hear Fish Peterson’s rippling laugh, visit the store or download the podcast of our 2022 interview, ‘Sonoma County: A Community Portrait,’ episode 14.

Tenants & Landlords, Challenges Beset Marin’s Tight Residential Rental Market

Nikki Silverstein

Nov 11, 2025

Tenants & Landlords, Challenges Beset Marin’s Tight Residential Rental Market

One of the most harrowing experiences of my relatively charmed life occurred over the last two months as I sought out a residential rental in Marin.

In all seriousness, I’m safe and sound now, but still not entirely over the trauma. And I’m not alone.

I checked in with other renters, landlords and a property management firm in our exclusive county. All agree that renting presents significant challenges for both tenants and owners. The biggest issue, of course, is a shortage of housing, affordable or otherwise.

Marin has a low apartment vacancy rate of 4.3%, according to the Q2 2025 CoStar Survey, an analytics report by a real estate data firm. Compare that figure to the 7% national vacancy rate for the same period, as reported by the U.S. Census Bureau, and the tight local rental market comes into focus.

Consider these stats to put it in better perspective: Marin has approximately 111,565 housing units for its 256,400 residents, with about one-third of the county’s population renting their homes. Zillow, a popular online real estate marketplace, currently has just 766 available residential rentals. Sure, the site doesn’t list every rental, but let’s just say Zillow’s tally indicates that it’s darn competitive out there.

My search began when I sold my little condo with a jarringly fast one-week close. I immediately perused postings on the large rental websites, including Zillow, Apartments.com and Craigslist. My list narrowed from the git-go because not all landlords accept dogs.

Admittedly, I started off with strict and in hindsight too many standards. Charming. Natural light flooding in. Ample closets. Laundry. Perhaps a view or garden. Preferably an ADU or a lovely Victorian divided into a few units.

This set of criteria couldn’t be met in a week, sending me to bunk on a friend’s sofa. Treating the search like a job, I checked the listings at least daily. I found a lovely ADU in San Anselmo where the landlord allowed dogs but didn’t permit poop bags in the outside garbage can. Perplexed about the disposal process, I moved on.

Reviewing the lease for a Ross cottage, I discovered that I was limited to one overnight guest for two nights in a six-month period. Forget about those weekend visits with my SoCal sister or bestie from Austin.

Then there were the funky units. One possessed just a hot plate and dorm fridge in the kitchen, while another had slanted floors that kept me off-balance. The few places that seemed ideal were rented before I could fill out the applications.

To gain some insight on why I kept failing to find an inviting place to hang my hat, I caught up with Matt Borries, VP of business development for Prandi Property Management, Marin’s largest property management company.

“Owners who live on the property have a vision of the type of renter they’re seeking,” Borries said. “They want this perfect living situation with the perfect person. It can be quirky because they may not know the rental laws and want to have a lot of control.”

Borries advises renters to be aware if they’re dealing directly with an owner who lives on site or a mom-and-pop landlord. They should ask the right questions and carefully review the lease to ensure it hasn’t departed too far from a boilerplate agreement.

Professionally managed properties—from a $1,700 San Rafael studio apartment to a $17,000 Mill Valley home—place an intermediary between the tenant and owner, benefiting all parties. Most of Prandi’s clients don’t make a career of owning rentals; rather, they belong to the “accidental landlord” category. They need to leave their home but aren’t yet prepared to sell.

This category includes the person relocating for a job, but concerned that if all doesn’t go as planned, they won’t be able to buy back into Marin’s ever-appreciating real estate market. Then there’s the couple who has owned their home for 40 years, needs to move into assisted living and wants to avoid a huge capital gains tax.

As a prospective tenant, dealing with a reputable property management company removes many worries, such as becoming a scam victim. Joan, a Mill Valley resident using only her first name, has a 24-year-old son who almost fell for a con by a man claiming to own a one-bedroom Marin apartment renting for $2,000 a month. After obtaining personal information from the young man, including ID, credit score and employment background, he then required a signed lease and security deposit to show the apartment prior to an upcoming open house.

“All this seemed like a big red flag,” Joan said. “The apartment was listed on Apartments.com. I notified them, and they had it taken down from their site within 24 hours.”

Renters are essentially on their own, says Borries. Prandi’s leasing agents will show a potential tenant properties in their portfolio. But unlike a realtor representing a home buyer, renters’ agents don’t exist in Marin.

Landlords also have a difficult time. A woman we’ll call Tammy is trying to rent out a bedroom and shared bath in her Novato home, where she also lives. Young people often share homes to keep expenses low, yet it has also become commonplace among mature adults in high-priced real estate markets.

Tammy hasn’t had much luck. A man getting divorced seemed appropriate, until his wife insisted that he take the two dogs with him to Tammy’s home with a no-pet policy. Students typically can’t afford the $1,200 rent, and professionals would rather pay more to have their own bathroom. Currently, Tammy is considering renting to a single dad who works at a nearby grocery store.

“I do want to help the local workers and make it possible for them to reside close to their work,” Tammy said. “So let’s see how that goes.”

Borries offers advice for both landlords and tenants to help the process run more smoothly. For example, landlords should have the roof and furnace inspected and replace the 20-year-old carpet.

“I’m not telling them to renovate their home, but they’ve got to bring it up to speed to attract a quality tenant and more value,” he said.

Suggestions for renters include starting the search 60 days ahead of when they need a new place. Cut back on the number of must haves and remain flexible. Set up alerts on rental websites for units coming on the market that meet their top criteria. And expect a one- to three-week overlap in paying rent because it’s hard to line up the last day of a current rental with the first day of a new lease.

Borries is spot on, at least in my situation. After a disappointing and exhaustive eight-week hunt for unique and cozy quarters, the cookie-cutter, corporate-owned apartment complexes looked more attractive. I’m living in one now.

Finding a rental is like that game of musical chairs where people outnumber seats. Keep moving and grab the empty spot before someone else does. And don’t forget to read the fine print.