What We're Looking For: Sacramento (can you help?)

A friend suggested that I try to harness the power of the interwebs to see if it might help us find any leads. So, here goes...  if you or anyone you know lives in Sacramento, particularly in the areas we're looking for, we would highly appreciate any help you can send our way!

WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR

So, there are 2 options we're currently entertaining:

1. Find a house to rent for a year, then we can take our time getting to know the area and looking for a place to buy.  Our requirements for a rental house:

• 3 bedroom, 1.5-2 bath
• Enclosed patio or yard (doesn't have to be big, just an outdoor space where D could play without needing constant supervision... we have a small patio for this now, thinking of something equivalent)
• Designated parking, at least for 1 car.
• Storage shed or garage.
• Cats welcome (we have 2).
• Available now, or at the latest by June 1st.

2. Find a short-term rental where we could go month-to-month, and look to buy a house within 2-4 months.  Here we'd be more flexible, since it'd be for a short time:

• Prefer 3bed/2bath, but could go with 2bed/1bath.
• House or apartment.
• Still need parking.
• Cats still need to be ok. 

WHERE WE'RE LOOKING

Our top-choice is East Sacramento, though we're also very open to other nearby neighborhoods like Midtown, McKinley, River Park, Land Park, and College Commons.  (Some of these we got to visit or drive through, others we didn't explore but have heard great things about-- if you have advice about any of these neighborhoods, that would also be great to hear.)  If we go with a short-term rental option we could be further out, but would still want to be able to easily get to the core areas for house hunting.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

If any of you happen to know of rental homes (or apartments) that fit the descriptions above, we'd really love to hear about it.  

We're also looking for recommendations on real estate agents in the area, either to help find a home to rent and/or to buy.  If you know of someone who's good and trustworthy, we would greatly appreciate hearing that recommendation (would much rather go with someone recommended personally than picking off a list).

You can leave comments here or email me at mightymarce at gmail dot com.

THANK YOU!  =)