How to sell a unique property (ADU duplex in Los Angeles)

[Justin Gottuso]

Hello! My wife and I bought a 3 bed 1 bath well maintained sfh in a great area of LA four years ago as the market was rising. Both sets of parents contributed to the down payment. Then California passed the law legalizing Accessory Dwelling Unit's (ADU's) in January 2016. Seeing the opportunity I secured additional funding and we are 6-8 weeks away from the ADU completion. Here's the thing, it is 1180 sq ft, 3 bed 2.5 bath ADU. Original plan was to house hack and live in the new house and rent out the front until recently when we decided it is time to leave LA and move to Columbus, Ohio where my wife's family lives and where we have more social support and lower cost of living and less congestion - LA is a beautiful and exciting place, but insane to raise a family. There is nothing like our property on the market (yet) as the vast majority of people doing ADU's simply convert garages and maybe build out to 600-800 sq ft. So, very soon I will have 'two on a lot' yet it is zoned R1 single family. I've spoken to two different appraisers in my area who have ADU experience and they scratched their heads and didn't know what to tell me since there is nothing like it out there. Since the lot is R1 it cannot be compared to duplexes they say. Any advice about selling unique properties that do not fit into traditional market boxes?

Other helpful details: 

Purchase price in 2016: 755k

Median market value today for original house: 950k

ADU construction costs: 300k

Estimated value after ADU is completed: 1.3-1.4m. But not sure. New flips that are 3 bed 2 bath that are 1,700 sq ft sell for 1.35-1.45m in our neighborhood and small 3 bed 1 bath homes sell for 950k median in our area. We already had an interested buyer willing to offer 1.35m before their funding fell through, but that was the top of his loan limit.

Bottom of market rents: 3,500 for older front house and 4,500 for new ADU/8k per mo

We debated whether to keep it as a rental or sell it. The numbers didn't seem to add up to keep it as a rental. After refinancing our payment would be about 7k per mo, plus taxes, insurance, repairs and property management (since we will be out of state) expenses seem to be about 9.5k per mo with rents right now likely being around 8k, but increasing over time as Google and Facebook have offices 2 miles away, giving our area the nickname 'Silicon Beach.' So doesn't look like we will be cash flowing on it. I'm sure it will appreciate well over time since ADU's are still new and in 5 years there will be more properties to compare it to for appraisers - but we are not comfortable with covering vacancy costs that could be up to 7k per mo. So, selling and cashing out on 300-400k and re-investing seems like the smarter move at this point (I am considering ways to invest the money, but that's for a future post as I need to get the property sold in the first place). I am open to advice and thoughts to think about my situation in ways I have not thought of before. Thanks!