Pursue Monthly Rental in San Francisco with my 3 unit?

[Joe Gettler]

BP family-

I bought a duplex with an attached ADU in a great part of San Francisco (lower pac heights, 94115) about a year ago. It is currently my primary residence and was a great house hack but I'm now considering moving out to live with my girlfriend nearby in her condo.

Now that people are starting to socialize again and this city is opening back up soon, I would imagine that many renters and visitors will be coming back to SF in the next year or two. With that said, San Francisco rental market it’s still a lot softer than it was before COVID.

My duplex has done pretty well during the pandemic despite the softened SF rental market since COVID. The duplex has done well because it has a great backyard/garden area and each unit has a private deck and W/D. Walking score of 95.

Pre COVID rental numbers:

Monthly gross rent $15,250

Cap rate 7.1%

Future rental numbers:

Estimated Monthly gross rent after current tenants move out $13,950

Cap rate 6.5%

Because monthly rent looks to be about 20-30% more if you rent by the month, I am considering renting out my duplex for monthly rentals on Airbnb/other sites and potentially for travel nurses (ideal because several hospitals are walking distance to my house). I don't have a garage or any parking so that could hurt the monthly rental appeal. Also, each of these two units is 3 bedrooms so it might be too big for traveling nurses/professionals.

Does anyone in San Francisco or in general have experience with monthly rentals? From what Ive read, it looks like I may have to get a business certificate to do this in SF but Im not sure what that entails or what else is involved?

Two of my units will be vacated in the next 2 months so this is a good time to consider this over my traditional 12 month leases again. 

Looking forward to hearing from you! Thanks in advance!