Single family home or duplex?

[Katrina Razavi]

Hi BP Community! We recently bought a home in the city of SF that is an SFR w/ an illegal in-law downstairs. We're planning on renovating the downstairs. The question is whether we should turn it into a duplex (which is allowable thanks to the zoning) or keep it as a big SFR with a nice downstairs.

We're leaning towards SFR + Airnbnb'ing the downstairs area given we could cash flow more money via Airbnb rather than renting it long-term. I think there's also better resale value in the future as an SFR vs. duplex. The good thing about SFR's is that they aren't rent-controlled. The only reason for the duplex IMO is that if we leave SF we can rent out both units which is probably easier than renting an SFR w/c is more expensive. But thinking that w/ an SFR a group of people could live there and split the rent amongst themselves which is popular in SF.

Curious to hear if anyone has had to make this decision and/or what I should be thinking about as I make it.

Thank you!