New and Seeking Advice...

[Danielle R.]

Hello

I found BiggerPockets by chance and am very happy to have found this great source for education and networking. 

I have a single family rental (2 bed/1bath) in Berkeley, CA that I bought in 2013. I lived in it for two years as my primary and have been renting since  I moved to SF, mostly via airbnb. Vacancy rates have killed my returns and I'm currently cash flow negative. I'm trying to figure out my next steps. 

The house has appreciated nicely but it has some major structural problems with the foundation. I'm trying to determine if it is worth my attempting to fix the foundation (and possibly adding an in-law via garage conversion) or selling "as is" for a high discount. 

The realtors I've met with so far are telling me I won't get any ROI on fixing the foundation as we are looking at between $100,000-$300,000 worth of work on top of being in a slide area turing off potential buyers. It is in an A+ neighborhood and most houses around here are worth over 1mm so it pains me to have to sell at such a discount.

I would love some advice: referrals to contractors, property management, or real estate agents. Ideally, I would fix the foundation, add the in-law, and sell for positive ROI then redeploy out of state. But maybe that's not possible and I just need to cash out now for whatever the market can bear.

I'm also OK with hanging onto it for another year or so for rental income if I can find a good property manager to take over the day to day rental management but I'm worried about getting locked into a long term tenant with Berkeley rent control laws being so strict. 

Any advice welcome!

Thank you,

Danielle

[Jerry W.]

@Danielle R., another factor to consider is the primary home exemption from selling your primary residence.  My recollection is that if it is your primary home for 2 out of the last 5 years there is no capital gains tax on the increase in value up to a $250K profit for a single person or $500K for a married couple.  You need to look and see when the last 2 of 5 years would apply to you and talk to an accountant on how much it will cost you in taxes if you go past that time frame.  I don't know enough about your house, location, or foundations to help you on the rest.  Good luck.