Bought appliances for $1500 but the kitchen sits unfinished, the bathroom is gutted, a back room was cleaned up to make more living space but won't work well unless its insulated from the underside and its now yucky winter and Ill pay through the nose to have someone go under there.

The total rents are $2,300, and heat in the winter runs $200/mo, and water runs $100/mo.

Lake Street (old money), Laurel Heights (near USF campus), Forest Hill and extension with great views, West Portal (muni station, some big lots), St Francis Woods (old money, huge lots), Merced Manor near Lake Merced, and Inner Sunset (demand from UCSF will always be there), Golden Gate Heights (great views), Noe Valley (trendy).

It might be different in your market but in a lot of places there are just more people moving in the summer, so you would have a larger tenant pool to choose from, compared to the winter when fewer people are moving. 

Became an immigrant 4 years ago... spent 2 years in Forest Grove, Oregon and moved here in Dallas a year and a half ago for a job. 17 years experience in electronics manufacturing but zero experience in real estate.

Also, I'm originally from Louisville (now living in Lake Forest), and a newbie investor.

@Marc Winter Thank you for the video suggestion, that is great!

He got laid off for a few months  during the winter.

You can add clothing in the winter and once you do, most days are quite tolerable and many are beautiful in the winter.

I purchased the property for $150,000 in Oct'2015 and spend the winter of that year renovating it from it's dungy 1950's look to a traditional/modern lake house.