Maybe Avail made a personal decision?

Brian decided to sell his property and take the proceeds into his next primary, and I decided to rent my property out at a loss monthly.My loss monthly is very similar to your $200 / month and you may find a few reasons you weren't thinking about that would help impact your tough decision on renting or selling!

You want an accountant who can help you strategize and who is responsive when you want to know the consequences of the financial decisions you are making throughout the year.Good luck.

One thing that would be cheap is to see if HCD would take a stance that jurisdiction’s interpretation is incorrect.  

When I say low risk I guess I am more trying to say I don't want to risk losing the house, at the end of the day I will evaluate the risk level of any options and make my decision based on comfort levels.

IMO every house hacker should include all of these numbers into their overall decision/calculations. 

I think multifamily owners are best served by agents who understand the business and can help you make informed decisions.

Real Estate is definitely not just a "numbers analysis" and you are definitely thinking about things the right way - but I think a good next step for you would be to spend some time putting a lot of this stuff into a (very) basic financial model/spreadsheets mapping out all the potential costs and estimates on effect (effect on value, on exit, different scenarios) - I think getting started with that framework should help with these decisions immensely

I agree....but the OP should still bear in mind that these Blue cities will still have very tenant-friendly laws in place, so that should be weighed into the decision as well....IMHO. 

It is sometimes incorrectly called "all risk".