Can someon tell me about Delores Heights? (San Francisco: sale, real estate)

[SoFresh99]

I am in a weird situation. My uncle is suffering from dementia and the family in Ohio and myself here in Boston are needed to go and take possession of his house, deal with his tenant and sell his property. He owns a 2 family in Delores Heights that I imagine is poorly maintained, with some sort of cottage in the back.

Is this a desireable area? I can see on "*%^illow" that the property values are high in that neighborhood but there are not many comps available for me to see online (redfin).

Can someone who is actually there clue me in on this neighborhood and if you have any experience: what hurdles we can expect with a tenant-at-will with no lease who is certainly paying super low rent and maybe just squatting (given my uncle's condition he is easily taken advantage of).

[Hard8]

Dolores Heights is a very nice part of town. Beautiful neighborhood and being between the Castro and Valencia St in the Mission there are a ton of great dining and entertainment options in the area.

The bad news is that I would not plan on being able to get the tenant out of the building. Its very very difficult to evict someone in San Francisco. The fact that he is not on a formal written lease is fairly meaningless I believe; as long as he can establish he has been there for a while and has been paying rent then he has plenty of rights under SF tenant laws. Now I believe you could still sell the property, but I think the new owner would have to agree to continue the (implied/oral) agreement with the tenant - and who's gonna buy a million dollar house building only to rent it out to a guy that is paying well below market rent?

If this guy is paying "super low rent" you can almost be certain he will put up a fight (and probably win) if you attempt to evict him or force him out - because he will have absolutely zero options for other housing that will be in that nice of a neighborhood at even close to as cheap as it sounds like he is paying. Furthermore, my guess is you would not be able to raise the rent dramatically to force him out as the building is probably rent-controlled.

If you absolutely HAVE to sell the house, your best bet would probably be to negotiate some sort of buy-out with the tenant. But if he's smart, he'll demand thousands upon thousands to leave.

[SoFresh99]

Originally Posted by Hard8

If you absolutely HAVE to sell the house, your best bet would probably be to negotiate some sort of buy-out with the tenant. But if he's smart, he'll demand thousands upon thousands to leave.

The property is definitely rent controlled and while there is only currently speculation that someone is living in the 2nd unit we do need to be prepared. We must sell the house to pay for my uncle's long term care so selling is not negotiable. I have looked at some MFD properties that sold recently on redfin and most are sold with at least one tenant but I have neglected to look at the rents. It definitely seems that the presence of tenants affects the sale price but having an open owner's unit and the empty cottage may balance that out.

[pch1013]

The only option might be to take the property off the rental market for 5 years, using the Ellis Act.

This is from a pro-tenant point of view, but contains useful info for owners too:

San Francisco Tenants Union

Unfortunately, any future owner would be subject to the 5-year rule that they must (a) rent the unit for the same rent as the evicted tenant was paying and (b) give former tenants first right of refusal.

[Larry Siegel]

Get a very good real estate lawyer, and be prepared to pay a lot of money to the tenant. Property owners have essentially no rights in San Francisco - they can't even collect rent (tenants can avoid paying rent for years while eviction proceedings grind their way through the courts).

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by SoFresh99

I am in a weird situation. My uncle is suffering from dementia and the family in Ohio and myself here in Boston are needed to go and take possession of his house, deal with his tenant and sell his property. He owns a 2 family in Delores Heights that I imagine is poorly maintained, with some sort of cottage in the back.

Is this a desireable area? I can see on "*%^illow" that the property values are high in that neighborhood but there are not many comps available for me to see online (redfin).

Can someone who is actually there clue me in on this neighborhood and if you have any experience: what hurdles we can expect with a tenant-at-will with no lease who is certainly paying super low rent and maybe just squatting (given my uncle's condition he is easily taken advantage of).

The correct spelling is "Dolores Heights". It's the Spanish version of the name; hence the "o", instead of the "e".

[SoFresh99]

Originally Posted by Larry Siegel

Get a very good real estate lawyer, and be prepared to pay a lot of money to the tenant. Property owners have essentially no rights in San Francisco - they can't even collect rent (tenants can avoid paying rent for years while eviction proceedings grind their way through the courts).

Yes I have been reading up on this online. I understand the the desire to protect one's vulnerable populations but these laws seem so excessive. My uncle is vulnerable and happens to be a homeowner. He has been taken advantage of for years by unscrupulous tenants with hard luck stories whom he lets live rent reduced or rent free. Now there will be no funds easily available for his care and he will become a ward of the state that prevented him from selling his home, the state will take his home and sell it and put the funds into conservatorship for a trustee to over see his care and the money dispersal. It seems unlikely that he will get fair value in this situation, and additionally unlikely that the care he receives will be of a high standard.