Everybody sing! I left my heart....

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by RMESMH

Depends on how long they've been there.

My dad's youngest first cousin (about 20 years younger than my dad...and my dad passed away years ago) sold his house in SF last year. He's in his 70s, and he inherited it from his parents. His parents bought the house in 1938. It had an in law setup that was added in the 60s to unfinished space within the structure (behind the garage, without permits being pulled, IIRC). After his parents passed away, he rented it out until he retired about 10 years ago. When he sold it he was paying about $1400 a year in property taxes. He remarried after he retired. They are moving to the San Joaquin Valley. IIRC, he got 1.4 something for the house. It was smaller than the house in the OP, but it's in a better neighborhood. Knowing my great aunt and uncle, they probably had that house paid off before the end of World War 2 .

You're right on, here, and that's actually a strategy I typically advise homebuyers to follow; look for a place with some potential rental space in it. And many of the houses around SF, including in the profiled neighborhood, do have that, if they're not full of kids or an aging elder generation; so many of them have a spare ground-floor bedroom and accompanying storage space or utility room, that might be converted to a living room. But some of the rental income is lost to income taxes. Still, it's better than nothing.

[RMESMH]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

You're right on, here, and that's actually a strategy I typically advise homebuyers to follow; look for a place with some potential rental space in it. And many of the houses around SF, including in the profiled neighborhood, do have that, if they're not full of kids or an aging elder generation; so many of them have a spare ground-floor bedroom and accompanying storage space or utility room, that might be converted to a living room. But some of the rental income is lost to income taxes. Still, it's better than nothing.

And the people who bought it gutted (with permits) much of the area where the in law setup was and added another bedroom in that area, a heavier door at the bottom of the interior stairs, and they turned a large upstairs closet into another bath. So there is now even more 'separateness/division' and flexibility. Owners could use the bottom as a truly separate rental or, at any time, they can take the pins out of the hinge on the new heavier door at the bottom of the stairs and remove it, resulting in free-flowing one family use.

Another relative of mine did the same thing (added an unofficial in law...this time during 30 years of ownership rather than 80) in a different part of SF that has even more row houses, but is in a hilly area. When that son inherited that house, he and his wife brought the in law area up to code (with permits), didn't change anything else, and then sold that house (that was over 25 years ago). The people who bought that house still own it.