Updated 30 days ago on . Most recent reply

Keep or sell a rental that was trashed
Looking for some advice from all of you experienced investors out there. I have a rental property in the SF Bay Area, in the East Bay. The 1200 sq ft house built in the 1950's is in a working class neighborhood and would be worth approx 610k if it was in normal condition. I had tenants in there that basically destroyed the house. The estimate from the contractor was 200k to fix up. I don't know how accurate this estimate is, but for let's assume that is the cost to fix the house back up. If it was fixed up, it could probably rent for about $3,300.
Currently I do have some free time if needed to manage this process, but I don't have any experience with home remodels.
The big question I have is whether it makes more sense to fix this back up or to just sell it? What makes more sense?
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I'd start with a second quote and I'd also talk to a lawyer about suing the tenants. Is this the first time it has happened or it is something that will happen again? If the latter, I'd definitely sell. Talk to a realtor about selling as is vs fixing it and then selling it. I find it hard to believe that the damages would cost that much on a house of that size and price point.