HUD Section 8 Landlord

[Jeffrey Swanson]

I currently do not have any investment properties but am very interested in getting started. Has anyone went down the HUD/Section 8 path as a landlord? It seems like you could buy houses on the cheap side and get government guaranteed rent on them. Are there any major downsides, regulations, qualification, etc?

On the same note has anyone bought a rental unit and then later listed it as section 8 housing when they couldn't find a renter? I would be interested to know if that is a good plan B. 

[Nathan Gesner]

Quote from @Jeffrey Swanson:

I currently do not have any investment properties but am very interested in getting started. Has anyone went down the HUD/Section 8 path as a landlord? It seems like you could buy houses on the cheap side and get government guaranteed rent on them. Are there any major downsides, regulations, qualification, etc?

On the same note has anyone bought a rental unit and then later listed it as section 8 housing when they couldn't find a renter? I would be interested to know if that is a good plan B. 

Section 8 renters are good and bad. If you think Section 8 will make your life easy with good tenants and guaranteed payments, then I recommend you educate yourself a little more. I'm in a small town and have had about 30 Section 8 renters. About 50% of them were problematic at some point and left owing money. Other people never have a problem, while some have even more problems.