Section 8 in Philadelphia, PA

Investor · Queens, NY · Member since 2021 · 21 posts · 13 votes

hello, I'm looking to start my rental portfolio. can you recommend some up to coming neighborhoods in philly with good rental potential? or any good area for philly rental? can you recommend any PMs aswell for PA? I’m specifically looking at section 8.

1 Reply

61 views

Most Popular Reply

Sheryl Sitman

Rental Property Investor · Philadelphia, PA · Member since 2015 · 478 posts · 362 votes

@Karim Elahi I am a Philly investor with a few section 8 props. Be prepared - it is not as easy as you may think to work with the tenants or PHA. Do your homework. I am happy with my Property Manager. I run the Philadelphia landlords Connect Facebook group and you can get a lot of info there as well. Feel free to reach out. Good luck!!

2 Reply

See this reply in the discussion

11 Replies

Jump to latestLatest

Sort by

Chris Pelc
Investor · Philadelphia · Member since 2023 · 104 posts · 46 votes
2y
Quote from @Karim Elahi:

hello, I'm looking to start my rental portfolio. can you recommend some up to coming neighborhoods in philly with good rental potential? or any good area for philly rental? can you recommend any PMs aswell for PA? I’m specifically looking at section 8.

Hey Karim, i replied to your other post! But depending on if you are trying to target the higher opportunity areas or some mid teir areas. Grays Ferry, which is in the zip 19146 is a great spot to invest for section 8. If you are able to get something within Point Breeze, but still in the zip code of 19146, you'll have the one of the highest opportunities for rental potential. It shouldn't be hard to get into a spot under $200k all in, which would smash the 1% rule.

As of now, a 3 bedroom in this zip code is scheduled to payout around $3,120/Month.
0 Reply
Nadiyah MalbonBusiness Member
Realtor · NJ · Member since 2020 · 104 posts · 31 votes
2y
The entire city of Philly is good for rental. The best and worst neighborhoods are staying rented. There is no shortage of renters out here and Section 8 is my personal favorite for my own properties.
908-663-8996
Nadiyah Malbon Group (NMG) 4.941 Reviews
Website View Page
1 Reply
- Oliver Martinez
  Member since 2024 · 20 posts · 7 votes
  1y
  Quote from @Nadiyah Malbon:
  
  The entire city of Philly is good for rental. The best and worst neighborhoods are staying rented. There is no shortage of renters out here and Section 8 is my personal favorite for my own properties.
  Do you usually get anything close to the cap that’s advertised on the PHA website?
  0 Reply
Sheryl Sitman
Rental Property Investor · Philadelphia, PA · Member since 2015 · 478 posts · 362 votes
2y
@Karim Elahi I am a Philly investor with a few section 8 props. Be prepared - it is not as easy as you may think to work with the tenants or PHA. Do your homework. I am happy with my Property Manager. I run the Philadelphia landlords Connect Facebook group and you can get a lot of info there as well. Feel free to reach out. Good luck!!
2 Reply
Tianbo Li
Member since 2024 · 2 posts · 1 vote
2y
Quote from @Sheryl Sitman:

@Karim Elahi I am a Philly investor with a few section 8 props. Be prepared - it is not as easy as you may think to work with the tenants or PHA. Do your homework. I am happy with my Property Manager. I run the Philadelphia landlords Connect Facebook group and you can get a lot of info there as well. Feel free to reach out. Good luck!!

Hi Sheryl! I am also starting to look into investing section 8s. Would you mind sharing your property manager?
Also a general question, is it worth to spend $7000 to get mentorship to get started into section 8s? Such as recessionproofblueprint.com. They promise to take care a lot of the paperwork and perhaps common mistakes for first timers, but not sure if that's worth the $7000 (also upfront). A friend did it and so far doesn't look like a total scam, but I guess a month in, he also hasn't started cash-flowing yet
1 Reply
Sheryl Sitman
Rental Property Investor · Philadelphia, PA · Member since 2015 · 478 posts · 362 votes
2y
@Tianbo Li property managers dont usually have time to takk to folks that have not yet acquired property but feel free to DM me.
Each And every Section 8 office is run differently. In Philly its PHA, one of the biggest sec 8 offices in the country. Most of the challenges of having sec 8 props are related to the specific org running them so not sure how a course would help. For example, when pha slaps you with a surprise inspection cause their system "forgot" to send a letter and then issues a 24 hr repair notice cause one outlet in the house does not work but they send that notice an hour before they come to reinspect lol, a $7k course is not going to have prepared you how to get an electrician the same day. If you are new to investing and need help to fet started maybe a good course will give you a push in the right direction, but i think in this case maybe there are better cheaper ways to first understand what the opportunity really is and if it is right for you and your goals/available resources . Àsk your friend why they are not cash flowing. And consider that if they had put the money in a good MM, they would be getting 5+% right now
1 Reply
Tianbo Li
Member since 2024 · 2 posts · 1 vote
2y
Quote from @Sheryl Sitman:

@Tianbo Li property managers dont usually have time to takk to folks that have not yet acquired property but feel free to DM me.
Each And every Section 8 office is run differently. In Philly its PHA, one of the biggest sec 8 offices in the country. Most of the challenges of having sec 8 props are related to the specific org running them so not sure how a course would help. For example, when pha slaps you with a surprise inspection cause their system "forgot" to send a letter and then issues a 24 hr repair notice cause one outlet in the house does not work but they send that notice an hour before they come to reinspect lol, a $7k course is not going to have prepared you how to get an electrician the same day. If you are new to investing and need help to fet started maybe a good course will give you a push in the right direction, but i think in this case maybe there are better cheaper ways to first understand what the opportunity really is and if it is right for you and your goals/available resources . Àsk your friend why they are not cash flowing. And consider that if they had put the money in a good MM, they would be getting 5+% right now
Thank you Sheryl for sharing the detailed experience! For the course I'm looking into, they not only present some educational materials, but AFAIK also offer their resources in each market (i.e. lenders, PMs, inspectors, etc..). So I guess in another way, it is paying to access those resources. But then again, Im not sure how much better those are and maybe I can just get similar if not better resources by searching on BP if I spend a little more time.

Would also like to learn how other folks on this forum got started with S8s? Performing self-search or through some community? Thanks!

0 Reply
Bianca Mendoza
Member since 2023 · 8 posts · 3 votes
2y
Hello sherryl! I went to your FB page and I don't see any posts. Is it open?
0 Reply
- Sheryl Sitman
  Rental Property Investor · Philadelphia, PA · Member since 2015 · 478 posts · 362 votes
  1y
  Quote from @Bianca Mendoza:
  
  Hello sherryl! I went to your FB page and I don't see any posts. Is it open?
  
  Just seeing this - you can join Philadelphia Landlords Connect GROUP on FB and there are posts and lengthy discussions every day
  0 Reply
Sheryl Sitman
Rental Property Investor · Philadelphia, PA · Member since 2015 · 478 posts · 362 votes
1y
@Oliver Martinez I run a FB group pf a few thousand small landlords in Philly so Section 8 / PHA is a hot topic. For a while it seemed like many were not getting the higher end of the published fair market rent rates but as folks learn what they need to do to get those rents, more and more are succeeding. IMO it is a good opportunity for many owners and worth learning from someone with some expertise. I get an occasional consultation from colleagues who have turned section 8 rentals into a science. But keep your eye on the news and the plans for changes at HUD of course.
0 Reply
Alan AsriantsBusiness Member
Real Estate Agent · Philadelphia, PA · Member since 2019 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
1y
Hey Karim, are you looking to invest into Real Estate or Open a Real Estate business?
Investments and businesses usually run on different principles and have different results.
Investments are vehicles that are meant to bring passive returns with minimal input and build wealth OVER TIME. Most investments like traditional stocks, IRAs, gold, etc give the best return after long holding periods. In fact most RE investors make their money not from cash flow but from appreciation.
Businesses are vehicles that bring active income and cash flow, but when all is said and done they are tough to sell and usually aren't worth much. Unless its a public company or very very very successful. This is typically the Section 8 model. Higher cash flow, but lower outsale.
Also I have run the numbers many times, in reality after repairs, evictions, maintaince, non payment etc, you end up cash flowing the same as a Class A/B rental.
Good luck
[email protected]267-767-0111
Alan Asriants - New Century Real Estate 590 Reviews
View Page
0 Reply

Join the conversationCreate a free account to reply, vote on answers and follow this thread.