S8 Acquisition - anyone ever use them?

Question

Hey everyone — I’m currently researching S8 ACQUISITION (the Section 8 turnkey company) and wanted to see if anyone here has firsthand experience working with them. I’d really appreciate hearing from investors who’ve purchased properties through them or used their management services. Thank you

Tejaswi Doddapaneni · Answer

Same here Phillip - I just talked to them & not sure if they are as good as promised?

Stuart Udis · Answer

My opinion differs from Robert's, and it is not meant as a criticism of S8 Acquisitions specifically, but rather of the turnkey Section 8 rental model more generally. Section 8 rentals are among the lowest barrier forms of real estate investing available, so I have always questioned why investors are willing to pay a premium to acquire them in turnkey form. In most cases, the underlying real estate has weak fundamentals and struggles to support the realities of capex/ opex and before someone chimes in and says they are turn key and have limited cap ex, the real estate itself cannot absorb quality renovations and are ordinarily subject to shotty work with pieced together renovations. It's all the real estate can support.  As a result, the economics often work best for the transaction participants who buy, renovate, package, manage, and sell the properties, rather than for the ultimate owner. That may not be immediately visible when looking at a pro forma, but it often becomes apparent several years into ownership when the real costs of maintaining the property begin to emerge.

Robert Ellis · Answer

Whenever I'm evaluating a turnkey provider, I try to separate the property from the operator.

Most companies can show a successful property.

The harder questions are:

• What happens when the first major repair shows up?
• How accurate were the original renovation numbers?
• How accurate were the rent projections?
• How long have they been operating in that market?
• What does the property look like 3–5 years after acquisition?

I've found that the long-term ownership experience usually tells you more than the initial purchase.

The best operators I've seen are the ones whose investors are still happy several years later, not just a few months after closing.

For anyone who's worked with them, I'd be curious what the property performance looked like after the first year of ownership.

S8 Acquisition - anyone ever use them?

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