Hi all, I'm interested in Section 8 rentals for a 5 bedroom house in suburban Richmond VA. What is the best book/website/government agency resource for how to info? Thanks in advance.

1) All the places you usually would only add - SEC 8 OK to your and and add - SEC 8 applicants must include a copy of their voucher with their application. If they don’t yet have their voucher issued that shows their bedroom size, don’t waste your time showing or qualifying them.  Tell them to call you back once they get their paperwork.

2) Fill out the form to get the property added to the local Housing Authority available property list. Sometimes you can find this on their website. Sometimes they will have to e-mail you the form. Depends on the HA office.

3) www.gosection8.com.

@Robert Stamper

A 5 bedroom house might not be a good fit for the Section 8 program. The RRHA requires 2 people per bedroom, except for the head of household (who can have their own room). In order to get a 5 bedroom voucher, a family would have to have 8-9 people. While technically there may be 5 bedroom vouchers, finding someone with one would be like finding a needle in a haystack.

If you found a tenant, you would be able to charge $1938 minus the cost of utilities for monthly rent. That would be somewhere around $1500 per month.

If you want to move forward with this, I would advertise on gosection8.com

Just to point out for everyone not in Richmond, VA - each Housing Authority gets a total HUD budget, then gets to determine 1) their formula to determine bedroom size and 2) their % paid to comparable non-SEC 8 rents that they considerably affordable. Typically it is 100%, but I've seen it range from 90-110%. If anyone has known a HA to have a budget beyond this range, hopefully they will chime in to educate.

In our market we have 7 Housing Authorities - one per city since we don't have counties. One of our cities, the most coveted, has a bedroom formula of two people per bedroom, no matter what. The primary voucher holder does not get his/her own bedroom, and they don't separate sexes. On the other end of the spectrum, most of our cities give a single voucher holder their own bedroom, and allocate two people per bedroom under age 10, and over age 10, allocate two people per bedroom - as long as they are the same sex. All of these variables can be changed annually, as the HUD budgets get updated.

Thanks @John Pierce ,

I recently listened to show 356 of the BP podcast with @Joseph Asamoah,  He is in DC and specifically targets 5 bedroom properties.  He does so to get families that want nice places as tenants.   I have asked him for input regarding the 2/bedroom requirement.   I will repost his answers here (with his permission) when he responds. 

After some searching I found this list. 

https://section8facts.com/section-8-guidelines-for-unit-size-how-many-bedrooms-updated/

It appears this rule is a national standard.   I agree with you.  I don't think a 5 bedroom is viable at $1500 for 8+ people. 

You also appear to be right on the utility allowance. 

https://pocketsense.com/purpose-hud-utility-allowance-8782487.html

Like you said, rent net of utilities is going to max out in the $1500 range.  At $1938 for a nice 5 BR rental, I was going to be very happy with my cash flows.   At $1500, I might not be happy enough to go through the hassle of Section 8 added compliance. 

Thanks for a VERY good reply.   I think this is the second time you have posted in response to my questions.   We should go to lunch sometime! :)

Robby

]

Also, 

Thanks @Patti Robertson ,

I suppose we need to reach out to Henrico County (just outside of Richmond) and see about their two per bedroom limits.   I guess there are some large families out there, but 8-10 people in a 2000 square foot house sounds a bit excessive.  Do you rent to 10 person households in 5 bedroom houses?

Thanks!

Robby

@Robert Stamper - FYI that both of the website links you posted above are private websites and in no way associated with HUD. In my market, at least one (possibly more) Housing Authorities absolutely counts adult kids currently enrolled in college who don't live at home, no matter what the distance between the college and the home. 6 out of 7 of our HAs use a bedroom size formula different than two heartbeats per bedroom. In my market, as a general rule, if you subtract $250-300 from the max allowance you find on the HUD website, that's generally the max we can get approved for, assuming the tenant has enough income.

Read the Section 8 Bible - great book

I agree with @Angelo Mart . The Section 8 Bible is always the one I hear people bring up who invest in Section 8 rentals. 

@Robert Stamper read the section 8 bible book 1 & 2 in addition I'd take a look at some of your local laws as some of the other plies have stated and possibly speak to someone at your local section 8 office about how the process works

@Robert Stamper we’ve got a few Sec 8 houses outside the Philadelphia area. I’ve spent a lot of time recently researching the program.

Section 8 Bible is great to get started with. Other than that get out and talk to other current Sec 8 landlords in your area. One of the first rentals we bought was previously Sec 8 and the seller gave me a ton of good info when I asked.

Here is HUD 2020 FMR guide. The rates do vary from the table. I've heard it can go between 90-110% of whats here depending on a number of factors. Our properties were getting 92%, which $100 cheaper than posted.

https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/fmr/fmrs/FY2020_code/select_Geography.odn

We don’t have any 5 beds now but I have heard that you could have Up to 8-9 people and they are tougher on the house. My opinion it comes down to a math question of does the increase in cash flow vs a 3 bed more than offset the additional repair work when your turn the unit over.

Originally posted by @Brian Beers :

@Robert Stamper we’ve got a few Sec 8 houses outside the Philadelphia area. I’ve spent a lot of time recently researching the program.

Section 8 Bible is great to get started with. Other than that get out and talk to other current Sec 8 landlords in your area. One of the first rentals we bought was previously Sec 8 and the seller gave me a ton of good info when I asked.

Here is HUD 2020 FMR guide. The rates do vary from the table. I've heard it can go between 90-110% of whats here depending on a number of factors. Our properties were getting 92%, which $100 cheaper than posted.

https://www.huduser.gov/portal... don’t have any 5 beds now but I have heard that you could have Up to 8-9 people and they are tougher on the house. My opinion it comes down to a math question of does the increase in cash flow vs a 3 bed more than offset the additional repair work when your turn the unit over.

 Brian have you ever experienced section 8 inspector requiring installing Tamper Resistant outlets in Philly?

@Sheryl Sitman I have not heard that. However I am in Montgomery County so we may be a little different