Section 8 question

[Jose Nino]

Hello, I am looking to put my house on the rental market and I have been tossing up the idea to accept section 8 housing. What are y’all’s thoughts or experiences on this? The pros and cons for y’all’s properties. Thanks in advance!

[Abel Curiel]

Quote from @Jose Nino:

Hello, I am looking to put my house on the rental market and I have been tossing up the idea to accept section 8 housing. What are y’all’s thoughts or experiences on this? The pros and cons for y’all’s properties. Thanks in advance!

 Hello Jose!

Pros: 

- Section 8 pays competitive market rents. In some areas, they will pay more than a cash tenant.
- Automatic rent payments every month. If the tenant pays a portion of the rent, it is usually a very low and manageable amount.
- Some voucher program pay a holding fee to the landlord. Programs will pay up to 1 month's rent for holding the unit while going through the section 8 documentation process

Cons:

- The program staff are oftentimes very helpful and supportive when onboarding a new tenant. They can be less responsive and less helpful once the tenant is already in. When you want to raise the rent, have tenant issues, or express other issues, you may notice that the program seems less motivated to reach a resolution. This could be because a lot of their efforts go towards getting voucher recipients into apartments.

All the best!

Abel