Knoxville, TN · Member since 2013 · 62 posts · 216 votes
If this has been posted before, my apologies. I found this link on another forum and wanted you all to see it. This is a glaring example of why I do not accept Section 8 vouchers. What a sad video. I wish the guy and his family well.
Rental Property Investor · Oklahoma City, OK · Member since 2013 · 1k+ posts · 412 votes
13y
You know what? Section 8 had nothing to do with this. This is how some tenants work. You have to screen then verify... and, I got tickled because on Monday, after a trash-out, I came home and scrubbed the bottom of my shoes. Yes, the house was that dirty and cockroach infested. Yes, it was on me, I let it happen.
Investor · Wichita Falls, TX · Member since 2010 · 3k+ posts · 603 votes
13y
Haven't seen this video before....ouch!
If anyone IS going to accept section 8 tenants, they need to be on point with their tenant screening. I would even visit the property they currently live in, perhaps unexpectedly. I don't know the details, but it looks like they were accidental landlords and may not have done a thorough screening. With that said, even the best screening isn't a 100% guarantee, section 8 or not.
Lender · Fort Pierce, FL · Member since 2009 · 825 posts · 486 votes
13y
Sad really. It is fortunate that some people never learn responsibility and are never held accountable to learn that responsibility. Doubly sad when someone else has to pay for it.
Investor · Cincinnati, OH · Member since 2013 · 64 posts · 1 vote
13y
This is awful. My first tenants after I became an accidental landlord broke a window out, never maintained the yard despite constant reminders, and I never found out what happened to one of the closet doors. Since then my tenants have been great (knock on wood). My first tenants weren't THIS bad, but I agree with @Mehran K. in that he probably needed to be more engaged in the process. Totally blaming the victim here, and the tenant was the one who did the damage, but...
Also, don't read the comments. YouTube comments are always enraging, no matter your views!
Rental Property Investor · Oklahoma City, OK · Member since 2013 · 1k+ posts · 412 votes
13y
You know what? Section 8 had nothing to do with this. This is how some tenants work. You have to screen then verify... and, I got tickled because on Monday, after a trash-out, I came home and scrubbed the bottom of my shoes. Yes, the house was that dirty and cockroach infested. Yes, it was on me, I let it happen.
Real Estate Broker · Canton, GA · Member since 2010 · 15k+ posts · 11k+ votes
13y
If you look at the whole video you will see they say the zip code and it is in a rough part of Atlanta.
They bought at the housing boom and the zip code had some of the highest fraud in the nation.
Median income is showing at about 22,200!! but houses were selling at 220,000 at the boom (Hello anyone with common sense out there?).
As far as the section 8 usually they are not in that nice of a property but this was an accidental landlord. Regardless of section 8 this area is really rough in Atlanta and I think no decent tenant would stay in that area for safety reasons. This is why I think with tenant screening you couldn't land a great tenant in that area.
I know investors that own around there and there comments are "We do not buy in these areas anymore because no matter how nice you make a place the people in that area just thrash it all over again".
I looked there myself about 3 to 4 years ago when the market was frozen and things were cheap but the bad areas and high leftover property tax evaluations left me saying (no thanks) to investing down there.
I do feel for these owners however I do not want to get religious but they are believing God will take care of the situation for them on the You Tube video. I have heard countless people say things like this before and the bank forecloses or they lose their shirt, etc.
They say they want to honor the mortgage commitment to the bank but the property being that much underwater and damaged sometimes it makes sense to walk away.
What if someone gets hurt or killed on that property and they get sued as the owners to add insult to injury?? Common sense needs to prevail when a property is in that bad of an area and that much underwater with that much damage.
It's not worth the health of your marriage and your families needs as that property might not ever recover to a break even point to get rid of it. These owners might not be even able to give it back to the bank. If the bank will not allow a short sale or DIL maybe the can quit claim away to someone else to get rid of the property liability but of course not the mortgage.
The other side of this is there will be other posters from Atlanta saying they love the area etc. and invest there. I do not like areas that are not sound economically or speculation plays because you can lose big. Many section 8 tenants do not do well but some have been good. If they are not paying their own money they tend to have nothing at stake in the deal. I know some will say they could lose section 8 status etc. but many do not care and the case workers just let them move to another place and could care less about the landlord. That has been my experience with the section 8 authority in Atlanta. The case workers have to heavy a load and want to manage the files and that's it.
Investor · Los Angeles, CA · Member since 2013 · 231 posts · 260 votes
13y
Tough to watch and I totally feel for the owner/landlord. He blamed Section 8, but I don't know if there is anymore risk with Section 8. Where I live there is a long wait list for Section 8 and tenants do anything to stay in the program or they become homeless or have to move out of state. Also, that house seemed too nice for Section 8, but I suppose it is where you live. Here, Section 8 are pretty much only apartments and mostly in the roughest parts of town (some are in moderate parts of town, but still almost always apartments).
Investor · Decatur Atlanta, GA · Member since 2011 · 610 posts · 232 votes
13y
I have mixed emotions on Section 8, but there is no room for emotion in investing. I have 3 rentals near Atlanta and all rent for or over $1,100. I looked into Section 8 here and the county where they're located only allows up to $950 for a 3 bedroom. I would get calls from potential tenants saying I'll pay the difference between what their voucher pays and my rent. This is illegal and if you accept it and they don't pay there is nothing you can do. A home that I now rent I lived in for 2 years and across the street were 2 Section 8's. Out of 110 homes all the problems were with those 2 homes. Luckily the owner defaulted and responsible homeowners purchased. I think there should be some additional responsibilities with Section 8. Like you must do community service or volunteer as a cross walk or something.
Investor · Lucas, TX · Member since 2010 · 620 posts · 352 votes
13y
$1053 rent for this nice place? Wow. I wouldn't have let any section 8 tenant in such a nice place. Granite counter tops? $300 faucet?
I have only one class C rental and it is for my section 8 tenants. If they tear the place up (and none have yet) it won't kill me as the place ain't that pretty to begin with.
Investor · Mission Viejo, CA · Member since 2012 · 627 posts · 204 votes
13y
That guy apparently did not have a property manager. He mentions one of the rooms had been a kid's room, so it was apparently a house he formerly lived in.
While we currently have two Section 8 tenants, the program is pure socialism and the government is massively in debt (over $50,000 per citizen!), so it will have to end.
We had one idiot Section 8 tenant in a brand new house in Idaho. A sob story - widow with four children. She burned the carpet in a few spots. When she was hit with a late fee one month, she turned off the water to the back yard landscaping we had just installed, even though she was not paying for the water. The good thing? Voucher bye-bye, probably forever.
Investor · Mission Viejo, CA · Member since 2012 · 627 posts · 204 votes
13y
I've met and spoken with many landlords and property mangers who do screen for "decent" by making unannounced visits to the places where potential tenants live. One put it this way - what you see is what your place will look like. Is that how you want your place to look?
Mike, Why waste hard-earned tax money giving them tents;) Is the tenant who tore that place up a benefit to society in any way?
Face facts - the government will not be able to keep going the way it is, so Section 8 can not last as it is. Again, over $50,000 debt per citizen. Maybe they should just send a supplemental tax bill to everyone?
Realtor, General Contractor, and Developer · Redding, CA · Member since 2009 · 7k+ posts · 4k+ votes
13y
Section 8 has nothing to do with the character of a person. There are good people that are poor and benefit from Section 8 housing, that honestly need the help. Then, there are worthless human beings that are lazy, drug dealers, etc. that know how to play the system. As with everything, you cannot use a broad brush when painting pictures.
Section 8 has nothing to do with the character of a person. There are good people that are poor and benefit from Section 8 housing, that honestly need the help. Then, there are worthless human beings that are lazy, drug dealers, etc. that know how to play the system. As with everything, you cannot use a broad brush when painting pictures.
Exactly! Don't call the basket evil if a couple of the apples inside it are rotten.
You know what? Section 8 had nothing to do with this. This is how some tenants work.
Well, it has SOMETHING to do with it. Tenants with zero "real" income can't get their work wages garnished as easily when they cause damage and get sued. Section 8 and low-income tend to have less financially to lose, tend to have less nice things they want to try to take care of, tend to be not clean the house as often (if you were living in a cheap dump in the dangerous projects with no job and little money, would you clean your house every week? I think not).
Not all high-earning tenants are good, either, of course. But someone renting a nice house for $5000 a month is generally going to want to take decent care of it to enjoy it. And so they don't get their $10,000/month salary garnished from work and/or get their huge deposit kept.
If you're jobless, poor, and living free in a $500 section 8 dump in the dangerous ghetto, you have more on your mind than trying to keep your landlord's carpet clean or your apartment tidy.
Plus there's a matter of pride and class. You don't find this as often in the slums. Someone who has a good job and can afford a nice house is more likely to show off their house to their friends so they have more of an incentive to keep it nice. They just have more of a solid work ethic. They want to dress nice for their professional job, they want a nice house that they work hard to afford, they take pride in their lives. A section 8 teen wearing pants hanging off the butt jobless in the hood spending his excess cash on cigarettes doesn't have as much pride in their appearance or life. If we're talking this section 8 tenant, yeah, it matters. You think a suburban mom is going to willingly let her kid dress trashy or trash the apartment? Pride counts, and there are more pressing matters-- like survival-- in the ghetto than in the suburbs.
Now, some people do work 80 hours a week in the ghetto. Sometimes you find exceptions in section 8 of people trying to make it on their own and who have a lot of pride in their lives. Maybe it's a single working mother who cleans houses with her 6 kids in an expensive urban area so she's still poor despite working hard and having a solid work ethic. With this situation, she simply doesn't have time to try to keep her own home nice. The projects for her is more likely to be a temporary arrangement-- she works hard and will one day move away from the projects.
Some working poor do keep their houses nice and appreciate what they have. Especially in the rural south, you'll find plenty of people with pride... especially if they have kids they're trying to have a nice home for. But in general, if you're not paying for a place and have no money and no job and struggle to buy food/clothes and live in a horrible neighborhood, what incentive do you have to take care of a ghetto house that's free from section 8? Sure there are a few exceptions of section 8 tenants who keep a nice place despite their unfortunate life circumstances. But, generally, you'll find higher paying tenants keep their houses decent because they're paying so much money to live in a nice house. And they're not worried about where their next meal or pair of shoes will come from. And what thug violence will occur outside their doorstep in a section 8 project. Plus, some section 8 are disabled or physically unable to work-- let alone want to clean their house much.
I would say that college students are the exception. Even if they come from "money," they tend to be much messier than working adults.
Real Estate Investor · Dumont, NJ · Member since 2013 · 61 posts · 2 votes
13y
JR, Newbie here so please ignore my ignorance, I don't understand why you would rent your beautiful home with high-end finishes to Section 8. We're you in a desperate position, inexperienced. Excuse me as I'm not trying to rub salt, rather understand so I don't repeat your mistakes.
Section 8 should be a temporary "hand up" to help people work and land on their feet. It shouldn't be a permanent hand out for people who don't work (veterans and those truly disabled with no ability to function on their own). If we're giving "hand ups," not "hand outs," I would want these people to have more than a tent while they work to better their own lives. Some good people fall on hard times... that's why I support a temporary "hand up," but I don't support "hand outs."
Knoxville, TN · Member since 2013 · 62 posts · 216 votes
13y
Michael Krassos-
That is not my home. I found that video on another forum. I don't know who the gentleman is that rented his house to the animal who trashed it. I just wanted to share the video.
JR
I'm not saying to give everyone on section 8 just a tent. Only those who have proven to be animals. 1 or 2 strikes, and all you get is a tent. or a box.
Investor · Vienna, VA · Member since 2011 · 158 posts · 45 votes
13y
Been there, done that. I had one section 8 renter, and our house actually looked worse than that when we finally got rid of them. Luckily, our house was a bit "worn" to begin with and not nearly as nice as that one. Still, very disheartening to walk into that. None of the three adults worked, and you had to wonder "what did they do all day?" Certainly didn't do any cleaning. They never paid their "portion" of the rent, so every few months we would start the eviction process and they would go around from charity to charity trying to scrape together the money to pay their portion. If they had put half that effort into working they probably could have had quite a career! The icing on the cake was the $2000 water bill we got stuck with. That was an expensive lesson, but we have not repeated it--nor will we.
Investor · Mission Viejo, CA · Member since 2012 · 627 posts · 204 votes
13y
Deborah, we all make mistakes, but we are trying.
We do have our property managers inspect our houses at least twice per year, and send us photos and a report. That definitely helps, but nothing would help renting to such a waste of oxygen as had occupied the house in the video, so screening is vital. Apartment associations provide screening and many nice services, so people can also join them to get help in their area if they do not want to hire a manager.
Indeed, the ones who are temporary seem to be few and far between. The same problems with foster children, with everything outside of basic constitutional functions which government touches. The agency personnel have no desire to be successful, as that would mean big cuts or the end of their agency.
Rental Property Investor · Buffalo, MN · Member since 2010 · 511 posts · 92 votes
13y
Yes it sucks, but I think if your not an experienced landlord (not sure about this guy) you don't want to rent out to section 8. Some people just want to put a warm body in the house, screen, screen your tenants.
Get out your section 8 bible, you need to prepare for what could happen.
$1053 rent for this nice place? Wow. I wouldn't have let any section 8 tenant in such a nice place. Granite counter tops? $300 faucet?
I have only one class C rental and it is for my section 8 tenants. If they tear the place up (and none have yet) it won't kill me as the place ain't that pretty to begin with.
I totally agree. That house is WAY too nice to let a welfare case move in. My section 8 tenants live in bare bones houses in a semi-ghetto. I remove garbage disposals, ceiling fans, faucet sprayers, and everything else that they might break.
Involved In Real Estate · Rochester Hills, MI · Member since 2010 · 812 posts · 178 votes
13y
If you're renting low end, I prefer section 8 because there is more than just an eviction hanging over their head, there is getting kicked off the program.
