Section 8 - any tips for this type of tenants?

[Angela Zhou]

I bought a pretty nice SFH in Davie, FL. Any advice on renting it to section 8 tenants?

[Greg Scott]

I know there are plenty of people on this forum that rent to Section 8 tenants.  About 5 of our 800 residents are Section 8, but we do not accept new Section 8 residents.  In my experience, you tend to get a much rougher tenant.  My average repair costs are higher with Section 8.  The worst part, however, is you've made the government your partner.  If they are incompetent or have a lot of bureaucracy, you get the fun of dealing with that.  I hear that some local Section 8 authorities are easy to deal with.  In contrast, a number of landlords here in Indianapolis were facing foreclosure because IMH, our local Section 8 authority, hadn't paid rent in many months.

FWIW, the Trump administration recently floated the idea of a 2-year cap on Section 8 vouchers.