Hi everyone, I'm a new investor making my first offer on a 2 unit MF in Rensselaer. 3 brs in the area seem to go for around 800/month, but Section 8 says they will pay 1300/month. I was just curious to know if anyone has had experience with Section 8 in the area. I'll be needing a full team of handypeople, plumbers, painters, contractors, electricians, once I close to get the place ready to go, and would really appreciate it if you have any favorite people you'd like to recommend. I'm planning on managing the property myself, currently from Westchester and ultimately NYC, so it will be important to make sure I'm finding good solid colleagues to work with. Thanks in advance for your help, I'm very excited to immerse myself in the Capital Region / Albany markets!

@Steven Kane congrats on the upcoming purchase. My experience with Rensselaer county section 8 has been fairly positive. Take the initiative when it comes inspections and paperwork and you'll be in good shape.

@Steven Luttman great to hear! Sending you a message now

I don't have any experience to share, but I attended a Landlording class from AHP Home in Albany and a panel member was part of that program. They said the waitlist was years long and there were many folks waiting to get onto it, and this was pre-covid. Not sure if this has something to do with the price discrepancy or not, that's a big difference! You might be able to call and talk to someone there if you wanted. They don't have any upcoming classes but I found it was a great help for self managing my first property.  I'm sure there are probably other classes closer to you and maybe virtual although they might cover additional rental regs for NYC. 

When you say Sec 8 says they'll pay $1300/month, who/what exactly does that mean?

Usually the local H/A will take the HUD FMRs for the county and use those for voucher guidance. Why they'd pay like 40% more than market-rate seems optimistic at best.

@Steve Morris that’s what their pricing breakdown shows and it was confirmed by the local administrator. I was surprised as well!

@Samantha Cash thanks Samantha I’ll check it out!

@Steve Morris sorry didn’t post the link—

https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/fmr/fmrs/FY2021_code/2021summary.odn

I was looking into section 8 for tenants. You also have to look at what the section 8 intails. It might also need you to pay the water, garbage or electricity or some kind of combination. Look a little bit more into it. You usually in these times send an email with your questions to a section 8 administrator and they will respond with some answers or to a website to answer them. I received an email with links to the section 8 website directly to the answers for my questions from a section 8 administrator. 

I've seen the links since I use them for OR counties.  What county is Renssaler in?  Do you know how much you have to take out for UAs?