Birmingham, Alabama Over saturated Section 8?

Question

Was looking to do Section 8 rentals in certain areas but I am unsure about Birmingham, Alabama. Does anyone have an idea of how the living situation is over there?

Steven Barr · Answer

Birmingham is a very tough market. You can’t go by “area” or even “pockets”. It’s street by street. One street makes a world of difference between minor and major crime.

For section 8 specifically, lots of West coast investors came in over the last few years and bought a ton of homes which has given Sec 8 tenants a ton of supply to choose from. Very common to see them stay in a house for 1 year there, trash it, and move to next one

Not to say you can’t make it work, but much harder than just going on Zillow or to a wholesaler, buying a 70k property, and cashflowing

Hunter Terryn · Answer

Hi Javier,My company does a lot of S8 rentals in Birmingham, so I'm happy to provide any insight I can to help.I'm not sure exactly what you mean by "living situation", but generally speaking, as long as you follow the guidelines of the housing authorities and keep up with repairs on the property, the tenants can enjoy an excellent quality of life and the investment can provide some solid long-term cash flow for you. Feel free to DM me or reach out via the contact in my signature if you have additional questions!-Hunter

Aaron K. · Answer

West Coast investor here! That's exactly what I was thinking, I'm assuming that Memphis TN has the same thing going on with S8 investors flocking over there to pickup 60k houses to put on the HCV program.

Hunter Terryn · Answer

Birmingham housing authority tends to be the slowest/least responsive. They got rid of all their case workers earlier this year and it's been a bit of a struggle to narrow down communication. Jefferson County and Bessemer are much easier to work with right now.Inspections usually happen fairly soon once we have an approved tenant. It's more dependent on the timeline from putting the home on the market to when someone gets through the steps of the application. Typically during the spring/summer, we'd expect that to be somewhere in the 14-35 days range. While the fall/winter is more like 35-60 days.

Carlos Ptriawan · Answer

The way I survive :- do not accept s8- make sure you have good PM, for example evernest above- let them handle everything

Jason Wayne · Answer

That's good to hear.  Are you seeing it take 2 to 3 months for the housing authority to schedule inspections?  Is the Jefferson County housing authority better or worse than the Birmingham housing authority?

Hunter Terryn · Answer

@Jason Wayne Once the inspection is passed, we typically see a move-in date set within a week or two. Pretty quick turnaround once we get over that hump.

Birmingham, Alabama Over saturated Section 8?

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