What are the pros and cons to Section 8? Pa

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Patti Robertson · Answer

Account Closed - Here's a tip. You can use the HUD rules to your advantage in the scenario you were in though.  After fixing all the problems that were obviously tenant caused, you could have billed their ledger and then sent them a pay or quit letter.  When they didn't pay, you could take them to court and get a judgment.  Once that's done, notify SEC 8 of the judgment and send the tenant a list of charities that are in the business of helping people avoid homelessness.  SEC 8 in my market has a list of these in their office.  SEC 8 cannot reissue the tenant their paperwork to move if you have a judgment unless you agree to let them go. With a few exceptions, tenants can almost always get charity assistance to pay their judgment.

Patti Robertson · Answer

I wrote a blog on the topic that may help you.

https://www.biggerpockets.com/blogs/9232/55313-intro-to-section-8---your-perceptions-vs-my-realities

Patti Robertson · Answer

@Brandi Baker - I would say that in general, low income housing neighborhoods require more hands on management, regardless of who writes the check for rent.

Patti Robertson · Answer

@Corby Goade- I actually have the opposit experience with turnover. I have the longest lease terms with SEC 8 of any of my tenant types. Military tenants have the shortest lease terms. I find that SEC 8 tenants move only when their family competition changes to the point that they can no longer afford the house or they have too many people to fit in the house. In a lot of cases, we keep them as tenants, but move them into a property with a different bedroom count.

Also, while a landlord does have to repair anything that the tenant breaks that is causes the unit to fail a housing standards inspection, we can still charge the tenants the cost of repairing what they break.

Brandi Baker · Answer

Hi Tonette,

My business partners father is a long time investor in Duquesne and Homestead where there is a lot of section 8 housing and his experience has been that he has to be a lot more hands on.  His clientele expects to have every last little things taken care of for them even to the extent of replacing light bulbs.  If this is an avenue you'd like to go down you'll want to be very careful who you lease to.  You'll also want to get the specifics of what you can earn for your property in Beaver county as the price is determined by size and average cost in your area (county if I'm not mistaken).

Alex Deacon · Answer

@Tonette Whitted some areas are high demand for section 8 and some are not. You are guaranteed rent but you have a lot of Government bureaucracy to hurdle. Dealing with lower income housing is generally much more hands on verses higher priced properties.

Corby Goade · Answer

This is simple- pros; guaranteed rent. Cons, more frequent turnover, more expensive turnovers, more difficult clientele to manage.

In my neck of the woods, section 8 does annual home inspections for everyone on a voucher. They will require the landlord to repair ALL of the damage that the tenant has done to a unit each year before they will send you the next month's rent. Tenant breaks a couple windows and kicked in the bedroom door? You must pay to repair that if you want rent this month.

It's not all bad- there are some great section 8 tenants out there, you just have to know what you are getting in to. It's probably not the best place to cut your teeth if you are a new landlord or investor. Good luck!

What are the pros and cons to Section 8? Pa

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