Section 8 Mentor (Memphis)
Member since 2026 · 4 posts · 0 votes
I am starting out my investing journey with Section 8 in Memphis. I was hoping I could connect with some veterans in the business that could shed some light on their experience and guide me in the right direction! Thanks
Welcome in. I'm not going to offer to mentor you, but I'll give you the part of Section 8 in Memphis that almost nobody mentors on, because it's my side of it. Full disclosure first: I run a construction company here, all trades in house, and my business partner James Jones is a Memphis Section 8 operator who's active on this forum. If he turns up in this thread, count the two of us as one voice rather than two.
Most of the advice you'll get will be about tenants and vouchers. The thing that actually eats new Section 8 landlords here is the inspection, and it eats them on the calendar rather than on the repair bill.
Here's the mechanism. You buy the house, you get it rented, a tenant with a voucher applies, and then the unit has to pass an inspection before a single dollar of housing assistance gets paid. If it fails, you fix the list and wait for a re-inspection. The repairs are usually cheap. The thirty to sixty days of a signed lease with no payment coming in is not. And the thing that gets people twice is failing the re-inspection on something different from what failed the first time, because an inspector who is already in the house keeps looking.
So the rule I'd give you is: get the house inspection-ready BEFORE you advertise it, not after you have a tenant waiting on you. The items are predictable and they're the same ones every time.
Handrails on any stair with four or more risers, and a guardrail where there's a drop. Window locks, and every window in a sleeping room has to actually open. GFCI protection near water. No peeling paint anywhere on a pre-1978 house, inside or out, including the garage and the trim. Working smoke detectors on every level, plus CO if there's any gas appliance. No double-keyed deadbolt on an exit door. A TPR discharge pipe on the water heater running down to near the floor, which is one of the most common fails I see and costs almost nothing. Covers on every outlet and junction box. And on older Memphis houses specifically, three-prong outlets on two-wire circuits with no ground, which fail and which people don't know they have until somebody puts a tester in the wall.
The bigger thing, and this is the construction read rather than the Section 8 read. The Memphis houses where the voucher math looks best are overwhelmingly the oldest housing stock in the city. Pre-1965 means cast iron drain lines at the end of their life, galvanized supply, and panels that need replacing. So the risk you're actually taking on a cheap Section 8 deal here is a construction risk wearing a tenant-risk costume. People spend all their diligence on the program and almost none on the building, and then the building is what gets them.
Two cheap things that would protect you more than any mentor: a sewer scope before you close on anything pre-1965, and the dates of the last roof, HVAC, water heater, panel and sewer line in writing before you make an offer. Both nearly free, and between them they cover most of what actually goes wrong.
Last one, and it's the opposite of what you'd expect from a contractor. Your first deal here should have fewer unknowns, not more upside. Get one all the way through, purchase to rented to inspected to paid, and then go find the harder version.
Welcome in. I'm not going to offer to mentor you, but I'll give you the part of Section 8 in Memphis that almost nobody mentors on, because it's my side of it. Full disclosure first: I run a construction company here, all trades in house, and my business partner James Jones is a Memphis Section 8 operator who's active on this forum. If he turns up in this thread, count the two of us as one voice rather than two.
Most of the advice you'll get will be about tenants and vouchers. The thing that actually eats new Section 8 landlords here is the inspection, and it eats them on the calendar rather than on the repair bill.
Here's the mechanism. You buy the house, you get it rented, a tenant with a voucher applies, and then the unit has to pass an inspection before a single dollar of housing assistance gets paid. If it fails, you fix the list and wait for a re-inspection. The repairs are usually cheap. The thirty to sixty days of a signed lease with no payment coming in is not. And the thing that gets people twice is failing the re-inspection on something different from what failed the first time, because an inspector who is already in the house keeps looking.
So the rule I'd give you is: get the house inspection-ready BEFORE you advertise it, not after you have a tenant waiting on you. The items are predictable and they're the same ones every time.
Handrails on any stair with four or more risers, and a guardrail where there's a drop. Window locks, and every window in a sleeping room has to actually open. GFCI protection near water. No peeling paint anywhere on a pre-1978 house, inside or out, including the garage and the trim. Working smoke detectors on every level, plus CO if there's any gas appliance. No double-keyed deadbolt on an exit door. A TPR discharge pipe on the water heater running down to near the floor, which is one of the most common fails I see and costs almost nothing. Covers on every outlet and junction box. And on older Memphis houses specifically, three-prong outlets on two-wire circuits with no ground, which fail and which people don't know they have until somebody puts a tester in the wall.
The bigger thing, and this is the construction read rather than the Section 8 read. The Memphis houses where the voucher math looks best are overwhelmingly the oldest housing stock in the city. Pre-1965 means cast iron drain lines at the end of their life, galvanized supply, and panels that need replacing. So the risk you're actually taking on a cheap Section 8 deal here is a construction risk wearing a tenant-risk costume. People spend all their diligence on the program and almost none on the building, and then the building is what gets them.
Two cheap things that would protect you more than any mentor: a sewer scope before you close on anything pre-1965, and the dates of the last roof, HVAC, water heater, panel and sewer line in writing before you make an offer. Both nearly free, and between them they cover most of what actually goes wrong.
Last one, and it's the opposite of what you'd expect from a contractor. Your first deal here should have fewer unknowns, not more upside. Get one all the way through, purchase to rented to inspected to paid, and then go find the harder version.
Josh,
Thank you for the help; it means a lot!
Welcome! One financing thing to know early: if you use a DSCR loan, most lenders qualify off the lower of the lease and the appraiser's market rent, so a high voucher rent in Memphis doesn't always get full credit. Know what the house will realistically pull for HAP and get a rent schedule with the appraisal before you lock in your price.
Josh is right to send you my way — and he's right about the inspection being the calendar killer. I'll add the operator's side.
My Memphis buy box: single-family under $100K all-in, ARV $180K-$265K, 3BR+ because that's what the voucher pays best on ($1,395-$1,950). I target the 1% rule and $200+/door/month cash flow. Focus ZIPs: 38109, 38111, 38112, 38114, 38116, 38117, 38118, 38122, 38128.
Underwriting takes me 10 minutes: price, ARV, rent, rehab. If those four numbers work, I make an offer the same day. I look at 100+ deals to buy a handful — deal flow is the bottleneck, not money.
Josh covered the building risk; I'll add: never buy a Memphis house without knowing the roof, HVAC, water heater, panel, and sewer line ages in writing before you make an offer. And get the house inspection-ready before you advertise, not after. Welcome in.
Also, if you're interested, you can check out my Instagram, look at story from today, and I do have a coaching program as well. You can just DM me on my contact information below if you have any questions. Also, me and Josh work together.
Thanks for the help! I just sent you a request.
Welcome to Memphis, Aiden!
Josh and James hit the nail on the head. Here are three quick practical rules to keep in mind:
Location is everything: Memphis is block-by-block. Don't chase high paper yields into rough pockets where turnover and deferred maintenance will eat your cash flow. Stick to solid working-class neighborhoods where tenants stay long term.
Inspect the big mechanicals first: A lot of our housing stock is pre-1970. Always budget for the major systems—HVAC, roof, water heater, electrical panel, and cast iron sewer lines. Cosmetic rehabs are easy; plumbing and electrical surprises will blow up your numbers.
Underwrite with real cushion: Ensure you have enough built-in equity and cash reserves to carry the mortgage while waiting on Memphis Housing Authority paperwork and initial inspections.
Feel free to connect or reach out anytime. Happy to share what's working on the ground!