All Forum Posts by: Victor N.

@Jason Yuan sorry for what's happening to you. I'm a landlord who also accepts section 8 vouchers. Good program but not easy dealing with some housing authorities/ inspection companies. But the worse is having the wrong tenants!

I can see how the $20 extra happened because section tenants always offer to pay the difference between the rent Im asking and the max that the program is willing to pay. Sometimes the difference is very small so I will agree with their rent. But when the difference is significant, I simply decline and look for a market rate tenant. I KNOW that accepting money from the tenant under the table is a big no no and the tenants also do but they are willing to break the rule because 1) if caught, nothing major will happen to them; 2) the landlord will be in trouble; 3) they can use the extra payment under the table to bribe/scare you whenever you have a dispute with them.

In your case I can understand the mistake with the initial lease. But then again the landlord is supposed to KNOW all the section 8 rules, and send the lease with all other docs to the housing authority themselves. Why is the tenant sending the lease to them?

Regardless of the tenant falsifying the lease, the problem you have is that you or your PM signed the section 8 contract with the lower amount as you stated but continued to accept the extra $20 from the tenant. No amount of explaining will satisfy section 8 so your best bet is to hire a good attorney. Maybe the attorney can push back with the fact that they didnt do an annual review as required by law ( strong argument... maybe) and that you also lost potential rent increase for 5 years as a result ( weak argument). Good luck!

Those landlords who participate in the section 8 program know that the housing authority must renew the lease/ do a re-certification every year. So if you have own the property for 14 months, then you should have had at least one re-certification, which involves signing new contracts with the housing authority after passing the annual inspection and also new lease from the tenant specially if the rent has changed.

What I do not understand is that BOTH the tenant and the landlord must sign the forms and also the tenant normally has at least one annual appointment with the housing authority. Landlord and tenant can meet to sign the annual forms in which case landlord should know something is up if tenant is nowhere to be found. Or sometimes the paperwork is mailed to the landlord with the tenant’s section already filled up and signed, which would mean that the tenant visited the housing office. 

So sorry to say but both the landlord and the housing office are to blame here.

Even if some of the blame can be pinned on the housing authority, I don’t see how landlord can claim total innocence. « Wife is in hospital «  from husband is not enough. You can and maybe should hire an attorney but how much will that cost? It’s always possible to negotiate with the housing authority and pay back a smaller amount than the 7k, and a simple letter from an attorney can help you accomplish that or even get you off completely... but you can’t  claim innocence.

I do a lot of rehabs and I self manage so I need a truck. I used to rent one whenever I needed to haul materials, a lot of tools etc but it became too expensive and also not very convenient. So I bought a 1995 Ram 1500 cash that lasted several years. Then it became too rusty ( if you owned a Dodge Ram before you know exactly what I’m talking about lol) and the repairs were getting too frequent and too expensive. So I got a used Silverado. I wouldn’t buy a truck if I only had 1 property. I also wouldn’t buy one if I had 5 properties that do not need much work... unless of course I just liked driving pick ups ... bc the gas mileage sucks!!!

I use Zelle, PayPal and CashApp. I love all 3 but they’re not perfect 

Zelle is a free service and is great but only provided by major banks so not everyone has access to it. Rent posts to your account within 24 hours

PayPal is also free but sometimes the tenant can be restricted by the amount they can send/pay in one transaction/day. Rent posts to your account within 24 hours

CashApp is also free... well, sort of. If you use the free option, you get your money 3 days later. If you want the money within 24 hours, you’ll have to pay a fee ( the amount of the fee changes based on the amount of money you are receiving- a certain percentage  of it)

Zelle requires no action on your part when you receive the money. PayPal asks, if you accept it. Cash app requires a couple of steps to tell them what to do with the money. So if you are busy and do nothing, the money won’t be transferred to your account. You do get a notification from all of them that money is coming your way.

Be very careful because that is illegal. You cannot ask a section 8 tenant to pay more than the amount you agreed to with the housing authority. 

I’ve seen cases where the tenants complained after years of paying the extra amount and the landlord was prosecuted and heavily fined.

@Lisa M., you are a good landlord to consider putting your tenants in a hotel. I think that @Steve Maginnis has the best idea about using a portable generator. But instead of renting one, I would actually buy one. You can find a quality and powerful generator for about $700-$800 at the big box store and keep it for future emergencies at this or your other properties

@Liz Mojica, I also live in Meriden CT and own a few rentals in town. 

There is so much in your post  to talk about that I’m not sure where to start. It’s gonna be a long response!

First,  I commend you for trying to find ways to invest and pay down your debt. The honest truth is that with a $200k student loan debt it’s going to be very very hard. So buckle up and don’t give up because you can do it!

Regarding the student loan, even with your 48k income, I think that it is a HUGE mistake not to make any payments right now because interest will continue to accrue and before you know it, that 200k debt will become $250k. I believe that there is a 10 year repayment plan based on your current income. If your income increases in the future so will your payments. And after the 10 years, the unpaid balance is forgiven. Please look into it. There was even a podcast on this issue ( sorry I can’t remember which one because it was a long time ago ). 

Before I continue, I have to mention that if you came here for some advice then I’m assuming that you are open not only to creative financing ideas but also to some Hard Truths. The 200k student loan is one thing that’s  already done, no way for a redo but I question why you CHOSE to pay $1350 in rent in a town that has a lot of cheaper options? I live in town so I know that there are cheaper options. Going forward, all your financial decisions should help you get out of that $200k debt. Sorry, not trying to bash you but hard truths from a stranger can sometimes be a great motivator so I hope you take my words that way. 

Your combined income of 88k with your husband is good. We’ve heard about the student loan, the car loan, the child support and I suspect there might be more liabilities like maybe credit cards just like the rest of us. So it might be worthwhile to speak to a financial advisor who has the full picture of your total income and liabilities and who can best advise you.

Now how do you get out of the current situation? 

Step 1, Buy a large single family with the intention of doing some SERIOUS HOUSE HACKING ie: rent rooms in the house for extra income. You lose some privacy but it's a must in your situation. Btw, I did it in the past and it's allowed in Meriden. 4 financial institutions already told you that a SFH is the only property that they will finance so go with what's offered to you. You need to start somewhere and house hacking is a great place to start.

2- start making payments on your student loan based on the 10 year income based repayment plan. The goal is to be done with it after 10 years ( if that plan still exist).

3- work on paying off the 7k balance on your husband student loan.

4- If possible, give up your husband car lease and buy a very very cheap car cash. No more monthly payments: his debt to income ratio will improve. This is a big sacrifice but it’s for a good cause and it’s  only temporary.

5- keep working on your credit to improve both your debt to income ratios. for ex paying off small credit card balances etc can help.

Well Im not done but need to stop here because my response is already way too long. Feel free to pm me. I’m willing to meet with you and your husband and share ideas that might help you!

@Will Triplett I commend you for trying to find a better option for your tenant. 

Setting up automatic withdrawal from a tenant's account works great but not every tenant wants their account debited that way. Some prefer to actually trigger the payment. I currently use different options which are triggered by the tenant. Some prefer to deposit their rent in my bank account which means that they have to physically go to the bank which is not very convenient but that's what they chose. TD Bank accepts that option but Bank of america doesn't. For BoA you need a specific business account but the plus with that is the bank can provide you with debit cards that the tenants can use for the deposits. The cards only work for deposits.

I also use Zelle which is a service by all major Bank. The tenant initiates the payments. It's a free service and you receive the rent right away.

@David Jesse Congratulations on your offer being accepted! First, ask the seller if the current tenants have a lease. If they do, you can't ask them to move out. But if they are on a month to month lease, then you should give them at least 30 days notice after you close or better yet, if you've decided which apt you would like to live in, ask the seller if he would consider giving the  30 days notice now so that you may move in right after closing ( maybe after some updates to the apt). Good luck!

@Jesse Valle based on all the info you provided, the answer is simple: keep it!

Maybe you can do a HELOC to access some of your equity and also invest in Seattle