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Section 8 Housing

NolaMan

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I am thinking of pulling the trigger on two investment properties that I have been researching. My concern is that one of them is currently occupied (it is a double) with section 8 tenants. I have no real experience with how section 8 works, and from my research I seem to find both positive reviews and horror stories.

Anyone here have any experience with section 8 tenants and have anything they could share?
 
I'm a contractor, and in every Section 8 apartment complex I've worked / done repairs on, I see an almost across the board complete lack of respect for the property. Unless your capable of doing your own major repairs, I'd be very careful...hiring me everytime a wall or door gets destroyed will get expensive.
 
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I am thinking of pulling the trigger on two investment properties that I have been researching. My concern is that one of them is currently occupied (it is a double) with section 8 tenants. I have no real experience with how section 8 works, and from my research I seem to find both positive reviews and horror stories.

Anyone here have any experience with section 8 tenants and have anything they could share?
DON'T DO IT!
I have experience with section 8 and it was the worse year imaginable. Don't ever rent out to section 8.....unless it is an elderly couple and I mean old. They won't be as bad as the others but alas due to the irregularities of our welfare system the majority of section 8 receipitants are able bodies. Don't ever rent to abled bodies on welfare.
 
Thanks for the input. Anyone have any positve experiences? It does seem most of what I find on it is negative.
 
Thanks for the input. Anyone have any positve experiences? It does seem most of what I find on it is negative.

No sorry no positive experience here. And I am not sure how many people on DP are landlords or have any experience as a landlord. I don't think it is many.
 
Thanks for the input. Anyone have any positve experiences? It does seem most of what I find on it is negative.

My experience is "indirect". When I lived in Missouri the house next door to me was bought by an investor who then decided to rent it to Section 8 tenants. A year or so later my house had to be sold when I accepted an out of state job transfer. Due to the effect of the Section 8 impact on the overall neighborhood my home value dropped by north of 50%.

But from a "positive experience" perspective. It was better than the time i got my arm caught in the meat grinder down at the sausage factory. That really sucked....


.
 
Any type of investment in which property of some type is involved a thorough inspection should be done before making decisions. You cannot judge the condition of the property based on the tenants or who owns it. If you're not able or willing to make the arrangements, wait and inspect carefully then investing in a property might not be a smart idea - protect your bottom dollar. Never buy anything without knowing what you're getting, first.

Just because someone was in HUD or Section 8 doesn't mean they didn't care for their property or that the person responsible for maintenance didn't maintain it well.
Likewise, just because someone rents or pays a mortgage doesn't mean that they take good care of their property, either.

A previous home I rented was in poor condition because the maintenance company that our agency secured always failed to do their job when we'd call to report an issue. When they would come to do any work they would leave their trash and junk behind for me to clean up and complain when I decided I couldn't wait and had to bring in a 3rd party to do some work (like plumbing).
 
My experience is "indirect". When I lived in Missouri the house next door to me was bought by an investor who then decided to rent it to Section 8 tenants. A year or so later my house had to be sold when I accepted an out of state job transfer. Due to the effect of the Section 8 impact on the overall neighborhood my home value dropped by north of 50%.

Yea, I have no intention of getting something in a decent area and turning it into a section 8, this one for sale is already in an area that will probably never really be nice. It is just a really good deal, which makes me at least consider it. But all the horror stories about section 8 tenants is making me have some second thoughts. In New Orleans right now though, section 8 rents are really high, you can pull in $2200/month for a double under section 8 that frankly is a dump of a house. Add that to the fact that you can pick up a house like that for $50,000 or so, it does at least make you consider it, at least to me.

But from a "positive experience" perspective. It was better than the time i got my arm caught in the meat grinder down at the sausage factory. That really sucked.....

lol. I hope you are joking.
 
Any type of investment in which property of some type is involved a thorough inspection should be done before making decisions. You cannot judge the condition of the property based on the tenants or who owns it. If you're not able or willing to make the arrangements, wait and inspect carefully then investing in a property might not be a smart idea - protect your bottom dollar. Never buy anything without knowing what you're getting, first.

Just because someone was in HUD or Section 8 doesn't mean they didn't care for their property or that the person responsible for maintenance didn't maintain it well.
Likewise, just because someone rents or pays a mortgage doesn't mean that they take good care of their property, either.

A previous home I rented was in poor condition because the maintenance company that our agency secured always failed to do their job when we'd call to report an issue. When they would come to do any work they would leave their trash and junk behind for me to clean up and complain when I decided I couldn't wait and had to bring in a 3rd party to do some work (like plumbing).

Yea, the property itself is actually in decent condition, all things considered. If I calculated it all right, it would be a money maker, but the horror stories of dealing with section 8 tenants (which is the majority of that area) almost makes it not even worth it potentially.
 
Yea, the property itself is actually in decent condition, all things considered. If I calculated it all right, it would be a money maker, but the horror stories of dealing with section 8 tenants (which is the majority of that area) almost makes it not even worth it potentially.

Ok, so that's one concern down - the condition of the property.

It's within your right to ask the current owner or rentor how these tenants are: Are they ontime with rent? Do they have legal issues which bring the guarantor (maybe you) into the field? Overall, have they had a lot of excessive complaints about the rentor (meaning - would they be a pain in your ass for no reason) . . and so on.

Whenever you're going to become the new keeper of a property that's already inhabited then these things are a good guage of what you're getting into. Twice in the past I actually met the soon-to-be-owner of the property we were renting. So it seems to be common practice and good for rapport.
 
Ok, so that's one concern down - the condition of the property.

It's within your right to ask the current owner or rentor how these tenants are: Are they ontime with rent? Do they have legal issues which bring the guarantor (maybe you) into the field? Overall, have they had a lot of excessive complaints about the rentor (meaning - would they be a pain in your ass for no reason) . . and so on.

Whenever you're going to become the new keeper of a property that's already inhabited then these things are a good guage of what you're getting into. Twice in the past I actually met the soon-to-be-owner of the property we were renting. So it seems to be common practice and good for rapport.

Yea, that is all on the list of things I wanted to find out. Glad to know I am not way off base here. Thanks for all your input.
 
Yea, that is all on the list of things I wanted to find out. Glad to know I am not way off base here. Thanks for all your input.

You're going the right direction! Never buying blind and never leaving any questions off the table. . .very wise!
 
(and never invest in section 8 housing.....)



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I haven't had direct experience with section 8 housing, but there is section 8 housing near me and my friends have had personal issues with the tenants. The people living in section 8 housing have broken into their house and stolen things from them 2 or 3 times. They stole things like a playstation, pokemon cards, gamboys, and computer stuff. They broke in by breaking a window and where never caught. The section 8 housing complex was re modeled roughly 4 years ago. They said the tenants took horrible care of the property and basically trashed it.
 
Yea, the property itself is actually in decent condition, all things considered. If I calculated it all right, it would be a money maker, but the horror stories of dealing with section 8 tenants (which is the majority of that area) almost makes it not even worth it potentially.

you need to speak with the folks in your community who process section 8 funds. you may find that the section 8 subsidy sometimes works in your favor when the tenant becomes delinquent; it may well be the section 8 staff will be working with you to remove that noncompliant tenant
additionally, they would be able to explain to you what your obligation would be as an acquiring property owner in dealing with a tenant having a section 8 lease which predates your acquisition
finally, they may be able to aid your efforts to have a qualified property inspector examine the property, to aid your buy/no-buy decision.
under their program the government is supposed to have an inspector periodically inspect the property to evaluate whether it is being maintained in compliance with section 8 provisions. while that would be more information to have, i would caution against relying on it, unless you know the inspector to be reliable

not knowing anything more than the ratio of $2200 monthly rents realized from a $50,000 investment, it should prompt enough interest to investigate it further... that is an outstanding yield
 
Just because someone was in HUD or Section 8 doesn't mean they didn't care for their property or that the person responsible for maintenance didn't maintain it well.
Likewise, just because someone rents or pays a mortgage doesn't mean that they take good care of their property, either.

Maybe not the older psychologically mature tenants, but the punks in the neighborhood will tear it up, especiallyy in an apartment setting. I would never consider investing in this type of housing. I would consider investing in single-family units, but that would be the limit for me. Owning property usually does make one more inclinced to take care of it, since there is personal investment and people appreciate something that they work for much more than something they do not. (usually- not always).
 
I am thinking of pulling the trigger on two investment properties that I have been researching. My concern is that one of them is currently occupied (it is a double) with section 8 tenants. I have no real experience with how section 8 works, and from my research I seem to find both positive reviews and horror stories.

Anyone here have any experience with section 8 tenants and have anything they could share?

From what I understand, to receive section 8 housing grants your property has to conform to the administration's standards, whatever that may be.
That should include regular inspections, I believe they are annual property inspections (I may be wrong).

If this is your first property and you have no previous experience with section 8 housing, I suggest you not do it.
It could be the bad kind of learning experience.

From a personal standpoint, I've dealt with people from section 8 and non section 8 areas.
The section 8 recipients, generally, cause more problems than what I would want to deal with.
 
From what I understand, to receive section 8 housing grants your property has to conform to the administration's standards, whatever that may be.
That should include regular inspections, I believe they are annual property inspections (I may be wrong).

Yes it is yearly inspections here (it might differ between states though), and I have heard they get pretty nitpicky about it all.

If this is your first property and you have no previous experience with section 8 housing, I suggest you not do it.
It could be the bad kind of learning experience.

From a personal standpoint, I've dealt with people from section 8 and non section 8 areas.
The section 8 recipients, generally, cause more problems than what I would want to deal with.

It would be my first section 8 property, which is why I ask the question. It does seem to be a general belief that it is not worth it, which is obviously good for me to know and consider. I appreciate your response.
 
Yes it is yearly inspections here (it might differ between states though), and I have heard they get pretty nitpicky about it all.

I thought so but wasn't 100% sure.

It would be my first section 8 property, which is why I ask the question. It does seem to be a general belief that it is not worth it, which is obviously good for me to know and consider. I appreciate your response.

The reason I say it isn't worth it is because when I used to manage a business that served those areas, the people in section 8 areas almost always had problems and that is where all of the crime against my employees occurred.

Now not all the people are bad, of course.
With that said, that type of program/neighborhoods attract the bad kind of people, generally speaking.
 
It sounds horrible.
 
I am thinking of pulling the trigger on two investment properties that I have been researching. My concern is that one of them is currently occupied (it is a double) with section 8 tenants. I have no real experience with how section 8 works, and from my research I seem to find both positive reviews and horror stories.

Anyone here have any experience with section 8 tenants and have anything they could share?

I was in real estate for a couple of years in the mid 1990s, and had a property owner who had 4 houses he wanted to lease. They were average houses, Orlando area, decent neighborhoods.

Anyway, a lady wanted to lease one of them via Section 8. The owner was open to this, he really needed renters. I was unfamiliar and asked around. I found some people who were good with this system, they had renters on it. The biggest positive was the owners got their rent money every month like clockwork.

The guy I was working with ended up renting to the lady, and it ended up a good situation for all parties. He probably could have gotten a little more monthly rent money from a typical lessor, but the dependability of the Sec 8 money made up for that, to him.

Now, we checked out the lady thoroughly first, and were comfortable she would take care of the property. That's the most important thing, like Aunt Spiker said.
 
From what I understand, to receive section 8 housing grants your property has to conform to the administration's standards, whatever that may be.
That should include regular inspections, I believe they are annual property inspections (I may be wrong).

If this is your first property and you have no previous experience with section 8 housing, I suggest you not do it.
It could be the bad kind of learning experience.

From a personal standpoint, I've dealt with people from section 8 and non section 8 areas.
The section 8 recipients, generally, cause more problems than what I would want to deal with.

Yeah, there were inspections here too, don't remember the frequency. Also, the house here had to be inspected before the tenant moved in, to make sure it was acceptable to the program.
 
do the math
$26,400 annual income from a property having a one time acquisition cost of $50,000
barring unforeseen expenses (thus the need for a competent property inspector) the investment starts throwing off lots of gravy early in year three of ownership

so many folks are hung up on the section 8 aspect. if you are aware of the section 8 regs on the property and it still makes financial sense, then do the deal ... unless you can find another investment which pays for itself in less than two years
 
Bias against those on government assistance aside...

You should ask the current owner for the history of the current tenants, including their payment history and any damages accrued during their stay. That should give you a good idea about this investment of yours.

Despite popular opinion, I do believe that people should be treated on a case by case basis, and not with generalizations.
 
I am thinking of pulling the trigger on two investment properties that I have been researching. My concern is that one of them is currently occupied (it is a double) with section 8 tenants. I have no real experience with how section 8 works, and from my research I seem to find both positive reviews and horror stories.

Anyone here have any experience with section 8 tenants and have anything they could share?

It depends if you have Italian friends :roll:
 
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