I love section 8 housing. I do not understand people who don’t. I believe landlords that do not jump at the idea of renting their house to a section 8 tenant are the exact same individuals who refuse to pay a quarter to go inside the express lane, or leave plastic covers on their furniture. It just doesn’t make sense.
Section 8 tenants are great for a number of reasons. The first one is that the government is by no means late. The tenants typically pay a number of hundred dollars for their rent, as well as the housing office pays the rest. Tenants have a lot simpler time paying a handful of hundred each and every month, as opposed to a full month of rent.
Another reason I hear my investors, who have by no means really had a section 8 tenant, give me for not working with the program is that section 8 tenants are supposedly the bottom in the barrel for tenants. They all give me the very same line about not wanting the tenants to tear their newly rehabbed foreclosure apart. I strongly disagree. These tenants use a strong incentive to not damage the house in any way – much far more than regular tenants. If they screw up once, they are out on the software. They also generally need to possess a job and go via an application procedure in the plan, which is a different level of screening already built into the plan.
Tenants with assisted housing are also not picky – and they generally really don't care about the price. Housing vouchers also generally are good for men and women with rental property in rougher areas – where the majority of foreclosures are. Let’s say you bought a short sale or an REO, fixed it up, and estimated that you could rent it out for $1000 per month. Quite often in my experience, I’ll put out some signs advertising the property, will get a handful of tenants who are willing to pay the $1000, and then will have a tenant having to deal with a section 8 voucher that pays over $1200. It is no difference to the tenant how much I’m asking for the place, as long as their voucher covers it. It is not exactly a difficult decision to pick a tenant at that point.
I consider I’ve barely begun to cover the benefits with the section 8 plan. In my next entry, I will outline the couple of easy steps it takes to acquire your house to pass inspection.