I have a rehab that I’m considering renting as a section 8. Aside from contacting the public housing authority, is there anything I can do to market the property specifically to section 8 tenants?
Thanks in advance for your feedback.
When you put an ad in the paper you can put Sect. 8 approved. That will bring the dead beats knocking at your door. Even if you don’t put Sect. 8 approved, there will be plenty of people who ask.
Why are targeting Section 8 tenants? What are thinking the benefits are?
gpre,
I have a bunch of Section 8 tenants and I don’t find them any better or worse than other tenants. In addition to adding “we accept Section 8” to your newspaper ad, the housing authority has a list of Section 8 landlords they give to tenants and they usually have a bulletin board where you can post your ad.
Good Luck,
Mike
The reason I am considering section 8 is that there are long waiting lists for section 8 rentals in my target area. It seems it would be easier to tap into that large section 8 pool rather than trying to find a non-section 8 tenant.However, I’ve heard section 8 renters sometimes trash units, which is a concern.
gpre,
ANY tenant can trash your unit, whether they are Section 8 or not. I would not exclusively rent to Section 8 tenants. Take the first qualified person whether they are section 8 or not.
Good Luck,
Mike
I agree. Take the first applicant that comes along that meets your requirements. I don’t see any benefit in trying to ONLY target Section 8 applicants. If Sect. 8 in your area pays more then market rent, then just put the rent at the max Sect. 8 will allow, instead of the market rent.
I have had plenty of units destroyed and trashed. Section 8 or not, if the tenant is on drugs, then unit is going to get trashed.
If you don’t mind having Sect. 8, then just put Sect. 8 approved in all your ads. But DO NOT try and exclude people who try and make it on their own.
I agree with the others. Please rent to the first qualified applicant.
If you want section 8 tenants to know about the availability of the unit, you may be able to post it online. The local housing authorities in my area have areas on their website where you may post your listing.
Although I would accept and I have accepted section 8 tenants, I don’t put it in the ad. Sometimes it will prevent the market rate tenants from responding. For potential tenants, it will have a stigma associated with it.
Section 8 tenants or non-Section 8 tenants will mess up a property, but a total trash job usually only happens when there are drugs involved (my experience). I’ve never had a Section 8 tenant distroy a property of mine. I am very strict on them when they move out. I tell them that I will call Section 8 after they move out and let them know if they are all paid up, gave a 30 day notice, and left the place clean. I check in with them at least a few times the month they move out. They have always left it clean. It is when tenants get involved with drugs that a unit gets trashed. I just had a unit trashed by a good tenant. She moved in her new boyfriend who I knew was a heavy drug user. I then evicted her. They distroyed the entire unit.
Well, in my opinion, just because a person receives section 8, doesn’t always make them losers or horrible tenants. My friend has a section 8 tenant in her property and she’s been great. She’s a single mom who is working towards self-sufficiency. She’s been on time and from what I hear, she keeps her home nice. The cool thing about it, rent is paid on time…You just have to find the right section 8 tenant. You can get tenant who appears to have their life together, with a good job and everything, they then move in & become the tenant from hell. I know many section-8 landlords who are content. So just take the good with the bad. Just have them pay a decent security deposit, so you can clean up their mess…I’m not claiming to be an expert lol…but I wouldn’t totally rule out being a section 8 landlord. just make them take drug test lol.
I rent exclusively to Section 8 tenants with my houses in Buffalo (mainly because nobody else in this city seems to have money to pay rent! lol)…
I’ve only had one bad experience, with a kid who puts his hands everywhere on the beautiful paint job we did!..other than that, I’m really happy with the tenants I’ve had…I spend a little more money on my places (tile, etc.) and that gives me the opportunity to hand pick my tenants, even Section 8…you don’t have to take the first one that comes along…Tell anybody that you have a couple of other people looking but it looks like they may not be able to qualify…that can buy you some time to see other people…
The Section 8 office in Buffalo publishes a listing of all their houses, as I’m sure every city’s offices would do, and that’s all I’ve ever needed to get tenants…
The only real pain in the butt is making all the houses up to Section 8’s high standards, especially with lead based paint…
As long as you have a nice place you shouldn’t have much of a problem like you may think with the Section 8 tenants (as long as their extended families don’t all try to sneak in and live with them)…
As Iron Range said, drugs are a big problem with any potential tenant. It is very common for low income tenants to play musical shack-up boyfriends and girlfriends. I had one girl kick out here boyfriend in the morning and move in the next one in the afternoon. When the latest shack-up is a druggie, you’ve got problems. They are very difficult to evict, because they will claim the shack-up is “just visiting”.
I’ve had Section 8 and non-section 8 tenants trash units even if they aren’t on drugs (although not as frequently as when drugs are involved). I just had one that I gave the boot that ruined ALL the carpet, destroyed the screen door (that the last tenant put on - I never put screen doors on rentals), destroyed the new shower door, put several holes in the walls, left the garage full of trash, and even stole the sidewalk (decorative stone blocks), etc, etc, etc. Since I do all the work myself, it won’t be terrible expensive, (maybe $1,000), but if I was hiring everything done it certainly would have been!