Any experience re disadvantages to renting to Section 8 tenants?

[ThisIsTheDay]

Googling has mentioned inspections (which look like a general rental inspection already performed by our city) and the possibility of a delay in receiving the first HUD payment.  I've also looked at the Fair Market Rents scale, and that's acceptable.

 

Other than that, is there anything else one might want to consider?

 

Thank you.  :)

 

 

[Um_2_4]

I was friends with a owner who tried this at her units. Let's say her reality was this (and I lived there during this trial, it lasted only till she could get rid of her last sect 8 tenant, then she quit taking it):

-agency often late with payments, not just the 1st (this could be her location/state only, I don't know)

-tenants often late with their share (her's paid some, not much) and much harder to evict

-I recall her tenants did not have as big a deposit  (if any, I recall some may have had no deposit) so several left it a MESS (think dirty diapers, ruined carpets) and did not care, because of lack of deposit

-sorry to say, but several of those section 8 tenants did not care about following the complex (they were attached condos,32 of them) rules, because they knew they were hard to evict (she tried to run a quiet, clean, well kept gated complex with play areas, laundry and the like, even the city it was in had "quiet enjoyment laws" and they totally disrespected that and her, loud parties, police involved, destroyed public areas (yes it was them, they were caught in the act)). Ignored limits on occupancy (I saw that with my own eyes, they were in the condo next to me and we meet them, 6 adults and 5 kids in a 2bd/800 sqft condo that was on paper only for 2 of those adults and 3 of those kids.)

-some never transferred utilities to their name and she was left holding a large bill (this happened to her 2x, the new tenants never completed the transfer and only stayed like 2-6 months so they billed her. Electricity and gas I think. This probably varies by state/local)

-I recall 2 units moved out "over night" and left huge piles of stuff she was forced to pay someone to clean out and take to the dump ($$$$)

 

The inspections were literally no big deal, she wished they had been more actually, that might have helped. She did 2x a year inspections anyway herself (in the lease). She would notify tenant and agency of some violation and it would take so long to get an agency worker out (if one came at all, most would just send a letter to tenant to fix "x,y,z" or lose their voucher).

 

I realize not all section 8 recipients are like that, but the few (she took 10 tenants on this total) definitely ruined it for the many in her case. Plus she got tired of dealing with the redtape/run around. IF you want to accept it I would make sure you have the ability to repair if needed, also maybe talk to other local owners who  take section 8 and see about their experiences regarding payments, etc. Each state has different eviction laws and occupancy laws, so check those out and if/how they are different for section 8. Maybe in an area with less dense population they might monitor better.  Keep in mind I live in an area where to get a section 8 voucher has an 4-5 year wait list (last I checked for a friend).

[gardenmom5]

how the neighbors will feel?   we've an owner on this street who only rents to section 8.  the house is a complete cash cow/piggy-bank for the owner (re: he does the minimum to care for the place), and I, and every other neighbor I've chatted with, would love to see it torn down.  (on our street we've had several torn down, and multiple mcmansions built. in their place.  another two are scheduled for demo in the spring.)

 

mostly, the rents have used the places as a dump, and the owner does a lot of hauling junk off, and doing repairs (sometimes bigger ones) before renting to the next tenant.  one had a problem with overcrowding, DV and drugs, and the cops were there frequently.

 

we also have a rental on the street that goes to college students.  THEY are better than the section 8 crowd.  (the owners have also hired a crew to mow on a regular basis.  it's fairly cheap way of maintaining their property value should they decide to sell.  this is their only rental left, they've sold all their others.)

 

 

eta: the house is a TEAR DOWN - it's not worth remodeling to make it livable for a family who might buy it if it were sold.  before the current owner purchased it - it was a family occupied home.  that is how much it has fallen into overall disrepair since they bought it as a rental.

[*lifeoftheparty*]

They will trash your house. I have known several people who rented to section 8- they trashed the house every. single. time.

 

My cousin asked this question on Facebook last year, and despite getting tons of warnings not to do it, she decided to do it because no one else was renting it. Fast forward to this summer- not only did they trash the house, they stopped paying their rent. The ordeal that she had to go through to evict them took *months* and cost her all kinds of money. Then, after they finally got out, she had to get rid of all the trash, broken furniture, food, etc. that the people left in the house. Then she had to repair and paint the whole house before she could rent it out again.

 

This time, she just lowered the rent a little and got non-section 8 tenants.

 

I would never, ever, ever, in a million trillion years, rent to section 8.

 

*My anecdotal story... when we lived in Hawaii, at Barbers Point, it had just been "privatized" and they were fixing them up. They did the older cement block buildings last, and rented those out to section 8. The same week the section 8 people moved in, everyones cars started getting broken in too.

 

[MomtoCandJ]

Dh's grandpa does section 8 but he has the ability to be really fussy about who he rents to. He requires references, he has a huge preference for people he knows (small community), and does regular inspections. He's one of the few people in our area that does section 8 so if you mess with him (his property) your chances of getting another section 8 place is very slim.

[4everHis]

My brother has rented to 'Section 8.' He would tell you that it all depends on the people. . . period. To say that Section 8 people ALWAYS trash houses is wrong. If you could set up a way to get references and a hefty deposit check, promised back if they keep the place decent, you'd get better results. Unfortunately there are NON Section 8 people that would just as easily trash a place. It's called lack of integrity and it runs across all race barriers and financial status'. 

[ChristyB in TN]

I have rental property and manage rentals for others. I've never really heard a compelling argument to turn a rental into section 8. Of course, there are lots of fantastic and successful section 8 stories but I've never found them especially motivating to invest in it. It is too easy to find good renters otherwise.

[Peaceful Isle]

Non section 8 people can trash your house as well, though. We just had renters leave our house and all the doors had hole punched in them, and the walls terrible.

I think it just depends. 

 

 

[ChristyB in TN]

Non section 8 people can trash your house as well, though. We just had renters leave our house and all the doors had hole punched in them, and the walls terrible.

I think it just depends.

Yes, absolutely.

[Um_2_4]

My brother has rented to 'Section 8.' He would tell you that it all depends on the people. . . period. To say that Section 8 people ALWAYS trash houses is wrong. If you could set up a way to get references and a hefty deposit check, promised back if they keep the place decent, you'd get better results. Unfortunately there are NON Section 8 people that would just as easily trash a place. It's called lack of integrity and it runs across all race barriers and financial status'. 

 

Of course it depends on the people. That is why I said to ask LOCAL (to OP) owners about their experience. Where I live there are restrictions on how much deposit can be asked for/how much of a background/reference check can be done from the agency. It also depends on how overloaded the agency is. Here the workers are maxed out.

This is also one of those states that is difficult to evict in the first place, so add on the restrictions placed by the agency and it becomes much more difficult.

During the years I lived in those condos (6.5 total) besides having problem with all 10 section 8 renters, I can recall 2 other similar problems she had with non-section 8 rentals. Difference being, it was much quicker, easier (<$) to evict AND she had a deposit to pay for some problems AND she did end up going to small claims court against one and she did not HAVE to give them good references.

For non-section 8 she always ran through background checks/employment checks/reference checks. Hence why she had fewer problems than the average owner IMO.

[redsquirrel]

It depends on the tennants. In my agency, most of our clients became sect. 8 (it was a DV shelter). These were single women with kids who needed a place to live after having been in a shelter. Our DV shelter was screened for drug use, mental illness etc. We weren't an appropriate place to stay if those issues were also present, so most of the moms we got were pretty average people. Some were messier than others, but nothing that really stands out.

 

OTOH, there is a section 8 house on a friends street and the company that rents out the units often takes people who are mentally ill and not doing well. The cops are at the house often.

 

What I heard the most complaints about locally are waiting for inspections between tennants and things like lead removal and the windows and doors have to have locks.

 

 

[tex-mex]

My brother has rented to 'Section 8.' He would tell you that it all depends on the people. . . period. To say that Section 8 people ALWAYS trash houses is wrong. If you could set up a way to get references and a hefty deposit check, promised back if they keep the place decent, you'd get better results. Unfortunately there are NON Section 8 people that would just as easily trash a place. It's called lack of integrity and it runs across all race barriers and financial status'. 

 

:iagree:

 

We were landlords for a 4-plex in a really nice area of North Dallas and we never had a problem with our tenants (2 out of the 4 units) who were Section 8 renters.  The 2 Section 8 renters were both vetted with a background/credit/criminal check and their jobs were vetted as well by us to be legit.  Both ladies were single moms and were the nicest ladies.  Their kids were no problems and the reason they chose to live in our "yuppie" area was the fact our local school district had a magnet school their kids attended.  I did not blame them one bit. Their units (#1 and #2 units in our 4-Plex) were in good order and we had no problems with them.  

 

Another elderly retired couple rented the third unit and they were delightful.

 

As for the fourth unit?? That unit had 2 people who for various reasons skipped out into the night before we could evict them for lack of payment.  All were vetted via the same background/credit/criminal check like the others.  And they had better paying jobs compared to the Section 8 tenants.  Quite frankly, those bad apples had lack of integrity.  One tenant left everything in her unit as she up and left.  The front door had notices from other creditors after her.  Inside her unit as we were cleaning up was so much paperwork of her $$ financial hole she dug herself into.  No wonder she ran away.  I ended up asking the judge to legally evict her and slap a $$ judgment on her so it would follow her a la credit report for the next landlord to see that she was trouble with a capital T. 

 

One other tenant (not a Section 8) in unit #4 damaged the unit so badly, it took 45 days to repair the unit and $3500 out of our pocket.  She had a blind cat who did not use the litter box.  Stripped old carpet, old pad, old drywall, baseboards and used Kilz, bleach, with an ionizer to kill the stench from that cat.  Then put in new drywall, plaster, baseboards, carpeting... what a nightmare.   :glare:

[Callie]

I was friends with a owner who tried this at her units. Let's say her reality was this (and I lived there during this trial, it lasted only till she could get rid of her last sect 8 tenant, then she quit taking it):

-agency often late with payments, not just the 1st (this could be her location/state only, I don't know)

-tenants often late with their share (her's paid some, not much) and much harder to evict

-I recall her tenants did not have as big a deposit  (if any, I recall some may have had no deposit) so several left it a MESS (think dirty diapers, ruined carpets) and did not care, because of lack of deposit

-sorry to say, but several of those section 8 tenants did not care about following the complex (they were attached condos,32 of them) rules, because they knew they were hard to evict (she tried to run a quiet, clean, well kept gated complex with play areas, laundry and the like, even the city it was in had "quiet enjoyment laws" and they totally disrespected that and her, loud parties, police involved, destroyed public areas (yes it was them, they were caught in the act)). Ignored limits on occupancy (I saw that with my own eyes, they were in the condo next to me and we meet them, 6 adults and 5 kids in a 2bd/800 sqft condo that was on paper only for 2 of those adults and 3 of those kids.)

-some never transferred utilities to their name and she was left holding a large bill (this happened to her 2x, the new tenants never completed the transfer and only stayed like 2-6 months so they billed her. Electricity and gas I think. This probably varies by state/local)

-I recall 2 units moved out "over night" and left huge piles of stuff she was forced to pay someone to clean out and take to the dump ($$$$)

 

The inspections were literally no big deal, she wished they had been more actually, that might have helped. She did 2x a year inspections anyway herself (in the lease). She would notify tenant and agency of some violation and it would take so long to get an agency worker out (if one came at all, most would just send a letter to tenant to fix "x,y,z" or lose their voucher).

 

I realize not all section 8 recipients are like that, but the few (she took 10 tenants on this total) definitely ruined it for the many in her case. Plus she got tired of dealing with the redtape/run around. IF you want to accept it I would make sure you have the ability to repair if needed, also maybe talk to other local owners who  take section 8 and see about their experiences regarding payments, etc. Each state has different eviction laws and occupancy laws, so check those out and if/how they are different for section 8. Maybe in an area with less dense population they might monitor better.  Keep in mind I live in an area where to get a section 8 voucher has an 4-5 year wait list (last I checked for a friend).

My dh does routine maint/upkeep for some S8 apartments his experience has been all this and much much more.  Some he refused to even enter or repair because of the level of filth.  

[creekland]

We also will not do Section 8 for many of the reasons mentioned above.  I'll agree that one can get terrible non Section 8 tenants too (we've had two over the years) so background checks and decent deposits are absolutely essential IME.

 

YMMV

[Elisabet1]

We lived in an apartment that started taking section 8. The crime went way up. It was no longer a respectable place to live. It was awful. 

 

I would never rent to section 8.

[TeenagerMom]

I think, as with anyone, you just have to screen applicants carefully. I, and many friends/family, have BEEN Section 8 renters in the past & have always left the places looking the same or even nicer than we moved in. My SIL lived in Sec 8 apartments for years & they ALWAYS had monthly inspections so it was pretty hard to trash the place. She was even written up for having dirty drip pans on her stove & clutter on top of her dresser.

 

I do real estate foreclosure inspections as a part time gig & I can testify that people in general are just nasty even in homes they own. DH works for Directv & has many days where he wears booties in a house to protect HIS shoes from nastiness.

 

It is a matter of requiring references, doing a credit check, and letting your tenants know you have high standards.

[SharonM]

We rent one side of a duplex. The other side the landlord has decided to rent to section eight, because he couldn't get any "good people".

Trashed the house 7 times in the 20 years we have lived here. And by trashed  I mean new carpet, new paint, new flooring, new garage door, 1 lady cut all the interior doors in half so she could keep an eye on her teenaged son who was having sex with his girlfriend whom she allowed to stay overnight!  Another couple who looked sooo good on paper, decided to paint every room a dark hideous color. And they kept taking dogs in from god knows where to "breed". No dogs allowed.  When the dogs died they buried them in the flower gardens. Landlord only found this because the next tenant went to plant flowers and found dead dog buried just below the dirt.  We haven't had new carpet or paint because the landlord is always too broke after fixing up after the section 8 people.

I do want to add that the current neighbors are wonderful and we will miss them when we move. We are buying soon.... yea!!!

[Anne in CA]

Twice I lived in apartment complexes that became section 8 after I had lived there awhile. Both times I moved out within six months. The places were unbearable and the management that had to be brought in to deal with the situations were JERKS.  Of course, not everyone of those people were destructive jerks, but most of them were not decent parents and the biggest reason I had to move was watching them pour their children's lives down the drain was a real downer. It is heart breaking to have a strange 2yo knock on your door and tell you she hasn't eaten yet today, her mom is asleep and could you get her some cereal?

[Amy in NH]

I was friends with a owner who tried this at her units. Let's say her reality was this (and I lived there during this trial, it lasted only till she could get rid of her last sect 8 tenant, then she quit taking it):

-agency often late with payments, not just the 1st (this could be her location/state only, I don't know)

-tenants often late with their share (her's paid some, not much) and much harder to evict

-I recall her tenants did not have as big a deposit  (if any, I recall some may have had no deposit) so several left it a MESS (think dirty diapers, ruined carpets) and did not care, because of lack of deposit

-sorry to say, but several of those section 8 tenants did not care about following the complex (they were attached condos,32 of them) rules, because they knew they were hard to evict (she tried to run a quiet, clean, well kept gated complex with play areas, laundry and the like, even the city it was in had "quiet enjoyment laws" and they totally disrespected that and her, loud parties, police involved, destroyed public areas (yes it was them, they were caught in the act)). Ignored limits on occupancy (I saw that with my own eyes, they were in the condo next to me and we meet them, 6 adults and 5 kids in a 2bd/800 sqft condo that was on paper only for 2 of those adults and 3 of those kids.)

-some never transferred utilities to their name and she was left holding a large bill (this happened to her 2x, the new tenants never completed the transfer and only stayed like 2-6 months so they billed her. Electricity and gas I think. This probably varies by state/local)

-I recall 2 units moved out "over night" and left huge piles of stuff she was forced to pay someone to clean out and take to the dump ($$$$)

 

The inspections were literally no big deal, she wished they had been more actually, that might have helped. She did 2x a year inspections anyway herself (in the lease). She would notify tenant and agency of some violation and it would take so long to get an agency worker out (if one came at all, most would just send a letter to tenant to fix "x,y,z" or lose their voucher).

 

I realize not all section 8 recipients are like that, but the few (she took 10 tenants on this total) definitely ruined it for the many in her case. Plus she got tired of dealing with the redtape/run around. IF you want to accept it I would make sure you have the ability to repair if needed, also maybe talk to other local owners who  take section 8 and see about their experiences regarding payments, etc. Each state has different eviction laws and occupancy laws, so check those out and if/how they are different for section 8. Maybe in an area with less dense population they might monitor better.  Keep in mind I live in an area where to get a section 8 voucher has an 4-5 year wait list (last I checked for a friend).

 

I'm sorry to say that this has been the experience of friends as well.  The tenants don't pay for months on end, are VERY difficult to evict, steal fixtures and break the rest, and finally do leave an amazing amount of damage done and houses full of garbage.  They get low-income legal advocates who help them fight my friend in court, then friend has to keep them on with many promises of getting caught up on the rent but then never recieving a penny.

 

 

[Journey]

I didn't read all of the posts but ALL of the ones I did read are very rude. You guys really suck. I was a section 8 tenant for many years and NEVER were my places filthy or trashed. I am so offended by some of you perfect human beings. Must be incredibly awesome to live in glass houses....hopefully you will never find yourself on Section 8

[Amy in NH]

I didn't read all of the posts but ALL of the ones I did read are very rude. You guys really suck. I was a section 8 tenant for many years and NEVER were my places filthy or trashed. I am so offended by some of you perfect human beings. Must be incredibly awesome to live in glass houses....hopefully you will never find yourself on Section 8

 

I believe we were each reporting our experiences.  Some people in this thread have reported experiences with good Section 8 tenants.  I wish we all had.  If our experiences of Section 8 tenants suck then that is reality.  My friend has had to pay mortgages, insurance, and taxes on houses while they weren't collecting rent from these tenants, and still when they were spending thousands and thousands of dollars to make the houses rentable again because they were so badly trashed.  Some of the mortgages they were covering were taken to fix up the houses due to past tenant damage.  That money came out of a single-income homeschooling family and took away from their own kids.  These are not well-off people, but ones who have acquired property through multiple inhertitances.

 

No-one mentioned you either way.

[Word Nerd]

I didn't read all of the posts but ALL of the ones I did read are very rude. You guys really suck. I was a section 8 tenant for many years and NEVER were my places filthy or trashed. I am so offended by some of you perfect human beings. Must be incredibly awesome to live in glass houses....hopefully you will never find yourself on Section 8

 

This reaction seems pretty over the top and juvenile. No one attacked you personally. They were sharing their personal experiences or those of family and friends.

[creekland]

I know we don't claim perfection, but we do need to be realistic and do what we can to keep and grow our retirement investments (which is what our rental properties are).  We need to make the best decisions we can based upon reality as we've experienced it.  I ALWAYS recommend credit checks and security deposits, then making a best judgment.

[Moxie]

I disagree. I think the other posts were over the top. Revolting really.

Do you think people were lying about their experiences?

[fraidycat]

You guys really suck.

Speaking of rude. Wow!

 

Not one person here said anything about you. You, on the other hand, directly attacked 20+ people.

 

Probably not the way to go about changing people's opinion on "section 8" behaviors.

[Carol in Cal.]

I think the question is how to screen tenants.

What we do is charge a nominal amount as an application fee, and do a credit check.

We call references.

We call AND REACH the TWO prior landlords.  We figure that if a tenant is difficult or destructive the current landlord might not tell us because they want them to move on, but the one before that has nothing to lose by being candid.

We ask, "When did they rent from you?  Did they always pay their rent on time?  Did they keep up the property?  Would you rent to them again?" 

 

As it happens we have never rented to section 8 clients--our rent is higher than the section 8 scale so it doesn't work for us.

 

ETA:  IF WE CANNOT REACH THE LAST TWO LANDLORDS, OR IF SOMETHING SEEMS 'OFF' WITH THEM (LIKE THEY MIGHT NOT ACTUALLY BE LANDLORDS), WE TURN THE APPLICANT DOWN, EVEN IF WE DON'T HAVE ANOTHER RENTER IN THE QUEUE.  We don't argue.  We are kind and polite, but we don't change our minds.  If asked the furthest I will go is to say that we were unable to verify the information provided.  I never EVER lie and say we rented to someone else.

 

Also, we are picky about the employment verification and the credit check.  We want people who pay their bills.  We want people who have enough income to afford to do so.

[Hunter]

I'm a section 8 tenant. I'm very thankful for my voucher. I live in the only low-income high-rise in a very expensive part of a major city. We also have some market-rate apartments in our building, that are mostly filled with foreign medical workers from a nearby hospital. Some of the elderly members are not market rate, but also not section 8. I'm not sure all that is entailed.

 

For another 10 or 20 years or so, our apartment manager has no choice but to rent most of the apartments to low-income, before the whole building will go market rate. She screens incoming individuals, but many of the new people are a problem, because the city is trying to get more people housed and to close down some of the homeless shelters. There are formerly homeless people who are not receiving the services they need to transition well into being housed. This is putting a strain on management.

 

First off, management tries to screen, but their hands are tied a bit, that they really aren't allowed to discriminate. That has nothing to do with section 8, but with the building rules that must be followed for a few more years. I don't think the failures are a surprise to them; I think their hands are just tied, that they don't dare skip over their place in the waiting list, to pick another person that looks like they will be a more successful choice.

 

When people first come, management keeps a better eye on them, to see what they are like. If the tenant is just not ready or supported enough to be housed, then they start eviction proceedings.

 

Most of the section 8 tenants in my building have been here for years and are great tenants. It's not loud and it's not dirty here at all. The noise all comes from the rich, non-section 8 party-goers that are visiting the city and hooping and hollering as they walk by. One of our tenants found panties thrown up on her balcony and we assume they were thrown there during a celebration. I'm assuming by someone without a section 8 voucher as the tickets to that event were pretty expensive.

 

We had a party in the community room last night. I'll bet half of us were section 8 residents. We were quiet, and picked up after ourselves, and left the room in better shape than we found it.

 

Yes, there are some people with vouchers that are not ready to be housed right now. But there are a LOT of section 8 voucher holders that are great tenants. Good tenants can be hard to find. When you find good ones, you want to hold on to them. That goes beyond whether they have a voucher or not. My building manager makes good tenants want to stay, and people stick around for a LONG time.

[creekland]

 I think the other posts were over the top. Revolting really.

 

The truth of what people actually experience (anecdotes) is often revolting - or sad - or frustrating - or whatever similar descriptive word one chooses to use.  It doesn't mean it isn't the truth.  This is true whether one is talking about insurance deals, restaurant experiences, neighbors, crimes of various sorts, health issues, or ______.

 

The ideal world we all want to live in just doesn't exist, except on TV.

[ThisIsTheDay]

Thank you so much for all of the responses.  It is so appreciated.  The house is not in a wonderful neighborhood. Income level won't determine who will be a great or awful tenant.  

 

 

 They get low-income legal advocates who help them fight my friend in court,

 

 

You do not know, Amy, how huge this comment was for me.  I agreed with and understood all of the posts (both sides!), but this one sentence made me stop in my tracks.  If we were to allow Section 8, it would be because we'd want to potentially help someone out. We aren't in desperate need of a renter.  I don't want to end up in some nightmare and lose money because someone else has an advocate with an agenda.  I don't.  I have a property manager, and evictions cost me a lot of money.  Yes, I understand the need for legal advocates, but I'm not out to screw someone and don't want to end up on the receiving end of that either.

 

Right after this was Creek's comment about protecting retirement investments. That's what this house will hopefully be there for, and we need to be as conservative as possible.

 

Talking to my dh this morning, I learned that he'd already told the property manager to go ahead and accept Section 8.  When I told him of some of these comments, he changed his mind and contacted her to update.

 

This board is such an awesome resource.  I've been frustrated at what's gone on over the past month or so and have been avoiding the boards.  Thank you all so much, not only for your comments here, but also in general and being to open to sharing knowledge and experiences, whatever the subject.

[Annie G]

We never rented to section 8 partly because we knew there were things we would have to do to the units and we didn't want to spend the money if we didn;t have to. For instance, one bathroom had the light switch outside the door and it would have required moving it into the bathroom. Usually not a problem but this was a 80 year old house and thus not a simple task because of how the bathroom was laid out.   Easier to just not fix it and rent to someone not on Section 8.  

 

But anyway, we had plenty of tenants who trashed our units- some pretty nasty stuff.  So I can't imagine that we would have fared worse w section 8, because we already fared poorly.  We found that getting landlord references was useless- a tenant would get behind and the landlord just wanted them out instead of going through the hassle and expense of eviction. So they would give the tenant a glowing recommendation when we called!!  Ugh.  We'd rent to them and then find out that they weren't the stellar tenants we'd been led to believe. 

 

We just weren't good at landlording- we were naive and trusting.  We treated people how we would want to have been treated.  In theory that should have worked out- and sometimes it did. 

[ChocolateReignRemix]

We were asked our experiences. We shared them. In my experience, to have said that day in and day out behaviors were all from model citizens would have not been the truth. I had a woman call about a rental and when told that we don't do Section 8, she let loose with a string of invective. That did not make me want to change how I do business. 

 

Yet oddly enough if someone were to relate their personal experiences with homeschoolers (just an example lol) with broad negative generalizations people here would be racing to say how you can't judge a group based on the bad apples.  Which is correct.

When you start referring to a large group of people as "they" and casting dispersions on the group as a whole you should expect a negative reaction from those within that group who don't believe the generalizations apply to them or the people they know.

[TranquilMind]

Googling has mentioned inspections (which look like a general rental inspection already performed by our city) and the possibility of a delay in receiving the first HUD payment.  I've also looked at the Fair Market Rents scale, and that's acceptable.

 

Other than that, is there anything else one might want to consider?

 

Thank you.  :)

I have 15 years of experience landlording and I would never do it.

Unless you have one of the rare reasonable Section 8 offices in your area, it will be a nightmare. 

 

Pay will be late sometimes.   The people will often completely trash the unit; they have no stake in it since someone else is paying. 

 

I would be very careful and network with landlords in your community to see what it is really like before taking this on.  This is NOT stuff for inexperienced landlords who don't conceal and carry. 

 

SEPARATE your charitable inclinations from your BUSINESS.  Always.  Give, if you want to give, but never, ever give over a 100K+ asset to someone just to be charitable, unless you have endlessly deep pockets. 

[shawthorne44]

A good friend of mine tried Section 8 because the checks were reliable.  He said "Never Again".  The single mother he rented to was nice and everything you'd want in a tenant.  The problem was the boyfriend.  Every time he felt he'd been mistreated by anyone he'd get back at "The Man" by taking a sledge hammer to the toilet.  Toilets are one of those essential things, and so friend had to replace it each and every time.  It took forever to evict (in a land-lord friendly state) and a great many toilets.  

 

I think the root cause problem isn't the people, it is the government involvement that throws common sense and consequences out the window.  

[TranquilMind]

My brother has rented to 'Section 8.' He would tell you that it all depends on the people. . . period. To say that Section 8 people ALWAYS trash houses is wrong. If you could set up a way to get references and a hefty deposit check, promised back if they keep the place decent, you'd get better results. Unfortunately there are NON Section 8 people that would just as easily trash a place. It's called lack of integrity and it runs across all race barriers and financial status'. 

No, Section 8 residents do not "always" trash a house.  But the chances are higher, statistically.

 

Credit reports are important to me.  Someone who doesn't pay others won't pay me.  There are the rare individuals with bad credit because of a nasty illness, and that would not be a problem.  But those who can't pay their bills will not pay me.  I don't think that I'm special and that somehow, if I disregard reality, I will get paid

. 

It's just not a good way to do business.  Find me someone on Section 8 with fantastic credit and I will consider it, though my older houses would never pass the ridiculous inspections, even though they are in fantastic condition in great neighborhoods.   No, I'm not rewiring a 50 year old house to meet some stupid code requirement when I live in such a house myself. 

[TranquilMind]

A good friend of mine tried Section 8 because the checks were reliable.  He said "Never Again".  The single mother he rented to was nice and everything you'd want in a tenant.  The problem was the boyfriend.  Every time he felt he'd been mistreated by anyone he'd get back at "The Man" by taking a sledge hammer to the toilet.  Toilets are one of those essential things, and so friend had to replace it each and every time.  It took forever to evict (in a land-lord friendly state) and a great many toilets.  

 

I think the root cause problem isn't the people, it is the government involvement that throws common sense and consequences out the window.  

I have heard a variation of this story a thousand times.  Exactly. 

[TranquilMind]

Yet oddly enough if someone were to relate their personal experiences with homeschoolers (just an example lol) with broad negative generalizations people here would be racing to say how you can't judge a group based on the bad apples.  Which is correct.

When you start referring to a large group of people as "they" and casting dispersions on the group as a whole you should expect a negative reaction from those within that group who don't believe the generalizations apply to them or the people they know.

The evidence is in on the home schooling.  Statistically, home schoolers perform better academically at every level.  The end result is clear now.

 

Not so with Section 8.  The same results keep piling up over and over.  Ask landlords.  There will always be exceptions, but that is what they are, exceptions. 

[creekland]

The evidence is in on the home schooling.  Statistically, home schoolers perform better academically at every level.  The end result is clear now.

 

Not so with Section 8.  The same results keep piling up over and over.  Ask landlords.  There will always be exceptions, but that is what they are, exceptions. 

 

Not to mention, no matter how someone chooses to school their children or what they think about the different options, they aren't costing ME my retirement investments.

 

We give a bit to charity in donations.  Our rental places and supporting those unlikely to pay or keep our places up are not what we choose to "give."

[Word Nerd]

I don't believe for one second that the scolds in this thread have never reached a conclusion or made a decision based on their personal experience. 

[Word Nerd]

.

[Hunter]

Credit checks for section 8 recipients isn't always indicative of their ability and willingness to pay their bills. My credit is so bad, that people who look at it ask me how it's even possible to have a credit rating that bad. I'm not the one who ruined my credit. It's common for DV survivors to have amazingly awful credit scores that have nothing to do with their future finances.

 

I was late on my rent once in the past 7 years. I have memory loss issues from my seizures, and the money order was still in my wallet and I didn't know it. When management called, I RAN home and handed them the money order.

 

I have a LOT invested in not trashing my apartment, and so do many others. Losing my mobile voucher could mean losing my life. The city who issued my voucher has copies of my police reports and is committed to making sure I can use it where ever I need to, as long as I vacate the previous apartment properly. One of my moves required me cleaning out an apartment in 3 days. I left it empty and spotless. And hopped on a bus for another city, with my voucher transferred to the next city.

 

In my experience, people who don't do right with their voucher don't get a second chance to get another one. They are usually not easy to get the first time, and just about impossible to get again if you messed up.

[fraidycat]

That's really not the case. There was no functional recourse for my friend. No more so than any landlord and any tenant has

Why not?

 

Did they actually try to contact the command? Or did the guys get out of the military and the house? That could be a problem. But if they were still active duty, the command can help.

[ChocolateReignRemix]

The evidence is in on the home schooling.  Statistically, home schoolers perform better academically at every level.  The end result is clear now.

 

Not so with Section 8.  The same results keep piling up over and over.  Ask landlords.  There will always be exceptions, but that is what they are, exceptions. 

 

I would be interested in seeing a large study that supports that statement.

 

I would also like to see the study supporting the second bolded statement.

 

Thanks.

[ChocolateReignRemix]

It's the language, not the experience.

 

"They always..." instead of "In our case..."

 

Exactly.

[Hunter]

The evidence is in on the home schooling.  Statistically, home schoolers perform better academically at every level.  The end result is clear now.

 

Not so with Section 8.  The same results keep piling up over and over.  Ask landlords.  There will always be exceptions, but that is what they are, exceptions. 

 

I think the apartment manager of my building would NOT agree with this. I think she thinks of the section 8 failures as the exceptions, and the section 8 success stories as the norm.

 

Despite not being able to pick and choose the most successful looking prospective tenants, and having to rent to people unless she has a legal reason to skip over someone on the waitlist, (which is a building issue, not a section 8 issue) she still rents to far more success stories, than she experiences failures. And because tenants WANT to stay a LONG time, the successes last a LONG time, and the failures are a very short term problem.

 

Some section 8 failures are the fault of the owner, not the tenants. The better section 8 tenants are looking at the best properties. If a piece of property is not attractive to tenants, only the most desperate of tenants will apply to rent there. I think some owners need to take a longer look at their property and figure out why good tenants don't want to live there.

 

I'm pretty picky about where I apply to live. I'm not looking for large or elaborate, but I am looking for well maintained, professionally managed, quiet, and safe. There are a LOT of apartments that will accept section 8 renters that I would NOT live in.

[LucyStoner]

I've heard positives and negatives. Here, leaving a place trashed, missing your part of rent or having disconnected utilities *will* cost you your section 8 housing. A lot of people do all they can to keep that voucher because otherwise affordable housing is as rare as unicorns here. How someone with a bad rental history would sneak through a careful screening, I have no idea.

 

On the other side of it, some of the small landlords that take section 8 are very nearly slum lords. My SIL rents a house with section 8. I don't have any idea how or why her home ever passes inspection- the landlord fixes nothing- I have personally repaired her plumbing so she would have a working sink. There are troubles with the doors, mold that was there when they moved in, the roof is in serious need of repair and the landlord expected my SIL to deal with a dangerous tree (we disabused the landlord of that notion). The house isn't even rentable if the landlord didn't take section 8- people who could afford to live elsewhere, would live elsewhere. The rent received from section 8 is nothing to sneeze at, there is no reason not to maintain the place. A lot of them don't even have a place for a kitchen table or dining area. I've seen a number of others in similar situations. I don't generalize this abhorrent behavior to all section 8 landlords or even most though. See how that works?

 

There's also site based section 8, which is a whole different thing. I know of nice complexes that are all or mostly section 8 and terrible complexes that are all or mostly section 8. I used to live by one that had a huge number of pretty obviously dysfunctional families living there. Neglected kids, loud more often than not.

 

I live in a so called "mixed income" development. Our rent is not subsidized but the developer receives a tax break on their swankier developments for developing and maintaining moderate rate rentals. They also get special financing options. The state housing finance commission inspects our apartments and they have a higher standard than whoever is inspecting my SILs voucher rentals- any maintenance is fast here. Many (but not most) of the residents here use section 8 vouchers at this site. There are mostly 2 bedroom apartments with small families, a number of one bedroom apartments with moderate income singles and couples or seniors on section 8 vouchers and a number of 3 bedrooms units for families of 4-6 people. The quiet lady down the hall who I have coffee with is a retired special ed teacher with a section 8 voucher. She's probably every landlord's dream tenant and she's lived here for 13 years. It's a nice enough place on a quiet street in a quiet suburb. The apartments aren't fancy but they are attractive and have the same conveniences of average to nice apartments (we have 3 bedrooms/2 baths/dining room/nice patio/dishwasher/disposal). Safe, clean and affordable in a walkable community. We really couldn't ask for more while my husband is in school. Affordable housing CAN and does work but unfortunately there are places it doesn't work well. Thoughtful planning and careful screening is necessary. It's simply not reasonable to paint it as mostly dysfunctional, unreliable people who trash their space.

[Carol in Cal.]

 

 

But anyway, we had plenty of tenants who trashed our units- some pretty nasty stuff.  So I can't imagine that we would have fared worse w section 8, because we already fared poorly.  We found that getting landlord references was useless- a tenant would get behind and the landlord just wanted them out instead of going through the hassle and expense of eviction. So they would give the tenant a glowing recommendation when we called!!  Ugh.  We'd rent to them and then find out that they weren't the stellar tenants we'd been led to believe. 

 

 

This is why we get references from TWO landlords back.

[Carol in Cal.]

Credit checks for section 8 recipients isn't always indicative of their ability and willingness to pay their bills. My credit is so bad, that people who look at it ask me how it's even possible to have a credit rating that bad. I'm not the one who ruined my credit. It's common for DV survivors to have amazingly awful credit scores that have nothing to do with their future finances.

 

I was late on my rent once in the past 7 years. I have memory loss issues from my seizures, and the money order was still in my wallet and I didn't know it. When management called, I RAN home and handed them the money order.

 

I have a LOT invested in not trashing my apartment, and so do many others. Losing my mobile voucher could mean losing my life. The city who issued my voucher has copies of my police reports and is committed to making sure I can use it where ever I need to, as long as I vacate the previous apartment properly. One of my moves required me cleaning out an apartment in 3 days. I left it empty and spotless. And hopped on a bus for another city, with my voucher transferred to the next city.

 

In my experience, people who don't do right with their voucher don't get a second chance to get another one. They are usually not easy to get the first time, and just about impossible to get again if you messed up.

 

If a tenant applies who tells me in advance that they have bad credit, and why, I consider them.

Also if their bad credit is confined to one period of time, like a two year period, I consider them if they can explain it.

 

But if someone has a bunch of bad credit throughout their life, they are often the kind of people who don't pay their bills, and I can't afford that.

[LMV]

Googling has mentioned inspections (which look like a general rental inspection already performed by our city) and the possibility of a delay in receiving the first HUD payment.  I've also looked at the Fair Market Rents scale, and that's acceptable.

 

Other than that, is there anything else one might want to consider?

 

Thank you.  :)

 

The HUD/Section 8 requirements in terms of rental condition are very reasonable so that shouldn't be a deterrent.  Their fair market scale is also reasonable if you have a mid-range rental property in a relatively uniform MSA.  We have several different rental properties in the same state as our main home.  Two are in the same county as our main home and their actual value exceeds what HUD considers fair market value because the real estate prices and accepted rental prices in our county are higher than the other counties in the MSA that HUD uses.  For this reason, we are less likely to accept a tenant with a housing voucher because we will need to reduce the rent below true market value. The other rental properties we own are in counties that are in line with the MSA so we are more able to accept potential tenants with vouchers, have taken them in the past, and would take them in the future as long as the tenant was acceptable otherwise.

 

We do screen all potential tenants with good due diligence and if anything doesn't check out we just move on to the next candidate. We have only had problems with one tenant and those only cropped up after more than a year of being a decent tenant.  There were other issues involved there and, in many ways, it was an unfortunate situation for all involved.

 

I generally believe that the key to minimizing problems is good due diligence before selecting a tenant for all potential tenants.  In our experience, tenants with housing vouchers, who passed through our screening process without issue, were no more of a problem as tenants than those without vouchers.  

[TranquilMind]

I would be interested in seeing a large study that supports that statement.

 

I would also like to see the study supporting the second bolded statement.

 

Thanks.

Look it up yourself, if you are really interested,  Of course you will quibble over size of "study" or whether it is a study at all, or a million other details because it will not not support your worldview.

 

Let's just say I've been landlording for 15 years and that Section 8 tenants are - in general - not a prime target group landlords outside of inner city areas tend to seek out for many reasons. 

 

I'm recovering from surgery.  I'm not doing it now.  I can't even sit at a desk. 

 

I did remember a homeschooling study, and there were many, all supporting the same conclusion.

There was one in 2010 by Brian Ray. And this one: http://i.bnet.com/blogs/homeschool.pdf

[TranquilMind]

Not to mention, no matter how someone chooses to school their children or what they think about the different options, they aren't costing ME my retirement investments.

 

We give a bit to charity in donations.  Our rental places and supporting those unlikely to pay or keep our places up are not what we choose to "give."

This is true.  I don't mix business with charity.  I separate them.

 

I personally knew a very nice and successful long term 30+ year landlord who lost everything when Detroit went belly-up.