Gail...you've heard most of the bad. Use the "Search" tool above and you'll find all you ever wanted to know and more.

The only plusses I've heard are:

1) "Guaranteed" rents, but see other posts about what can cause issues.

Benefits? Hmm. Besides a first row seat to the drama? Hmm.

Well, you can sometimes fill a property in an iffy neighborhood with a Section 8 renter. Family is nearby, etc.

Rents are somewhat guaranteed, but rent increases are not-- even when market dictates.

Sometimes they pay above market rents.

Yeah, I got nothin'.

Here in Los Angeles the Section 8 rents were "so called guaranteed". However the City needed to come up with millions of dollars to patrol the gang infested Section 8 buildings that bring them the most revenue in the monthly commissions, taking the money from the State and giving it over to landlords warrants a 25% cut. So Los Angeles cut 1500 (Fifteen Hundred) families from the program and used that money on private security. The City neglected to inform the State or Federal Government they were misappropriating those funds for their own benefit!

On the flip side, for a period of several years, landlord weren't allowed to op-out of the Section 8 program. When my tenant lost their contract due to City Fraud, I could find another replacement tenant because the city wasn't handing out new contracts.

I had a vacancy that couldn't be filled unless I got my attorney to file a law suit against the city and get relief from Section 8's grips.

Most LL's in my town would prefer not to rent Section 8 tenants. However, when the economy hits a deep recession (2008) and good tenants (ones with garnishable income) become hard to find, LL's here run to the Section 8 office and line up.

During a good or bad economy, there is no end to government housing money. It is always there,..paid out on the 3rd.

my first and hopefully last sec 8 tenant sold drugs out of my rental. The police raided them and found drugs, ammo, and magazines for various weapons. The tenant was not charged or arrested! My guess is she rolled on her supplier and this was part of the deal so she would not loose her section 8. The tenant was then in a big hurry to move out, maybe before the supplier had her killed? I was only too happy to see them go.

What Roy said.

When vacancy rates are high, Section 8 doesn't look so bad. When I had an 8 unit during the times when vacancy rates were high, and it seemed like all the good tenants were buying houses... I had a couple of Section 8 tenants. At least Section 8 tenants are unlikely to buy a house!

I didn't have any awful experiences with Section 8. In general, I think they were harder on my units than average. But, at that time, that was cheaper than paying for months of vacancy.

I would also consider your eviction process in your area.

Gail,

Good question. At one time we had a whole gob lot of homes on Section 8.

Advantages? I can think of 2:

- A easy body to fill a vacancy. But that body comes with five other people scrutinizing your business.

- my local office will pay more than market rate for a four bedroom house because the demand is so high for four bedroom houses. So I can make a few extra bucks.

Section 8 is not not not for casual landlords. You must have your act gather, have the temperament to deal with stupid government policies and procedures, and know how to super protect business.

I consider Sid a good friend but I must disagree. The money is not guaranteed. There are lots of rules and procedures that can trip up the payment of rent. The landlord must be willing to keep six people happy – the resident, the caseworker, the office manager, the district manager, the inspector, the 5% reinspect audit, the state director, and Washington DC. Anyone of those people can stop the rent payment to you. They can also force you to make improvements to the home or pay for resident caused damage. They can lower the rent anytime they want. They can refuse a normal cost of living rent increase. They can force you to replace carpet because it "looks old".

If the resident fails to show up for their yearly appointment, which happens all the time, section 8 stops paying the rent until the resident decides to comply. If the resident or anyone in the house is arrested for any reason, or if a deadbeat gives the address of your house to the police when he was arrested section 8 instantly stops the rent.

Now you have a person in the house with no ability to pay the rent and you must evict.

Part of the rent is paid by the resident. This amount can change frequently. If section 8 pays their share of the rent and the resident does not our court will not allow us to evict because we did receive a payment towards the rent within 30 days.

My suggestion – unless you're a pro managing full-time with a maintenance crew and willing to put up with the government procedures ...skip it!

Spend your time finding a quality resident without the extra baggage and rules.

BRAD

PS the only section 8 residents we have now are disabled and have been with us for years. They are grateful that we service their home and treat them with respect, and are grateful for the financial support from Sec8. Rare.

I know of only one local property manager who takes on sec 8. This woman has an abrasive, no nonsense personality. NOBODY messes with her, and she has few people who trouble to give her flack after one encounter with her tongue.

Most landlords who use her can't stand her personally, but appreciate how well their properties are managed. Many sec. 8 recipients around here are entitled drama queens, but this PM knows how to handle them.

Me? Too much drama.

Over all I am not a fan but there are some plus sides to it.

1) If you have an unusual property that would be hard to fill then it might work well for you.

2) These tenants do stick around a bit longer than others that are not purchasing.

3) The S8 program works well with a couple other programs like winter weatherization and some power company recycling programs.

1A) The flip side to these items - if the place is a hard to fill property, why did you pick it up to begin with? What are you doing to get rid of it?

2A) How much added drama and stress they may try and give you? Does this drama spill over into the inspections process? I had a S* tenant that would take out screens routinely just before the inspections.

We've had pretty much good success with Section 8. The rents are the median rent for your area. The HUD Section 8 rents are on the website www.HUDuser.org under "Fair Market Rent".

Many of our properties are above the fair market rent and don't qualify, but for the properties that do the rents can exceed market rents. Many of our Section 8 tenants work and have jobs, one even worked for the state, but have lower salary/income. Many are single mothers and a mom with 2 kids of different gender qualifies for a 3 bedroom place. Other tenants that we have had are elderly or disabled people. We even rented to husband and wife with 10 kids, nobody would rent to them, we did and they stayed 12 years, win win.