Planning rent for a Section 8 home - Posted by Wendfy

Posted by Wendy on June 12, 2008 at 04:04:20:

Thank you all for your info. What I mean is how do you allow for their utilities. I am going to rent and they pay their own utilities. Lets say they have a voucher for $1110. How do you plan your rent so that out of the amount they have enough to pay their utilities, etc? Do you charge say $700, allowing them the remaining $411 to pay their utilities?

Planning rent for a Section 8 home - Posted by Wendfy

Posted by Wendfy on June 11, 2008 at 20:07:33:

Have a property that I am planning to rent section 8. Other than for local rents, how do you determine a proper rent for someone who is receiving section 8.

Re: Planning rent for a Section 8 home - Posted by Dave T

Posted by Dave T on June 12, 2008 at 05:49:01:

The Section 8 housing authority surveys the local rental market and won’t allow an applicant to pay rent that falls outside of the market range for a comparable property. I would not worry about the utilities for a Section 8 applicant. The tenant’s housing voucher has already taken the cost of utilities into consideration.

Understand that you are not marketing exclusively to the Section 8 tenant. You are marketing your property to the public at large. The applicant you get might just have a Section 8 voucher. Charge the rent you would expect to get from any other tenant with the tenant paying utilities. The tenant you finally approve might not be a Section 8 applicant.

In my area, state law prohibits charging first and last months rent plus security deposit. Section 8 won’t allow first and last either, but does allow security deposit.

Contrary to what you have been told, security deposits are not returned until the tenant vacates. Damage due to tenant abuse can be deducted from the security deposit.

S8 info - Posted by Jimmy

Posted by Jimmy on June 12, 2008 at 05:48:31:

got a bunch of them. here’s some ideas, based on my experience:

  1. generally speaking, the max rent you can charge a S8 tenants is based on prevailing market conditions in the area. but that is an imperfect calculation in many ways. sometimes, you can get more from S8 that regular tenants, and sometimes S8 is inadequate. KNOW thy market!!

  2. I would advise you to never PLAN to get S8 tenants. put a sign in the yard, an ad in the paper, and see what comes your way. you cannot control the supply of vouchered tenants, and you NEVER want to be dependent on a local housing agency for your tenants or your desired level of rent. the percentage of S8 tenants in my 100+ units can vary greatly. I’ve been as high as 45% and as low as 12% in the past 4 years.

  3. when evaluating the purchase of a rental property, you need to know what prevailing rents are. and if the S8 rate is higher than you could get from non-S8 tenants, you need to evaluate the unit based on the lower rent number. again, you can’t control the supply of vouchers, and you can go many months before you get a S8 tenant. don’t become a welfare case yourself.

Re: Planning rent for a Section 8 home - Posted by Wendy

Posted by Wendy on June 12, 2008 at 04:07:08:

Also, do you charge first and last month’s rent as well as a security deposit? I was informed by someone that if you request security deposit, you must give it all back after a year if you have a 2 year lease, even if they have caused damage.

Re: Planning rent for a Section 8 home - Posted by DJ-nyc

Posted by DJ-nyc on June 11, 2008 at 20:54:55:

Section 8 is regulated in accordance with market rents. The section 8 office should be able to tell you what your units can rent for. The renters qualify according to their personal income; and they recieve a voucher to look for an apartment based on their family size and income. check out www.hud.gov or google be your friend.

In nyc there are two agencies that rent section 8; NYCHA (new york city housing authority) and HPD (housing preservation and development); I like HPD because they pay the highest and the tenants receive the voucher only in emergency situations. Usually the tenants are first timers on section 8 and not “Lifers”.

DJ-nyc

Re: Planning rent for a Section 8 home - Posted by Sailor

Posted by Sailor on June 11, 2008 at 20:47:08:

In my area Section 8 rents are higher than I can get otherwise. Not sure what you mean by “proper rent.” It pays to check local limits because they change every year. Your local HUD office may play cute & decline to state maximums, but the info should be available online. I charge just under the maximum allowed because I add as much as I can to make my units nice.

Tye