section 8 - Posted by Armon

import · October 16, 2003, 8:44pm

Posted by Dimpil on October 16, 2003 at 20:47:30:

I did a archive search and ran across the pros and cons. Mostly it was positve from investors who rent. I aslo found a guy who’s a long time section 8 landlord and he’s a wealth of info with 20 years.

import · October 16, 2003, 8:44pm

Posted by Armon on October 16, 2003 at 20:44:36:

Hello everyone. This is truly a great board and hoping to follow your advice in getting my feet wet in REI.

I’m interested in knowing more about section 8 housing. I hear lots of stories about endless profits that section 8 offers to investors. Is this true? I don’t see too much discussion about this type of investment on this board, which makes me believe the stories I’ve heard may be just that.

Also, where can I go for information about section 8 and how it works.

Thanks for taking the time to respond.

import · October 20, 2003, 10:58am

The long-term Section 8 guy. - Posted by John J.

Posted by John J. on October 20, 2003 at 10:58:27:

I have done Section 8 and low-income housing for about 20 years. I have posted many messages on various message boards in reply to questions and answered emails about the subject. I have a collection of these responses that I am willing to email to anyone who requests it from me at jjonkmanj@aol.com. Here are some Section 8 web sites: http://www.nahro.org/programs/rent_s8/index.html
http://www.hud.gov/offices/pih/programs/hcv/forms/forms.cfm (has many of the forms),
and www.huduser.org. The latter also has the fair market rents for each state.
You can also get info from http://www.cdc.net/~mccright/ and click on Landlord Info.
Best,

import · October 17, 2003, 10:10pm

Re: section 8 - Posted by ed

Posted by ed on October 17, 2003 at 22:10:09:

I’ve had many years working with section 8 housing first doing repairs and fixup, later as landlord. Some observations:

Section 8 is consistent, usually easy to work with if you’re not running a slum, and pays top dollar cause there is such a shortage of housing.

You can sometimes squeeze info out of the case worker about issues like housekeeping which are hard to find out elsewhere.

They supposedly have new programs to help their tenants become homebuyers which should give readers of this site something new to work with (although I haven’t been able to get this to work yet)

They do have families on the program, so if you are talking to a couple, ask if they are both on the program. If they are lying to section 8 they surely will to you to.

They are a little tougher on rent increases than just working with a tenant.

I’ve been told the program is locked up, no new cases. They will never go away, but I wonder if this signifies other cutbacks in the program coming.

All in all I would rate section 8 a strong plus if you’re willing to work harder to sift through tenants to find the 5-10% that will take care of your property

good luck

import · October 17, 2003, 6:18am

Re: section 8 - Posted by Antoine (GA)

Posted by Antoine (GA) on October 17, 2003 at 06:18:01:

Armon

I am placing my first investment house in Section 8. The phone has not stop ringing with people in the program. Go to your local Housing Authority and they can direct you to the right place.