Section 8 in Hartford Ct

[Nick Travali]

I’m interested in the Hartford market particularly in buying multi families and renting out to section 8 tenants. 

Would love to hear advice and insights from investors in Hartford or other parts of Ct who also have section 8 tenants. 

Cheers!

[Samuel Eddinger]

Hey Nick.  I run a PM company in central CT.  We manage about 15% of our portfolio as Section 8 tenants.  Here's the advise that I can tell you:

Not all Section 8 tenants are created equal.  If you would reject them if they were not Section 8, you should still reject them if you are Section 8.

Not all Section 8 administrators (JD Amelia, Imagineers, local housing office) are created equal.  You cannot reject because of the administration branch but I wish I could.  They are probably the worst part of Section 8.

Section 8 tenants in general will stay longer.  Section 8 tenants will wear on houses much more than non-Section 8 tenants.  Section 8 tenants will generally not tell you issues in the property and then tell everything to the inspector which gives you a short period of time to get a lot of work done or you will get abated and lose the rent for that portion.

Section 8 tenants are MUCH harder to evict than normal tenants.

Happy to talk more about this if you want.  DM if you do.