Lomg Distance investing property number 9 sec 8 question..

[Ghenia Flewellyn]

Hey BP! Just put a deposit down on buy and hold number 9. Super excited because its my 3rd purchase of the year. My 1st 2 were out of state and this one is about 3 hours from where I live. Just can't find any deals in South Florida anymore. I read @David Greene book on Out of State investing in December and it really gave me a huge confidence boost in looking outside of my local area. Anyhow, I'm hoping someone has a little bit of experience with a situation that I'll need to work through. The current tenants are on section 8, which is great, however I really don't have any experience with section 8 tenants nor do I really know what the process is to have the rent now deposited in my account through section 8. I'm hoping to get ahead of this before we close which is in 11 days. It's a cash purchase. Any advice from folks that have been through similar situations would be great. Thank you in advance.

[Patti Robertson]

Congrats @Ghenia Flewellyn!  VERY IMPORTANT - Notify SEC 8 today of the pending sale if the seller has not already.  They need to put the payments on "abatement" so their auto payment system doesn't send the next payment to the seller.  In our area it takes about 15 days lead time to make this happen.  If it is too late, you can make an adjustment on the settlement statement for the payment that will go to the seller. They will send you the paperwork you need to submit after closing to identify you as the new Payee.

Make sure the Seller transfers the tenant's deposit to you and if you like the lease, gives you a lease assignment.  If you don't get an assignment of lease there will be a little more paperwork to submit, including a new lease.  If the tenant has been there at least 12 months, this will be an opportunity for you to increase the rent.

The easiest way to find a property management company who manages in the area of your rental is to get the list of available housing from the SEC 8 office.  Usually you can get that from their website, but it's hard to find.  Find the section for Housing Choice Voucher, and there should be an Available Housing section with links to the lists by bedroom size. It is generally easy to tell who is a private landlord and who is a property management firm. That will give you a starting place for selection.

Good luck!