Section 8 - My Experience Two Years In

[Jamie O'Connell]

I started my real estate journey 2 years ago and bought my first duplex fully rented. One unit ended up being a Section 8 tenant so I started Section 8 from my first day. This tenant has since had another child and moved to a different larger unit of mine and is still one of my favorite tenants.

I now have 11 (soon to be 13) doors and 7 of those are now Section 8 tenants. As I get vacancies I try my hardest to fill those spots with only Section 8 tenants if I can. I do get a lot of “push back” from both real estate and non real estate people on it due to the negative (sometimes earned) connotation that comes with it.

If you made it this far congrats. I do have a lot of people who have started asking questions so I figured I would give the good and the bad from my experience over the last two years so others can make their own decision.

The Good

 - Guaranteed rent payments which is great. 5 of my 7 Section 8 tenants only pay $50 a month for their portion of rent. The government auto deposits the rest of the rent directly into my account the first of every month.

 - The “inspection” if you can even call it that, is set so low its laughable. A smoke detector in every bedroom and a smoke detector and carbon monitor in hallway of every floor and in the basement or attic IF you have furnace, hot water heater etc in them. ONE window that will stay up on its own in each room, no holes in flooring (oddly strict on this one, even a dime size tear in a floor is considered a tripping hazard) a light in every bedroom and enough room for a twin bed and a dresser. An Oven and a fridge in the kitchen. A Living room. Running water and Heat. Thats it

 - The tenants (rumor has it) that they stay for 10 - 20 years on minimum. I am obviously only two years in but so far all of my tenants have already signed their 2nd year lease. I have two Section 8 tenants who are moving in in the next month that have lived in their current places for over 10 years and are only both moving because the owner of their duplex got arrested and a life sentence. So they have to move. They will both most likely live in my units for a very long time.

- The yearly rent increase is very easy. Two months out from end of the yearly lease I reach out to the tenants Rep and tell them what I think the lease should be moved up to (go off FMR) and they approve or deny (always approve so far because I am realistic) an automatically increase it at the one year mark.

 - Yearly inspection!!! This one is not important or good if you don’t take care of your properties but I update all of my units AND want my tenants to take car of the unit so a yearly inspection with the Sec 8 Inspection is great for me. Get to get in, make sure its clean, everything is in good order, change out filters and such to make sure its done properly and also make sure nothing is broken.

 - If you are a good landlord you are helping those who are normally looked down upon and normally have to deal with bad landlords just to have a roof over their head.

 -Section 8 paid security deposit. This is great, just fill out one page and the government pays their full security deposit. Though it can take months to get the actual check.

 - Section 8 signing bonus. This one might be case by case ( I believe it is ) but my county does a one months rent signing bonus for each new tenant moving into your unit. This is your money to do what you please with and does not get paid back to tenants at end of their lease. Like the security deposit this check can take months to get but hey, who’s complaining on free money.

The Bad

- There is no month to month in the first year. After that your lease can turn month to month (even while still getting a yearly rent increase). This doesn’t matter to me but I do know some landlords prefer month to month.

- Some tenants are to worried about you getting annoyed and kicking them out (and section 8 accepting landlords can be hard to find) so they might not want to bother you for small or big issues and that can hurt you later on when things are more expensive. The yearly inspection does help for this IF you pay attention. Luckily most my tenants are comfortable enough with us that they do let us know because we fix it fast and theres no repercussions.

- The utilities. This is both a good and a bad and really depends on your utility companies. In Upstate NY we are held hostage by our electric and gas company so you never know if you will get a $120 electric/gas bill or a $3,000 bill. I spend half my days reporting them to NY state for fraud.

- There are not a ton of repercussions. In theory if they don’t take care of your property and such they can get kicked out of the program. To me, I think this is probably fairly rare to actually get someone kicked out of the program. I have one tenant who snuck in a dog (I dont allow dogs) and has not paid their $50 portion in 5 months OR the $45 a month pet payment I added when they snuck the dog in. Section 8 does three letters. First letter saying I complained, second letter saying I complained, third letter saying I complained. Unknown what will happen after or if just more letters. So you have to decide should you just bite it for 3% of the monthly rent your not getting or fight it, kick them out and have to get another new tenant in.

 - The entitlement is sadly very real. The tenants know that the government is paying 97% of their rent and that you most likely wont kick them out over 3%. Which is true in my case. BUT when you go in to fix something that you see they have a brand new PS5, or a new phone, or a nicer car than you do etc. To me, I don’t mind this IF they pay their portion. But if they keep coming up with excuses every month on why they cant pay such a small amount yet spend money on all of this it does grade.

 - The Job turn over (this is my personal experience) I have found that my Section 8 tenants tend to change jobs MUCH more than my non Section 8 tenants. That means they usually go a month or two without a paycheck or use it as an excuse to not pay rent anyways.

 - Can be harder to get ahold of. This in my experience is across the board with tenants, specially those who aren’t paying their rent on time. However, my Section 8 tenants all have gone through multiple cell phone numbers in the last 2 years. I think all but one of them has had at least two numbers in the last two years. This is new to me because I have had the same cell phone number since 2004 so it just always stuck with me as I was shocked. This means you have to stop by and leave a note to “remind” them to reach out when they don’t answer your texts for a few weeks. Also so far emailing has also been a big issue.

 - It takes time. You have to sign the lease with the tenant (normally in person because of the email issue mentioned above) THEN you need to send to the Section 8 rep to do their part (this can take 1 to 30 days) and then they need to schedule the inspection ONCE all the paperwork is done. Now that I know all the reps in my county I can normally get this done in 2 - 3 weeks but its taken A LOT of personal relationships built up to feel like I can get it done that fast.

 - Can take time to get paid. My first six Section 8 tenants I did not get paid for first four months AFTER the tenant moved in, so I had to cover those carrying costs out of my pocket. On the forth month I did get the four months in one lump payment which felt great, but really was just refilling my account or paying off my credit card which was stressful. Same with if you get a singing bonus or a security deposit. It can take months before randomly the check just shows up in your mailbox. It just takes time. Once you get the kinks worked out though and the first direct deposit hits your account it shows up like clock work from there!

Things to Know

- Rent Increases are easy and simple because its FMR and right there on a website for everyone to see based off state and county. Don't get greedy and you will be fine

- Utilities v No Utilities - If you cover the utilities you will get the full FMR value. So if they say FMR is $1,550 a month for a 3 bedroom than you can ask for $1,550 a month. If you do NOT pay utilities and its the tenant responsibility than you would only be able to charge probably $1,300 - $1,350 a month for rent.

- The time it takes - See Above. Dealing with government agencies is not for the weak. I am a nice person but I do burn out on feeling like im being let down so it does sometimes take some patience (and space from your phone) so you don’t loose your cool because you do NOT want to make a bad name for yourself with the agency.

- Lease v HAP - This one took me a few turns and thankfully the Section 8 rep worked with me as I sounded like a complete idiot the first 2 - 3 leases. The lease is what you sign with the tenant. The HAP and related documents is from the state and very specific. Not to confusing but the first few times is rough.

- Grew up, stay on - All of my tenants who are on Section 8 grew up on Section 8. Their parents had it, they got it when they turned 18, their kids grow up on it and so far I have seen a few of their kids also get it when they turn 18. I like my tenants and they are mostly all very respectful so I love to keep housing them but it does seem rare to ever get off the program.

- Kid Count - A lot of tenants don’t even understand how this works, and it changes somewhat often. I had one tenant who had a 1 bedroom voucher that I inherited when buying a property and she had a 17 year daughter move in with her after she got her voucher and all it took was a simple paperwork form and she got moved to a 2 bedroom voucher and moved to a two bedroom unit of mine. I got to keep a great tenant, I got more money a month and her portion didn’t change a bit. Also (and this is a change in the last year) if they have children of different genders than the government will give them a bigger bedroom count. My first tenant had a 2nd child and her first child was a boy and second child was a girl. So she went from a 2 bedroom voucher to a 3 bedroom voucher. Also I believe if there is a big age difference than they can also get more bedroom count vouchers.

- 6 and under - This one goes along with the inspection but is only if you have a child under 6. If you have flaking paint its a big no no. This is anywhere, so I had one house that was a 2 story property with no upper porch (aka no way to get to the roof of the house) where one peak of the property trim was flaking that you could see from the ground. I had gutted the inside of the house and painted the exterior but honestly was not going to scrape and repaint the peak of the house because no one can reach it and I figured I would get to it in a few years when had more money. However, the Section 8 tenant I was moving in had a 4 year old and they flagged it and I ended up having to scrape and paint it to get approved for them to move in. Even though the kids couldn’t haven’t reached this peak unless they grew wings.

- Treat with Respect - These tenants need a helping hand and they should be treated with respect. I treat my tenants all the same and I fix things just as fast in my Section 8 properties as I do in my none Section 8 properties. I also leave a gift for every new tenant of mine, on the program or not. Its not a ton but its what I am always missing when I move. I go to Sams and buy a big pack of toilet paper, tissues, paper towels, paper plates and a $50 gift card to the local pizza place with a nice welcome card. I think it helps them feel at home, less stressed and most importantly that its their home, in hopes they will treat it with respect and save me hassle later on.

***** Side Note - When I say I in this monster of a post I definitely mostly mean my property manager. I deal with all the paperwork and the negative side like chasing unpaid rent and such but my property manager is amazing and deals with the day to day inspections, fixes, tours and most the communication.

Would love to hear others good and bad experiences so that new landlords or landlord who might be on the fence about Section 8 can make their own opinions. I wish I had had more information when I first started so I didn’t have to learn from scratch but so many of the gurus charge an arm and a leg I have always planned on being upfront about my experiences so others can maybe get a leg up.