Section 8 rent increase

[Andrew Slezak]

Hey team,

I’ve put an offer on a property that has had a section 8 tenant for the last 8 years. The numbers with my offer will yield excellent returns. Current rent is  $797. After checking the local housing authority the SAFMR though the zipcode maximum is $1300. The house is currently under management so I’d think they’d take care of getting top market rent but I think we all know that management companies can be hit or miss. Does anybody have insight on how we can reach higher rents or how the rent value is determined? This is my first section 8, but been doing other long terms for awhile but starting to see a real opportunity in voucher housing with the back log of qualified people waiting for housing. 

[Drew Sygit]

@Andrew Slezak we're pretty aggressive about rent increases for our clients, but some of them won't approve us to pursue.

So, don't automatically blame the PMC!

You should find out what percentage of the rent is being paid by S8 and by the tenant.

Tenants have to sign the rent increase and some won't because they don't want their payment portion increasing.

It's also highly unlikely a S8 office will approve the huge increase from $797 to $1300.
- BTW: the $1300 includes all utilities being paid by the landlord. Going to guess the $797 is rent only, with tenant paying utilities. So, the actual increase to market rent will be much lower.