Section 8 and Covid-19

[Wilsharo Scott]

Hi all. I recently purchased my first rental property and currently working on finishing up renovations on it. I'll soon be looking for a renter. My initial thought was to seek a Section 8 tenant, as the majority of the rent will be paid by the government, lowering the risk of missed payments.  Am I missing something? Has the Section 8 program been negatively affected by what's going on during the pandemic?

[Ali Boone]

I had one delayed section 8 payment from the city because they were backed up during one of the covid months, but otherwise no change. As far as whether you should go section 8 or no, that should completely depend on the location of your property and the logistics of section 8 in your state. Section 8 rules and logistics can vary state-to-state, so you want to make sure it's a beneficial move on that front, but also from the perspective of the specific neighborhood... I've worked with properties in areas of Baltimore and Chicago where you can get much higher rents from section 8 tenants than you can the market tenants, and section 8 is by far the most common set up and it would almost be strange to have a market tenant...and certainly disadvantageous. But in other markets or areas, section 8 might be way less advantageous than market tenants. I would contact local professionals... property managers or agents... in that area and ask about section 8 there. Remember too, section 8 doesn't pay all of the rent, so even if you are guaranteed rent, it may only be half or less depending on the tenant.