SF Bay Area section 8

[Erik Grahn]

I’m looking at a mf property in the east bay that has a long time section 8 tenant. I don’t know much about section 8 other than the few bp podcasts I’ve listened to. The unit is renting at or above market rent. The tenant would like to stay and I’m not opposed to that. They have taken good care of their unit and paid rent on time. Is there anything I should know about renting to section 8 tenants? It seems like there are a lot of positives to renting section 8

[Osazee Edebiri]

I have had quite a few Section 8 residents in Oakland.

The positives to Section 8

- Timely government payments  - Not subject to rent control - can increase the rent despite the moratorium still in place in Oakland / Alameda County - Solid market rate rents

The negatives to Section 8

- It's the government so they can come up with arbitrary rules that don't make sense or follow the stated rules.

My rule of thumb is these are humans, so in general you can work with them, you won't always win, but as long as you win most of the time you are good. I find the Oakland Housing Authority to be an institution that you can win most of the time if you learn their rules. 

Basically you want to get familiar with the legalize on this website http://www.oakha.org/Pages/def...  assuming its Oakland. If not study the Housing website for whatever East Bay city you are looking at. Based on experience and what I have read, I feel Oakland and SF have the most challenging rules and regulations when it comes to rentals. So if you get knowable about these two cities you should be able to handle most any other city in the country.