SECTION 8 , what are your thoughts and experiences?

[Douglas Gratz]

Hello BiggerPockets Friends,

I am sitting at my computer bored and figured I would start this thread to see what other people's experiences have been with section 8, mainly because I see alot of people on here give new comers, horror stories, where as I believe its the best way to rent!

My thoughts are:

1. Tenants will more often than not, not be the best tenants ,however; this is why when you buy a property you plan to section 8, you either use cheap material or unbreakable and easy to clean expensive material. I usually go with the former. Section 8 tenants are not keen or mindful about keeping the place nice.

2. That said, the most important piece of the section 8 puzzle is very strict tenant screening, and there is big demand for section 8 so you should be able to have a pool of people to choose from.  They will never have good credit, so you need to call previous landlords and sit down and have a conversation with them, feel them out.

3. I find that happy section 8 tenants do their best so I like to send large gift baskets on major holidays, offer discounts during Christmas, etc etc. Section 8 tenants are used to slum lords and I believe that no matter who you are, you deserve a good caring landlord and that goes a long way in how they treat you and your home. It also makes them want to stay. 

4. If doing section 8, I prefer to do it in cities that have quick eviction times. Where I am its only 30 days until they are forced out where as Philadelphia takes 6-8 months.  Thats a lot of losses income and if you have mortgage this could really hurt.

5. I LOVE SECTION 8. ITS RECESSION PROOF (more prospective tenants in times like that, so bigger pool to find good tenants) the GOVERNMENT sends me a direct deposit into my bank account! Not having to worry about collection rent is a huge plus as I feel this is one of the most stressful parts of being a landlord. If I compared section 8 to my none section 8 tenants , 99% of the time , at some point I need to evict my non-section 8 tenants in C to D class neighborhoods.

Overall, if you are thinking of going this route, I strongly encourage it! Choose tenants wisely, try and buy duplex's to protect yourself against vacancy (I never have had both units vacant, so this way I will get enough rent to at least pay my mortgage) BE STRICT WITH YOUR TENANTS RIGHT OFF THE BAT. Do not be nice, be a business person. If they are late on their portion of rent or anything, give one chance, "if I do not have your portion of rent in 1 week I will evict" and do it. Let them know this the day they sign, that you will be the best landlord you can be, but if they stray you will evict. I usually say this to my new tenants , "I want to give you a nice house to live in, I want to be great landlord to you, but I expect the same in return. I take rent and anything you pay monthly (water) very serious and will evict you in a heart beat. It will be best if we both do our best toward one another, I respect you, you respect me, its as simple as that, I want to give you a nice clean, bug free place to live, and in return I expect everything on time, I will NEVER EVER let late payments or DESTRUCTION of my house, so do those things and you will be gone in 30 days" Lay the law down along with good tenant screening, and you wont get the horror stories you so often hear. And recession proof, you cant beat it, I like feeling safe with my investment.