New to Section 8

[Dee Mandrekar]

Hello BP Experts

I have never considered renting out to Section 8 Tenants but now am thinking to do so. Have few questions so pls help me understand it.

1. I have been always doing the paperwork for my tenants till now and never used a realtor. Do I need to use a Realtor for renting out to Section 8 tenants so I dont end up with any issues? Can I still use the same lease document which I used for my other tenants till now?(my lease I purchased from BP)

2. I have listed my property on Zillow with rent of $2700 but I see that for 4 bedroom houses the section 8 gets closer to $4k from the government. Who decides the rent?

3. How long does it take to get the tenant to move in once they decide that they like the house?

4. what all more is involved with Section 8 tenant than a normal tenant moving in from paperwork or procedure point of view?

Thanks for your help here. My property is in Denton County in Texas.

[Dee Mandrekar]

Quote from @Mike Tamulevich:

Hi there! Mike Tamulevich here, COO of Marketplace Homes. Renting to Section 8 tenants can be a great opportunity, and I'm happy to help clarify a few things for you.

Do You Need a Realtor?
You don’t need to use a realtor to rent to Section 8 tenants. If you’re comfortable handling the paperwork yourself, you can continue to do so. However, there are some additional steps involved with Section 8, like coordinating with the local housing authority. As for your lease, Section 8 requires a Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) contract, but your existing lease can often still be used, with some modifications to ensure compliance with Section 8 requirements.

Who Decides the Rent?
The rent for Section 8 tenants is typically determined by the housing authority based on local market rates and guidelines, but you can request a rent amount. If your property qualifies for a higher amount, the housing authority will let you know what they can approve. Keep in mind that Section 8 tenants generally pay 30% of their income toward rent, with the rest covered by the voucher.

How Long Until Move-In?
Once a tenant decides they like your property, it can take a little longer than a traditional rental because Section 8 requires a property inspection to ensure it meets their housing quality standards. The timing for this varies but can take anywhere from a couple of weeks to a month, depending on the local housing authority’s schedule.

Additional Paperwork/Procedures?
There’s a bit more involved with Section 8 tenants, such as coordinating the inspection and completing the HAP contract with the housing authority. Once those steps are done, the process becomes fairly straightforward.

If you’d like, we can send you a copy of our Section 8 Guide for Landlords, which goes into more detail. Just send us a message, and we’ll get that over to you!

 Thanks Mike. really appreciate your feedback. Can I reach out to HAP to figure out how much they would offer for my house? 

Yes pls send me the guide for Section 8 LL.

[Nathan Gesner]

Section 8 typically pays market rates. If they're paying $4,000 for a 4-bed home, then you are apparently renting way below market. I just looked at rentals in your market and it appears the average price for a 4bed home is around $2,500. I would be surprised if Section 8 would pay $4,000.

You still use your lease, but there's additional paperwork to fill out with HUD. Renting to a Section 8 tenant can take extra time to fill out the forms, pass inspection, get approval and move the tenant in. I don't know about other markets, but it can take an extra month or more to place a Section 8 tenant, plus a few extra hours of my time for the paperwork and inspections. When it's all said and done, I have a lower-quality renter that pays below market rates and causes me a lot of problems. It's not worth it. I hope your experience is better.

[David Krulac]

Section 8 rents for the entire country by locality are on the HUD website, HUDuser.org look for Fair Market Rent (FMR) there. Their FMR is the Median Rent for the area, so by definition the FMR is in the middle with 50% higher and 50% lower in that marketplace. In some areas the FMR is for a whole county in other areas its by zip code. HUD comes up with these figures by doing rent surveys with landlords, and I have participated in many of those surveys over the years at the request of the local administrator of the Section 8 program.

[Patrick Drury]

@Dee Mandrekar

1- You would want to get a property manager, not a realtor for something like this. 

2- The housing authority decides the rents in the area. For example, in Columbus, we have CMHA the Columbus metropolitan housing authority. They list the rents based on bedroom count on their website

3- This depends on the housing authority. For the tenant to be able to move in you need to 
-Go back and forth and fill out HAP contract and get it approved by CMHA 
-Get the property inspected and pass(if you fail redo this step)
-execute the leases then the tenant can move in 

* Important note (you won't start receiving payments from CMHA till like a month or 2 later after you execute the lease. They will backdate it to the date the property passed the inspection. This is how they do it in Columbus, but I would check with your local housing authority to see if they do it the same way or something different 


 
4 - what all more is involved with Section 8 tenant than a normal tenant moving in from paperwork or procedure point of view?
refer to number 3 above 

[Michael Smythe]

@Dee Mandrekar highly doubtful there's such a big difference between market rent and S8 rent.

First off, the GROSS S8 amount includes specific amounts for all utilities - electric, gas, water, trash, etc.

We do NOT recommend including utilities in the rent because S8 only pays a certain amount and the owner is then exposed to tenant abuse of utilities. 

S8 tenants also statistically cause more damage than cash paying tenants.

[David Krulac]

@Dee Mandrekar for Denton County Texas, according to the HUD website "HUDuser.org"

the Median rent for a 4 bedroom house/apt/condo could be $3,980 if it is in zip code 75001.

Here's the total list for Denton:

https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/fmr/fmrs/FY2025_code...