Section 8 Pros and Cons

[Andrew Foley]

Anyone care to share some of their experiences with Section 8 tenants? I’ve heard mixed reviews from my small inner circle.

[Karl B.]

I didn't have a good experience with Section 8 in my market. I had one inherited Section 8 tenant who smoked in the unit despite not being allowed to. A few years ago she overdosed on fentanyl and died. She wasn't a terror or anything - friendly enough to me despite not getting along with the other tenants.

The second Section 8 tenant at a different multi-family was a terror. She wasn't inherited so it's all on me. Not only was she not nice but she didn't take care of the property in that there was garbage in the yard, cigarette butts, etc. I should have dropped the hammer earlier but didn't so again, my fault.

Several times she wouldn't show up to her Housing Authority meetings/inspections and payment was freezed. She almost got evicted several times and paid me the $35 late fee almost every month.

They froze her account yet again and I evicted her. She didn't even show up to the eviction hearing on time (she showed up almost 10 minutes late after the verdict had been issued in my favor). Her voucher is still frozen (at least it better be as she owes me money and The Housing Authority is aware of this).

So to say Section 8 is guaranteed money and Section 8 tenants are afraid of losing their vouchers may be true in a lot of cases, but certainly not all.

Though my biggest annoyance was with the Section 8 Housing Authority; they were inept. They always seemed to be confused, kept bad records, etc. When I tried to raise rent for the apartment (where the lady later O.D.'d) the inspector claimed $450 for a one bedroom in my area was too high. After the tenant passed away I renovated the unit after it was emptied out and now I get $590 a month from a really nice couple.

Some people on BP claim Section 8 in their area pays more than market rate; do your due diligence to see if this is the case. I'm sure some Housing Authorities are run well but the one in my market is not.

[Scott M.]

After years of dealing with both Sec 8 and market rent tenants our experience says there is very little difference between the two when it comes to the important stats.  Evictions, late rent, turn costs etc.

The only tangible difference we have seen is Sec 8 requires and inspection prior to move-in and a yearly one.  Some offices will hold tenants responsible for their items (like smoke detectors were there on move in but magically they are not there on the yearly, clearly a tenant issue) but generally speaking they hold the owner responsible no matter who actually caused the problem.  

Beyond that, no real difference.  Again, my experience is those w/o a lot of experience have a lot of opinions on the topic.  Or they have 1 bad experience and paint with a broad brush.  It isn't Sec. 8 that determines if a tenant is good/bad, it is the individaul tenant.  Have had great and horrible experiences on both sides of the market.  

[Patti Robertson]

This question comes up SO often on BP I typed my answer into a blog post to save my fingers from typing the same thing over and over. I currently manage about 115 SEC 8 tenants and love the program, but you do need to learn the HUD rules so you can use them to your advantage. https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

[A Morgan]

You should check out @josephasamoah he has had a lot of success with Section 8 and is very strict with his tenant screening process.  He is doing a webinar covering it in a couple of weeks if you want to check it out - http://joeasamoah.com/tenant-s...

[Jennifer Donley]

I'm a Section 8 specialist and love the program.  You've got a good bit of feedback here that covers that gamut of what you generally hear around Section 8.

I like it for guaranteed rent, long tenancies, higher rents in some areas, added accountability through the S8 program for the tenant and supply/demand gap which means I can attract great tenants by having nice units.

A large number of the issues you hear around Section 8 can be fixed with excellent, thorough and strict screening, including a home visit at their current residence as the last step of your process.  Few landlords and PMs do this and I just don't understand why.

Housing Authorities' ease of business varies widely across the country but I find in general, once you learn the processes, you can count on them every time so if something isn't going as it should, you can reach out to keep the train moving on paperwork and such.

Feel free to reach out if I can help further.