Atlanta Section 8 Questions

[AJ Brown]

I have a couple questions regarding section 8 in Atlanta. 

i) I'm looking to buy a home with a section 8 tenant in place and have a property management company manage it. Do I still need to register with the state as a section 8 landlord and go through all the paperwork and classes?

ii) I tend to only hear about the nightmare section 8 stories but is that the norm or outliers? Any good to great section 8 tenant experiences?

iii) Can anyone recommend a property management company that does section 8?

Thanks BPers 

[Nick Fitzpatrick]

AJ,

An investor with many, many properties within the Atlanta Housing Authority (manages "Section 8" in the city of Atlanta) program explained it to me like this: "Once you get familiar with AHA's systems and processes, you can do very well. Until you hit scale and learn the ropes, it can be challenging." 

I've found this to be my experience as well. I took the time to get to know the processes and employees and have found them very helpful. AHA tenants can either be great or nightmares. When you are buying a tenant occupied property, the tenant matters as much as the property if you plan to keep them in the home long term. 

If you go the route of a PM, they are the one with the relationship with AHA and communicate with AHA on your behalf. You don't have to go to the class or attend inspection, etc. 

Tenant occupied AHA properties are very sought after right now. Most of the sellers I'm seeing are investment groups (small to very large) that are selling off properties due to the increase in prices.