Landlord advice for rent increase

[Kenny Tran]

Hi everyone, I  wanted to get some advice from everyone.

I recently bought a property in Chicago and I inherited the tenant. The house is a section 8 house and the tenant has been there for 6 years. She is a 65 year old single retired teacher and her rent is $1,000 a month. She has a 2 year lease that is due January 2024. The comps as of right now are around $1,200 for other Section 8 homes and I assume by 2024 it will go up slightly. Without going into detail, I cashflow $550 per month on this house.

When her lease is up, I do want to increase her rent by 100-200 but to be honest, the human aspect of me is battling with the business side of me. She is on a fixed income and I know any rent increase would give her less spending power on herself. Of course I know this is business and I have to put my feeling aside

I guess what Im looking for is some words of advice from seasoned investors who have dealt with similar situations and to help me get a different perspective on how to approach this mentally and see it more intuitively than emotionally. Does it come down to how greedy I want to be? 

Thanks everyone

[Mason Hickman]

@Kenny Tran

Contact your liaison at the local housing authority and find out what you can increase the rent to without impacting your tenant's portion of the rental payment. Typically, they will work with you to avoid displacing a tenant. You can potentially increase your rent without impacting your tenant at all.