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