All Forum Posts by: Igor Avratiner

Maybe consider selling the property. Trying to figure this out from afar can be stressful.

Thanks for sharing your decision making process and data you uncovered. Also the folks who added the qualitative comments really made this an interesting read. Please share your update and any other data you uncovered in the process that you are willing to share.

By the way there is no wrong answer, just a matter of personal preference.

I would ask myself, am I passionate about being an active real estate investor? If the answer is yes: Than you are well on your way just by asking this question in the forum and receiving all of the great ideas that people have responded with. If you are passionate about this than you will figure it out, and if you do run in to some obstacles (you will) you will have the grit to hang in and find solutions. If the answer is no: Most likely the best thing is to figure out a way to sell it. You will be happier. There are a million ways to passively invest money. And if for some reason the assets class for your passive investment has to be real estate there is no shortage of options you will find that you can feel comfortable with.

That's awesome! Thanks for sharing!

If you will be in philly feel free to reach out. I would be happy to discuss some of the strategies I have used as an investor in the areas you mentioned, that have worked out successfully.

Chris Price I can only speak for my experience here in Philadelphia. There are neighborhoods where section 8 will pay a higher rent. Neighborhoods where you could get 800-900/m for a 3/1 row home section 8 might pay 1000-1100. I don't know about the lower end neighborhoods but once you start getting in to the neighborhoods where a similar 3/1 would rent for 1300/m+ (traditional tenant) that's where section 8 starts to make less sense. They may actually offer you below market rent and you may have a larger pool of better qualified non section 8 applicants for those properties. The Housing authority here actually has a nice program call Housing Opportunity Program. What they are are trying to do is get families with a Housing voucher to move in to neighbors with better schools. So one of those 1300/m+ 3/1 row homes/twins for example. In those cases section 8 will bring their rent up to match the market rent. The nice this is that the tenants who qualify for this program have to go through classes and training in finances, home ownership, how to be a good tenant, etc. Section 8 also does some additional screening on them. What I find is that the folks who want to actually go through this process are probably more likely to be better tenants.

Patti Robertson you are right rarely have I had to visit a property at night but it has happened. I use this rule of thumb more so because if I am not comfortable there at night will the good tenants be? What about the contractors, I know of good contractors that refuse to work in areas where they don't feel safe. I can't blame them for that, I wouldn't either.

As many others have mentioned nothing wrong with section 8 as long as you screen the tenant just like you would with a regular rental. We try to provide a product that is above the average so it attracts better tenants. If the place looks really bad on a bad block the potential pool of interested tenants would be much smaller to pick from. We don't have an multi family section 8 units only singles. Find out if section 8 pays above, below, or at market rent in your area. In my market I I try to look for the sweet spot property that has a high enough cap rate but is in a good enough area. My rule of thumb is that I must be comfortable walking around in the area day or night. If it's a D class area section 8 or not it wouldn't be the right fit for me. I got some really good advice from @Ben Leybovich recently. It's always better to own a property that can attract both section 8 and traditional tenants vs one that will primarily attract one type. This can also be a factor when you go to sell the house your pool of buyers may be smaller. Also consider if one of the tenants were to move out would you get less rent if you decided to rent to a non section 8 tenant? Maybe you need to buy the house for less based on that contingency?

Looks like you should be able to do this online. I know you can definitely renew online. The renewals are 50 bucks and you get a notice every year. https://business.phila.gov/housing-inspection-license/ You can not evict a tenant without having a rental license in Philly so not having one is adding risk to your business.