All Forum Posts by: Jeffrey Cheng

I've rented thru the sect 8 program for years and just like others have said there are good experiences and some bad. It all boils down to screening the tenant. I've had old, young, black ,white & now I have vision impaired. The results could all be the same if you don't carefully screen your tenant. In my 1st rental I had a single mother of two that paid $25 a month of the rent and this was in an semi-rough area. Whenever i went to the property, announced or not, the place was well kept. 

Also had a young lady that rented for about 2 1/2 years under the program, got herself together and eventually purchased her very own home. so there are good tenants if you take the time to screen them.

bad ones that i thought were going to be ok ended up with a boyfriend hanging around and police being called for disturbances all the time, or the lady that was taking care of her granddaughter but would allow her sons to stay there a few nights sometimes, well he tried to make a drug buy something went wrong and someone shot at him hitting my place, Now she had never been a problem and kept the place well but i later found out the son & a sister was living there for two month while the tenant was staying out of town with a friend.

Section 8 get's a bad rep but not all voucher holders are bad tenants.

Sometimes landlords just want the money and don't care who they put in their units as long as that voucher amount covers the rent. As a landlord it's your responsibilty to manage that unit, so that you don't end up with a place being destroyed.

Sometimes you just can't forsee things that might come up but keeping a eye on your place and doing frequent inspections will help you stay in tune with how your place is being treated. I learned it the hard way but I've learned it!

Good Luck 

It took less than 30 days. Best to find an applicant that already has an approved voucher.

I just advertise will take Section 8. Doesn't seem to slow down people wanting to see it that aren't section 8.

I have 2 section 8 properties in Greenville and really like the program.

Call your local housing authority office. They can give you a package that details what you need to have to qualify your house. It not that bad. They just want a clean working house with smoke detectors for the most part.

My section 8 office does routine inspections which I like because the tenants know they are coming and the keep the house in good shape.

I would convert more of my properties to section 8 if given the opportunity.

Yes. 

I'm afraid I sort of forgot the details though! It was a 2009 through 2015 thing. I can say it mostly sucked. But it can be lucrative, too. 

Let me tell you this:  I go to check a tenant out one time (walkthrough to tell her how her security depost was probably going to fare when she moves out in a couple days). I point to a huge dent in the wall and I was like "What the hell is this?" She goes, "Oh my boyfriend pushed me into the wall. Sorry." I was like WTF. But that was a dream compared to what happened next. 

She alerts me that "The sink don't work." I was like Oh geez, how, why, what do you mean?? She points out that she doesn't use the right side of the sink because the drain doesn't function right. I open up the door to the area beneath the sink, and I see a fuc#ing cooking pot sitting there all nasty and I s#hit you not THE P-TRAP HAD BEEN REMOVED. It was just "straight-piped" down into the flipping pot. I just shook my head, looked at my upper middle-class wife with a "I'm sorry this will be the last Section 8 duplex we ever own." Very harrowing at times. At other times, I would get two or three government checks in a row and the tentants would pay too and it was all good. 

You know who knows a lot about this stuff? Peter Derry, a Charleston Realtor. 

If you don’t want to pay for a title search....you can do the search yourself using your local county sites online.....the tax dept , wherever they record deeds, mtgs, etc.

Let's see if the biggerpockets community can give him a better answer than a "title search from a title company".

I've been going to the auctions in Detroit only a short time, but the regulars there damn well know how to do this, and they aren't paying 50-150 per property, every week. They'd also die rather than share the info.