All Forum Posts by: Jen Kurtz

My pleasure @Chad K. !

I am grateful to be a part of this wonderful community and ALL of the people who come here to listen, post, ask, and help! I am thankful for this wealth of knowledge that I believe just couldn't be found elsewhere. I am thankful for the ability to network and build business. I am especially thankful to @Brandon Turner and @Joshua Dorkin for the podcasts that ALWAYS extend my workout because I will just keep exercising for the full length of the podcast! :)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!

Welcome Anthony! Congrats to you and your ambitions! You will find what I consider an infinite amount of knowledge here. It would be almost impossible to go back and read every single post every written and replies after the fact, and also keep up with every new post and podcast that comes with each day. I love to read articles throughout the day and get keyword notifications sent to me email. For example, I saw your post this morning because I subscribe to posts with the word "pittsburgh". So take advantage of keyword notifications! and podcasts are my favorite thing to listen to while working out, driving, etc. :)

Chad, 

As a huge advocate of sec 8, I commend you with your decision. But let me also make sure you understand that tenant screening should still be the same for sec 8 tenants as you'd have for non- sec 8 tenants. Sec 8 just assists the residents with rent, but still make sure you have clearly defined criteria that you will uphold for all of your residents- such as criminal background checks, stable job history, verify employment, must have good landlord references, no prior evictions. When talking to a prior landlord, confirm the timeframe they lived there and what their rent was. Ask questions like how many times they paid late, if there were unauthorized pets in the home, if they ever caused disturbances or complaints, and the best question-would they rent to them again? Another big red flag for me is when you ask someone when they need to move and they tell you asap- enough probing questions and you will find out that this person that needs a place immediately has been given notice to move and has or will have an eviction filed on them. So that could be in the works but you wouldn't yey see it in a background check. 

Just be sure going in that you are not blind to the headaches that any tenant can give you. I have had many wonderful sec 8 tenants that do best with what they have and take care of their home. That's not to say that I haven't had people flip a switch and become a nightmare. People receive sec 8 because they are lower income. You are going to have more issues with that in general just because small bumps in the road that someone who has more savings ability could handle, will rock the boat much more of someone with little to no savings for emergencies. Flat tire could mean 100 short on rent and will be late, then also a late fee. So, once a little in the hole, much longer to get out. 

I love that you want to sincerely help others, just be prepared by having set criteria and defined rules in a lease. Some people will take big advantage where they see an opportunity. I always say - anyone can be a bad tenant, regardless if their mom is helping them with the rent or the government. Just be prepared and consistent for all of your renters, sec 8 or not.

Ok, so to your question on how you get started. Get in contact with your local housing authority and let them know you are a property owner and would like to participate in the Housing Choice Voucher program. Your property will have to pass a HQS Housing Qualities Standards inspection, and you can start having sec 8 voucher holders referred to you to inquire about your home and you can advertise to sec 8 too. Visit HUD.gov for more information about the program from a tenant side and landlord side.

Happy to help! 

Thanks for bringing me into the convo here @Joe Fairless :)

@Chad K. mentioned here is the Low Income Housing Tax Credit program. That does not subsidize the residents in any way, but rather gives the owners of a property tax credits in return for renting to households whose total income does not exceed 60% of the area median income (based on household size and median income determined by HUD). In order to get those tax credits, they have to be awarded to your property by the affiliate state agency (in Ohio, the Ohio Housing Finance Agency doles them out to developers who essentially bid for them as there is a certain allocation amount to be awarded). Additionally, in that program it comes with a commitment of rent and income restrictions for 15 years. Also, it should be noted that under the tax credit rules- a household cannot be made up entirely of full-time college students (looking forward and back 12 months), because the IRS did not want student housing developers to be tax credits. However, there are few exemptions to the student rule, such as if the student has a dependent child or is receiving public assistance.

Section 8, Housing Choice Voucher program, which is my favorite form of subsidy- offers a lot more freedom (not having to commit longer than a lease term), and also helps the resident more as it actually decreases their portion of their rent not to exceed 30% of their adjusted gross income (and the government subsidizes the remainder of the agreed upon contract rent with you. However, again there are many restrictions to receiving this assistance. The tenants have to meet income guidelines and there is also restrictions on students who receive sec 8. For example, the applicant would have to be older than 24, be married, or have a dependent child, etc. 

The tax payers are not generally interested in making housing cheaper for traditional students, so students are excluded from these income based assistance programs. My best advice for you if you wanted to supply good housing at a better (or more competitive) cost than many other housing options- is to find great deals, fix them as efficiently as possible, and hopefully can ask for lower rents than the competition because your mortgage and upkeep is lower. That is generally not in the mind's of investors to see how you can charge a tenant less for rent, but your heart is very much in the right place! I recall my college days and how expensive it was to rent when you do not work full-time. Renting a house with friends definitely beats the costs to live in on-campus dorms though!!

Best of luck to you and your goals, and keep asking all the questions you have on the BP forums! If you ever want to write to me directly, please feel free to!

I am sure it is going to depend on local ordinances. Where I am, we have a bedbug addendum in the lease. It gives information as to where bedbugs can come from and some other miscellaneous information about them. It also makes it clear that the tenant is to inform us of bedbug activity, which we then schedule extermination with the company we use, and we bill the tenant. We work it out with them in a payment plan if they cannot cover the typical $300 bill up front. At our LIHTC property, this is something that can rarely be afforded up front.

Wow, it looks awesome, love the layout!

Wow, what a great idea Dawn!

Tim Ferris? Haha, in all seriousness, that is a great idea. Anytime I am listening to a podcast I have my amazon app ready in the background looking up the book they mention to buy it if it sounds interesting to me.

Welcome Ryan! You've come to the right place. From forums, to blogs, to podcasts- its so easy to get addicted to information! :)

Hi Robyn, congrats on the windfall! If it were me, I would definitely put that money to work with diversification. I'd go with stocks (but I wouldn't dump them in a particular fund or holding all at once. I would take advantage of weekly purchases and dollar cost averaging and then the next big correction or drop, I'd put the remainder in that I had allocated for stocks). I'd see what I could afford with RE investments in a stable community outside of a stable city (that would also make enough money to pay for management). Then finally, I'd buy a lower cost franchise or two that seem to do pretty well like subway or dunkin donuts. I, personally have always had a passion for exercise and recreation, so I also wouildnt mind a gym franchise like planet fitness. 

So I'd pick totally passive instruments like Buffet type stocks (nothing sexy, just tried and true staples), RE investments where you would be more active, and also something I was totally passionate about in a day to day business!