All Forum Posts by: Jennifer Donley

@Ken Gilb are you buying in an LLC or in your personal name?

If in your personal name, I'd recommend Robert Heideman at Delmar Mortgage.

If in an LLC, check out Together Credit Union, American Bank, First State Bank of St. Charles and Carrollton Bank.

Also the Facebook pages for STL Real Estate Investing are really active - you can post in those groups to get recommendations too.

@Neal Matthews, I'm not in the area you're in but I only do Section 8 in my market and I love it.  I've found that if you provide a good quality unit, you can attract great tenants (screen meticulously) and they're not any more work than market tenants (possibly even less because I'm not chasing rent and my tenants are easy to work with).

@Account Closed I do think Section 8 could be a great option - large houses are in high demand so you will probably get a lot of interest quickly.  That allows you to pick the best tenants through careful & meticulous screening.

Feel free to reach out if I can help on the Section 8 front, I have a portfolio of strictly Section 8 properties and love it.  I have a few blog posts here on BP that might be helpful to you if you go that route as well.

@Joshua Boyce I have a portfolio of 26 Section 8 properties - I would recommend talking to the caseworker and the tenant at the same time via conference call to determine the reason for the increase.  

Section 8 requires a re-certification each year where the tenant's income is evaluated to determine how much they should pay.  And I've had them change substantially like this, both up or down.

If a person is working more hours and getting overtime, getting more from government benefits, had a kid move out, etc., that can throw off the calculation. But it should also allow them to pay more at the current moment. If/when their hours go back down or things change again, they just have to submit new paperwork and the amount will change again.

Also, did you submit a rent increase with the renewal? This can force the tenant to pay more but it's not usually by this much.  

My experience with these large increases is that they tend to work out.  I used to freak out but the tenants have always figured it out in the end. Sometimes with our assistance (sending in paperwork, talking to a caseworker, connecting them to a local agency that can assist, etc.) and sometimes on their own.  Just communicating with both the tenant and HA helped tremendously in these situations.

@Paul Bermingham Woohoo I'm so excited to see this post!  I own a portfolio of Section 8 properties in B and C areas and I love it.  It's all I do now, I teach other investors to succeed in the niche and I am a proselytizer for it.  

My strategy is to rehab so that I have one of the nicest houses in the neighborhood.  This attracts a lot of tenants quickly and I'm able to pick the best tenants through my screening process.

The end effect is that I have great tenants who care about where they live, they're easy to work with and all of the rent is paid on time. 

Screen meticulously like you would market tenants and include a home visit at their current residence as the last step in the process (again, would do this for market tenants too).  

I don't screen for income specifically in terms of a multiple but I do request pay stubs to give me an idea of the full picture of the person.

Good luck!

@Husnain A. I agree with everything @Courtney King said.

I have a portfolio of Section 8 tenants.

First I would ask - when you say "difference" - do you mean the tenant portion of the rent?  I ask because some landlords will charge a Section 8 tenant more than the total approved rent amount (above and beyond the total rent amount approved by the Housing Authority) and this is against the law.

But if you are talking about the tenant portion of the rent, as dictated by the Housing Authority, it is absolutely a violation of the rules of Section 8/Housing Authority for them not to pay their portion.  Ask them the reason for non-payment - if they've had a job or income change, they can contact their caseworker and submit paperwork.  Often this will result in a lower tenant payment portion (or no tenant portion at all).

A tenant with a voucher can lose their voucher if there are lease violations and of course non-payment is a lease violation. My experience is that people with Section 8 do not want to lose their voucher, it's like gold to them.

As Courtney said, contact the tenant and the caseworker to see what can be worked out and to get on record as having notified both the tenant and the Housing Authority of the violation.  We have a standard eviction process - we file at 30 days past due.  

But I let my tenants know that I do not want to go this route, and I don't want to put their voucher at risk so we need to work together to get the situation fixed ASAP.  This has always worked to find a solution to get them back on track with paying.

@David Miller congratulations! Love Roofstock and love Section 8!

I sold 2 of my St Louis S8 properties through the platform this year.

A little note- make sure your PM submits new owner paperwork to the housing authority ASAP! The PM that took over one of mine for the buyer did not and it took them almost 60 days to figure it out.

@Abed Sara Good news, good job.  Thanks for following up with us.

@Adam Hughes you got it, I’ll keep you in mind.

@Amanda Eyler Congrats on the potential deal. I'm a Section 8 landlord in the St. Louis area, with 26 units.  I love the niche and think it's the most stable and profitable rental niche out there when done right.

I've bought several units with Section 8 tenants in them.  It's on my list to write a blog about how to do this but for now, here's what I'd recommend.

Ask for the most recent lease and/or notice of change/annual recertification for each tenant.  This is a document from the Housing Authority that lays out how much the tenant pays and how much the HA pays.  Then request a rent ledger for each unit for both the Housing Authority and the tenant.  It's best if those 2 ledgers are separate, otherwise, it's hard to decipher but not impossible.

I'm assuming you know to ask for the leases for each unit as well, but if not, do that as well.

As for the units not being well cared for, this isn't uncommon unfortunately.  There are great S8 tenants out there but landlords/property managers often aren't great about tenant screening (market or Section 8 tenants).  What I do in this situation is I buy the property with enough margin to allow for both immediately needed repairs and a good rehab once the tenants leave.

Then immediately after the purchase, I meet with the tenants and give them a list of the planned immediate repairs.  I tell them that we're going to being making these upgrades and will be an attentive landlord.  In return, we need them to begin taking better care of the property, and we give them a list of things we need them to do, now and moving forward.

During the lease, make sure you're enforcing the provisions of the lease and upholding your responsibilities.  If I have tenants not following the lease, I notify them the first time and don't do anything further.  If I have continued problems or it's a serious issue, I notify both the tenant and their S8 caseworker.

Rent increases through Section 8 are usually pretty easy to obtain but many, many landlords miss this.  I recommend finding out your Housing Authority's process for increases and following it to get them.

Lastly, when the tenants move out, you should receive a "Good Standing Certification," in which you can certify if the tenant is in good standing or not (monies owed, lease violations, etc).  If they aren't in good standing, they aren't supposed to be able to get a new voucher to move until they are in good standing.  I think of this as my safety net in case there are major issues unresolved (tenant damage that I've repaired and not been paid back for is one I've dealt with on inherited tenants) that help to make me "whole" before move out.

Again S8 is a great niche but many people don't learn the processes and rules and try to run them like market rentals.  Landlords who learn and master the processes are most successful.  Those that don't often end up hating the program.