All Forum Posts by: Matt Leber

@Fernando Domingo I’ll tell you what I do out in Central Florida with the caveat that your local office might have slightly different processes. I would call the section 8 office in your local area and ask if hey can send you the rent cap amounts by bedroom size and zip code. This will tell you the max rent you can list at according to bedrooms and micro area. My section 8 inspector told me they have some wiggle room up or down but that the rental amount chart from the sec 8 office is a good guideline where to price your rent.

I would also ask them for the list of items that must be in working order to pass your section 8 inspection. Once you have the list, you can walk through the house and make sure the unit checks all the requirements. This will save you from failing an inspection over something small and having to waste more time on getting a re-inspect.

Here’s the process:

List your rental on the open market near the rent cap and specify that you are accepting sec 8. Once you have some sec 8 voucher holding tenants contact you, run your typical screening process and pick the tenant who best meets your criteria. Ask for their landlord packet and meet them in person to get the packet. Fill out the packet and return it to the sec 8 office that manages their voucher. The office will then schedule your inspection. Once you pass, the inspector will tell you how much the sec 8 program will pay you each month toward rent and how much the tenant will owe you each month. This split is based on their income level. On the day you pass inspection, sign your lease with the tenant and set up a move in date. Get all your deposits, pet fees, first months rent (tenants portion) before giving them the keys. Once they have moved in, the office will begin direct depositing their portion each month.

Hope this helps!

@Kris Columna hello from Orlando! I say jump in if you have a good deal you are pursuing. Just don’t buy a thin deal. Make sure you are OK with the numbers at worst case scenario. If your worst case doesn’t seem all that safe to you I say move on the the next one. I run worst case, most likely, best case numbers on each deal I analyze and make sure I am OK if it ends up on the lower end. In reality, most of the time I end up closer to the most likely or best case numbers. It’s a good way to be conservative in an uncertain market.

@Brandon Coleman my wife and I started in a similar situation in 2016 and decided to buy a primary home with 20% down because it was way cheaper to pay a mortgage than renting. We purchased a primary that would work as a rental whenever we move out (1% rule) and allow us to live in an area we like and well below our means. Our high savings rate has allowed us to purchase 7 rental properties since then in different areas of central and north Florida. The rentals are starting to snowball nicely to pay for each new investment. Our primary has appreciated nicely and we have been able to secure $100k+ HELOC to use for emergency capex fund or for capital waiting on the sidelines in the case of a market correction or homerun deal. You are in a great position to start your portfolio at a very young age. Congrats!

@Carl West not a hard process. It can take a few weeks, though. Advertise the rental as accepting section 8 tenants. When a sec 8 tenant is interested they will give you a landlord packet to fill out. You fill it out and turn back into the office. The office will schedule an inspection. Once you pass inspection, you can move the tenant in. If you fail, you will have to fix and have a re-inspection before tenant moves in. If you keep that tenant, you will have one inspection per year thereafter.

@Michele King hello from a current Jacksonville duplex buy and hold investor. I have two duplexes on the central west side that have been able to do pretty well for us. Bought both for 160k total (80k each) and rent for almost 3k for all 4 units. They are definitely C class so they have more issues than our B class investments, but the margins are also higher. Overall a good piece of the portfolio.

@Joseph S. If you truly don’t see much appreciation in the area then I would go with the cheaper rental home. Sounds like you’re in more of a cash flow market than a capital gains market. Any appreciation is icing on the cake. Try to get what is called the “payment standards” list from your local section 8 office. They sometimes post this online and it will tell you what the high rent cap is by number of bedrooms and sometimes by zip code. Then you can narrow your search areas down to the highest rent zip codes for 3 bedroom or 4 bedroom homes on the list. If you can identify a transitional C to B- (not war zone) pocket in a high payment standard zip code than you can sometimes get more rent from section 8 than you would normally on the open market for that zone. And if you get some gentrification creep then you might just get your icing on the cake over the long run too. We just pulled off a deal like this in Melbourne FL where we are collecting almost 1400 from sec 8 and I think the open market calls for closer to 1100-1200.

Whatever you buy, just make sure you are comfortable driving the neighborhood and being at the property. Don’t buy something where you aren’t comfortable, unless you’re planning on hiring a PM. Work the PM numbers into your analysis either way bc self management could get old at some point.

@Alancha Thompson I listened to a ton of podcasts and read a few of the BP books plus Rich Dad and Richest Man in Babylon before I started investing. I was probably listening and reading for about a year before investing and my wife and I bought a primary home in that span of time. About 6 months after the primary we took the leap on our first investment property in Central Florida. That was late 2016 and now we have 7 rentals plus our primary today. Learned a ton along the way.

@Bernadeau C. I have worked with Antonio from Rockledge Landscaping before for tree trimming in the Melbourne area. My father in law uses him for a lot of jobs too and rental properties. Antonio’s number is coming your way in a PM.

@Mitch White not in those counties but we are in Orange County and Brevard County just a bit further north. I grew up in West Palm, though.

@Hannah Krebs I didn't realize yours is 5 beds. You could probably use the 4 bedroom FMR from HUD as your worst case scenario. Or figure out how much of a jump it is from 3 to 4 beds and apply a similar increase to determine 5. Either way, hope it gives you a reasonable rent range.