Our primary house is a fixer upper that I have been fixing little by little myself and over time that run into 25k credit card debt.

But if they have bad credit or eviction you can deny regardless of sec 8 qualifications as long as you deny every applicant with bad credit or a eviction You can turn away Sec 8 on the grounds that your properties do not qualify as you are not registered or had approval from the program. 

Some tenants may have some money but not the credit to qualify for a loan. 

Terrible idea.

@Dan Palumbo, sorry for being blunt, but this sounds like a terrible deal.

When you guys file your annual taxes this amount will be credited to what you owe, or refunded if it is more than you owe.

Saved me from placing terrible tenants.

I wanted to propose taking the property off their hands as follows: I'll bring the mortgage current, which will save their credit.

The problem is how to make a homeowner feel secure that I won't flake out on the mortgage payments in the future, thus damaging her credit.

I never trust prior landlord reference, if the credit, income, background checks out I accept.