We stopped by one of the projects we’re working on over the weekend to see the progress. This is a house that we purchased from an estate that we’re fixing up to rent. We should be done with it in another week or so.
For this rental we’re going to try something we haven’t done before: working with Section 8 tenants. For those who aren’t familiar, Section 8 is a government subsidy program where the government pays a portion of rent and the tenant pays the rest.
You find a Section 8 tenant just like you would any other. They respond to advertising. Before they move in there is a government inspection and determination of what rent should be based on the quality of your housing versus others in the area.
There is a real need for Section 8 landlords in small towns. The waitlist in this county is full. And Section 8 rents can often be higher than what I’d be able to charge without subsidies. So this could be a real win-win for everyone.
A lot of landlords shy away from Section 8 tenants. Stories about tenants using drugs, trashing properties, and squatting in properties scare a lot of people away from the program. From what we’ve heard, those things are more myth than fact. Because Section 8 vouchers are very hard to get nowadays (most programs are waitlisted), people are very eager to keep their eligibility. That means that they are likely to be model tenants instead of problems.
We’ll keep you posted on how this experiment shakes out. If it goes well in this iteration we’ll likely convert all of our rentals to Section 8 eligibility.
We’d love to hear from anyone who has done this in the past. What went well and what didn’t?