Rental choice in Dc - Section 8 or regular tenant

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The answer is not to be a landlord in DC. Guaranteed income? Guaranteed by whom? DC? Again at the end of the day you don’t have rights. Higher risk, more work, mediocre returns.

Yes, it is guaranteed by DC and returns depends on market rent. If it goes up then section 8 would match it.

places like kalorama in DC has section 8 rent of $2664 for studios, Crazy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would rent to Section 8 at the for the highest amount allowed by the Housing Authority. Someone with a 1-bedroom voucher is probably single, not to mention that the current HCVP waitlist is about 20 years, so a voucher holder is not going to do anything to risk losing their subsidy. Put in a clause in the lease that allows you inspect the unit every 6 months.

Yes, but there are still horrible stories of section 8 tenant messing up your place and not informing you or anything.

[Anonymous]

Section 8 is guaranteed income. Know a woman that owns a small building with 3 section 8 family tenants and she has received every single payment of rent since the pandemic started.

A lot of landlords are regretting turning down section 8 tenants in a time like this!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would rent to Section 8 at the for the highest amount allowed by the Housing Authority. Someone with a 1-bedroom voucher is probably single, not to mention that the current HCVP waitlist is about 20 years, so a voucher holder is not going to do anything to risk losing their subsidy. Put in a clause in the lease that allows you inspect the unit every 6 months.

Yes, but there are still horrible stories of section 8 tenant messing up your place and not informing you or anything.

Those stories are so exaggerated and overblown. Regular tenants do the same. Smh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am not trying to turn down anyone but picking my tenants as they come and want to know the choices I have in hand with each selection.

I am also leaning a bit more around the section 8. Buying this condo in REO at a very good price so thought about buying and putting it for rent. Condo sale market is not as hot as the rest otherwise I would have flipped. Might do that in a few years.

If you are not trying to pick based on income source, you will need to list the criteria other than income source. Then we can help you decide. Just say tenant A and tenant B and don’t tell us how either is paying rent.

[Anonymous]

Op here, I have another condo in DC that is on section 8. It has it's own things like getting the condo HUD approved(was easy), process with HCVP, etc but other than that no missed payments.

I know a few of my friends that own buildings in DC and their regular tenants just stopped paying rent. Still no recourse and they have to suck up the cost. I don't want to be in that situation.

[Anonymous]

Sell the place because you don't want to be a landlord for anyone in DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If it's really Hillcrest, you can't rent it for that price to Section 8 unless all utilities are included: https://www.dchousing.org/vue/customer/rent.aspx says it's $1423 for a 1br with utilities and $1226 without. So if you want the guarantee of the Section 8 income, you'll have to cut the price.

I had looked at that site and couldn't figure out what those numbers meant. Are those fixed rates, or maximums? For example, I have a basement unit on Cap Hill that rents for $1700. If I put it on the market, I might get a little more, but not much more. But the site lists $2467 for a one bedroom on Cap Hill without utilities, which is significantly above market for a basement unit. Seems like when a tenant moves out, we'd do very well by switching to Section 8. Am I missing anything? If so, why aren't more people renting through Section 8?

[Anonymous]

OP, don't you request landlord references and confirm employment when you review tenant applications? That would tell me a lot about which tenant to rent to. I also check online court records. Once I found someone had lied about not ever having been evicted. And someone else who had been evicted under their (former) married name.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It would be illegal to turn down the section 8 renter just because they are using section 8.

You can always choose a different reason for turning down a section 8 renter, just saying. No one would ever know.

That’s unethical, and they could easily find this thread where you’re saying that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here, I have another condo in DC that is on section 8. It has it's own things like getting the condo HUD approved(was easy), process with HCVP, etc but other than that no missed payments.

I know a few of my friends that own buildings in DC and their regular tenants just stopped paying rent. Still no recourse and they have to suck up the cost. I don't want to be in that situation.

You may want to start a new thread specifically for advice vetting tenants, without mentioning section 8. You don’t really have a choice between section 8 and non-section 8. You will need to find other criteria to decide on. Credit scores, references, rental history, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If it's really Hillcrest, you can't rent it for that price to Section 8 unless all utilities are included: https://www.dchousing.org/vue/customer/rent.aspx says it's $1423 for a 1br with utilities and $1226 without. So if you want the guarantee of the Section 8 income, you'll have to cut the price.

I had looked at that site and couldn't figure out what those numbers meant. Are those fixed rates, or maximums? For example, I have a basement unit on Cap Hill that rents for $1700. If I put it on the market, I might get a little more, but not much more. But the site lists $2467 for a one bedroom on Cap Hill without utilities, which is significantly above market for a basement unit. Seems like when a tenant moves out, we'd do very well by switching to Section 8. Am I missing anything? If so, why aren't more people renting through Section 8?

Those are the approved rents. Contrary to a PP, you can't make the rent on the lease that amount and then charge the tenant extra through a side agreement, or charge more than the payment standard knowing that DCHA's portion would be below the standard (because the tenant could recertify and have their portion go down and DCHA's go up).

DCHA allows higher-rent neighborhoods to charge more. So a 1-br in Capitol Hill could be $2467. But as to why more people aren't renting to people with vouchers
* they don't understand the program and the rents they can get
* it's more paperwork and an extra inspection
* they are concerned that people with vouchers will cause more trouble than a market-rate renter (some will, some won't)
* people with vouchers aren't applying for their units

To this last one, not everyone wants to live in Capitol Hill. Not everyone wants a basement unit (many people with vouchers have disabilities and might not be able to do steps, for example). The Section 8 waitlist closed in 2013 so most people, especially those with 1-bedroom vouchers, have been on the program a long time and might be settled in their units or their neighborhoods. There just aren't that many people with Section 8 or Local Rent Subsidy vouchers: about 17,000 households, of which only a fraction are 1-bedroom vouchers. It's a pretty small share of the population and rental market.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If it's really Hillcrest, you can't rent it for that price to Section 8 unless all utilities are included: https://www.dchousing.org/vue/customer/rent.aspx says it's $1423 for a 1br with utilities and $1226 without. So if you want the guarantee of the Section 8 income, you'll have to cut the price.

I had looked at that site and couldn't figure out what those numbers meant. Are those fixed rates, or maximums? For example, I have a basement unit on Cap Hill that rents for $1700. If I put it on the market, I might get a little more, but not much more. But the site lists $2467 for a one bedroom on Cap Hill without utilities, which is significantly above market for a basement unit. Seems like when a tenant moves out, we'd do very well by switching to Section 8. Am I missing anything? If so, why aren't more people renting through Section 8?

Those are the approved rents. Contrary to a PP, you can't make the rent on the lease that amount and then charge the tenant extra through a side agreement, or charge more than the payment standard knowing that DCHA's portion would be below the standard (because the tenant could recertify and have their portion go down and DCHA's go up).

DCHA allows higher-rent neighborhoods to charge more. So a 1-br in Capitol Hill could be $2467. But as to why more people aren't renting to people with vouchers
* they don't understand the program and the rents they can get
* it's more paperwork and an extra inspection
* they are concerned that people with vouchers will cause more trouble than a market-rate renter (some will, some won't)
* people with vouchers aren't applying for their units

To this last one, not everyone wants to live in Capitol Hill. Not everyone wants a basement unit (many people with vouchers have disabilities and might not be able to do steps, for example). The Section 8 waitlist closed in 2013 so most people, especially those with 1-bedroom vouchers, have been on the program a long time and might be settled in their units or their neighborhoods. There just aren't that many people with Section 8 or Local Rent Subsidy vouchers: about 17,000 households, of which only a fraction are 1-bedroom vouchers. It's a pretty small share of the population and rental market.

*Voucher holders may also have a hard time coming up with one month's security deposit for units in higher-priced neighborhoods.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If it's really Hillcrest, you can't rent it for that price to Section 8 unless all utilities are included: https://www.dchousing.org/vue/customer/rent.aspx says it's $1423 for a 1br with utilities and $1226 without. So if you want the guarantee of the Section 8 income, you'll have to cut the price.

I had looked at that site and couldn't figure out what those numbers meant. Are those fixed rates, or maximums? For example, I have a basement unit on Cap Hill that rents for $1700. If I put it on the market, I might get a little more, but not much more. But the site lists $2467 for a one bedroom on Cap Hill without utilities, which is significantly above market for a basement unit. Seems like when a tenant moves out, we'd do very well by switching to Section 8. Am I missing anything? If so, why aren't more people renting through Section 8?

Those are the approved rents. Contrary to a PP, you can't make the rent on the lease that amount and then charge the tenant extra through a side agreement, or charge more than the payment standard knowing that DCHA's portion would be below the standard (because the tenant could recertify and have their portion go down and DCHA's go up).

DCHA allows higher-rent neighborhoods to charge more. So a 1-br in Capitol Hill could be $2467. But as to why more people aren't renting to people with vouchers
* they don't understand the program and the rents they can get
* it's more paperwork and an extra inspection
* they are concerned that people with vouchers will cause more trouble than a market-rate renter (some will, some won't)
* people with vouchers aren't applying for their units

To this last one, not everyone wants to live in Capitol Hill. Not everyone wants a basement unit (many people with vouchers have disabilities and might not be able to do steps, for example). The Section 8 waitlist closed in 2013 so most people, especially those with 1-bedroom vouchers, have been on the program a long time and might be settled in their units or their neighborhoods. There just aren't that many people with Section 8 or Local Rent Subsidy vouchers: about 17,000 households, of which only a fraction are 1-bedroom vouchers. It's a pretty small share of the population and rental market.

*Voucher holders may also have a hard time coming up with one month's security deposit for units in higher-priced neighborhoods.

This is always my question about voucher holders. I have multiple rental units and have received inquiries and applications from voucher holders, but they’ve always come in after we’ve already received an application that we ended up accepting. How do they have the money for a full month’s security deposit, or does the government cover that as well? And how do they have money for utilities?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sell the place because you don't want to be a landlord for anyone in DC.

I could but the condo market is a little soft in DC right now. The area is good in Hillcrest/Fairfax Village and I could see a lot of growth in this area in the future so could also hold on to it.