Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live in one of the nicer 22101 neighborhoods - off GP - and we recently rented out the entire walk-out basement of our 7500 + sq ft house to our housekeeper, her husband, and their three children - who are section 8 tenants. It is a win-win for everyone. They live in a great neighborhood, and will send their children to the Ch-C-L pyramid, and we have a live-in handyman and housekeeper available at night, when they have finished their outside jobs. I think one of our neighbors is starting to get suspicious, and I am certain that they neighborhood would not generally approve, but the family needed a place to live and are truly great people.

Is this a troll post? It is not legal to rent out rooms in your house in SFH neighborhoods, unless you are in a "multifamily" zone.

+1 And the basement of an SFH certainly would not pass a Section 8 inspection.

zoning regulations

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live in one of the nicer 22101 neighborhoods - off GP - and we recently rented out the entire walk-out basement of our 7500 + sq ft house to our housekeeper, her husband, and their three children - who are section 8 tenants. It is a win-win for everyone. They live in a great neighborhood, and will send their children to the Ch-C-L pyramid, and we have a live-in handyman and housekeeper available at night, when they have finished their outside jobs. I think one of our neighbors is starting to get suspicious, and I am certain that they neighborhood would not generally approve, but the family needed a place to live and are truly great people.

Is this a troll post? It is not legal to rent out rooms in your house in SFH neighborhoods, unless you are in a "multifamily" zone.

NP here. Is this true? I do not rent out my basement (and do not plan to) but I did not know it was illegal. What is illegal about it?

I'm more concerned about the power that the PP has over this family: employers to both parents, landlord, access to good schools. I'd be afraid to say boo to the PP, if I were her employee/tenants.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live in one of the nicer 22101 neighborhoods - off GP - and we recently rented out the entire walk-out basement of our 7500 + sq ft house to our housekeeper, her husband, and their three children - who are section 8 tenants. It is a win-win for everyone. They live in a great neighborhood, and will send their children to the Ch-C-L pyramid, and we have a live-in handyman and housekeeper available at night, when they have finished their outside jobs. I think one of our neighbors is starting to get suspicious, and I am certain that they neighborhood would not generally approve, but the family needed a place to live and are truly great people.

Is this a troll post? It is not legal to rent out rooms in your house in SFH neighborhoods, unless you are in a "multifamily" zone.

NP here. Is this true? I do not rent out my basement (and do not plan to) but I did not know it was illegal. What is illegal about it?

If one of my neighbors was renting out their basement to a family of 5, I would report them for sure.

Anonymous wrote:I live in one of the nicer 22101 neighborhoods - off GP - and we recently rented out the entire walk-out basement of our 7500 + sq ft house to our housekeeper, her husband, and their three children - who are section 8 tenants. It is a win-win for everyone. They live in a great neighborhood, and will send their children to the Ch-C-L pyramid, and we have a live-in handyman and housekeeper available at night, when they have finished their outside jobs. I think one of our neighbors is starting to get suspicious, and I am certain that they neighborhood would not generally approve, but the family needed a place to live and are truly great people.

Is this a troll post? It is not legal to rent out rooms in your house in SFH neighborhoods, unless you are in a "multifamily" zone.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Someone asked about this recently. I have rented after Section 8 renters and I always feel bad for the landlord.

The landlords have sustained major damage mostly from the renters really not knowing or understanding how to do routine maintenance or routine cleaning like gutters, replacing filters, carpet cleaning, etc. Also, late rent was always an issue and in both cases the tenant brought notes from their pastor or showed up with their pastor to provide "evidence" that they would be good tenants. After all if a pastor says they are good people they must be.

How is the rent late if it is paid by the government via direct deposit?

There's a tenant share of the rent based upon the tenant's income. Section 8 only pays the whole amount if the tenant earns next to nothing.

Anonymous wrote:I've heard good and bad about section 8. You do have to screen very well, because there is no shortage of bad section 8 clients, they will trash your property and suing will be pointless because they are broke anyway. My dad rented a house to a lady with like 5 kids on section 8 and they completely trashed it. It was a nice house on the outside but when you walked in, it was a total disaster zone.

Too many section 8 types can also bring an area down. The wrong types can also bring an area down. You get some of the ladies who end up having their boyfriends illegally move in and conducting illegal activities so make sure to keep a watchful eye on your property.

I like how you only passed on the bad stuff you've heard. My friend has been a section 8 renter for the past decade because her children have an inherited genetic disease and she can only work part time. She has to rent a house rather than an apartment because she needs hard floors for the wheelchairs, rooms large enough to accommodate hospital beds, wheelchair ramp and parking for a van. Both home she has rented, she has done as much of the maintenance as she can either herself or through friends, family, and volunteers.

Anonymous wrote:Someone asked about this recently. I have rented after Section 8 renters and I always feel bad for the landlord.

The landlords have sustained major damage mostly from the renters really not knowing or understanding how to do routine maintenance or routine cleaning like gutters, replacing filters, carpet cleaning, etc. Also, late rent was always an issue and in both cases the tenant brought notes from their pastor or showed up with their pastor to provide "evidence" that they would be good tenants. After all if a pastor says they are good people they must be.

How is the rent late if it is paid by the government via direct deposit?

I live in one of the nicer 22101 neighborhoods - off GP - and we recently rented out the entire walk-out basement of our 7500 + sq ft house to our housekeeper, her husband, and their three children - who are section 8 tenants. It is a win-win for everyone. They live in a great neighborhood, and will send their children to the Ch-C-L pyramid, and we have a live-in handyman and housekeeper available at night, when they have finished their outside jobs. I think one of our neighbors is starting to get suspicious, and I am certain that they neighborhood would not generally approve, but the family needed a place to live and are truly great people.

I've heard good and bad about section 8. You do have to screen very well, because there is no shortage of bad section 8 clients, they will trash your property and suing will be pointless because they are broke anyway. My dad rented a house to a lady with like 5 kids on section 8 and they completely trashed it. It was a nice house on the outside but when you walked in, it was a total disaster zone.

Too many section 8 types can also bring an area down. The wrong types can also bring an area down. You get some of the ladies who end up having their boyfriends illegally move in and conducting illegal activities so make sure to keep a watchful eye on your property.

I wonder if it's worth buying some cheap properties (SE DC?) specifically for Section 8 cash flow.

Anonymous wrote:OP here - the property is in Charles County MD. It hasn't been approved yet, but I don't think passing inspection should be an issue. I could see scheduling inspection to be slow?

I just wanted to make sure there weren't any horror stories before proceeding. I'm assuming that the renter will have a tough time coming up with a 1 month security deposit ($2000 ish)??? The rent paid by renter is going to be minuscule so if they never paid it wouldn't bother us much.

I'll check references, credit, etc. as usual. Thanks for the help! I've read online about horror stories and about landlord who think it's the best thing ever and wanted to get a feel for what to expect.

Is it hard to find a tenant who qualifies on their own? I am a landlord and would not be okay with this. But I also only rent to people with really high credit scores and incomes.

Honestly, my Section 8 tenants were my BEST tenants by far. One, I NEVER had to worry about late rent. Maybe 1-2 times in 10+ years. And I ALWAYS had tenants lined up. Place was never vacant for long. In an area with a depressed housing rental market, that is gold. Also, in a depressed rental housing market, you will likely be able to rent at the high end of that market for the housing type.

The damage issue is very real and it can be a trade off. The reliable income and occupany may outweigh the potential damage for some. But it is generally true that the money you save due to vacancy carrying costs will go to damage repair once the lease is over. I had a good experience becuase my jurisdiction was know to kick people out of the program if they really trashed a property. Besides that, I had an upkeep rider in my lease that permitted me to do certain upkeep and repairs as we went along.

Tenant screening is a must. Both of my Section 8 tenants were responsible working poor. My house was very nice for Section 8 housing and they appreciated that. So they kept up the property.