"NO Section 8"........can someone explain?

[prospectheightsresident]

If you have less skin in the game, I fear that you'd be less inclined to take good care of my property. That's my reason.

[Joylush]

Originally Posted by jackmccullough

It's pretty simple, and it generally boils down to one of two reasons.

1. The landlord is a bigot, and assumes that all tenants who receive housing assistance payments are alike. Therefore, anything bad that any Section 8 tenant has ever done is attributable to all Section 8 tenants.

2. The landlord knows that, unlike the local code enforcement office, the local housing authority will actually inspect the premises to ensure that it meets HUD housing quality standards. Landlords who don't want to be bothered maintaining their rental property want to steer clear of any enforcement mechanism.

Not based on what I’ve heard from landlords or my own personal experience.

I rented to section 8 once upon a time. That was many years ago. One family had three smokers. It dawned on me I was subsidizing their smoking habits when I realized how much of their own rent they could be paying if they wanted to. They decided to paint the concrete in the carport without asking. Of course it flaked, and then I had the pleasure of the section 8 inspector telling me I had to remedy the problem at my expense.

Next family was a single Mom with two boys. Not a bad tenant per se but she left them home alone all the time to do things like iron on the floor and melt the carpeting. Not to mention when she moved the walls were covered in boogers about 2-3 ft up the wall.

But in the end I decided to pass for one reason. I had plenty of lower income tenants not on section 8. Hardworking people who made just a little too much to qualify for taxpayer dollars. These people struggled far more than the section 8 folks who got all sorts of freebies and only worked enough to keep their benefits. I didn’t want to support that. It’s true I could have gotten more rent from section 8 (it paid more than I charged my other tenants) but I wanted to support the tenants who needed the support more by way of low rent they actually worked to pay.

Could I have gotten another $50 a month rent from them? Sure. But after taxes it was only worth about $35 to me but worth the whole $50 to them. I’d rather lose $35 and support a hardworking quality tenant who takes care of their home and feels lucky to be my tenant than give an extra $15 to the government to waste on my behalf. Can’t tax me on what I don’t make.

And yes, there are many good section 8 tenants. My taxes already support them. My non-section 8 tenants need my support more.

My insurance man did tell me I’m the only landlord he’s ever heard of who lowered rents when taxes went down. I did that when the market crashed and property taxes actually did go down. I passed along the savings to my tenants because I appreciate them and I raise rents when my expenses increase so it’s only fair.