The Advanteges of Accepting Section 8

I make it a point to ask every home owner for whom we manage properties whether or not they want to accept section 8 or not. Just about every time I ask this question I get one of two responses; Absolutely not or What is that. Often times section 8 gets a bad rap because it is a looked at as a government program... and we all know how easy the government is to deal with right! Well I don't think Section 8 should get such a negative connotation so I am going to highlight some of the advantages to accepting section 8 vouchers.

Reasons to accept section 8 housing

  
Check's in the Mail:
The best part of accepting a section 8 tenant, hands down has to be the fact that the section 8 portions of the rent come in like clockwork, and you never need to worry about tracking them down.

Additional Sources for tenants:
Section 8 has their own website where only section 8 housing can be advertised and all of the local offices have bulletin boards that can be used to advertise available section 8 housing. The benefits of advertising at the local office is that you ad will be in front of everyone that is applying for new section 8 vouchers.

 You can ask for the same amount of security deposit:
One of the nice things about section 8 housing is the fact that you can ask for as much in security deposit as is allowable by law. In the state of Arizona the amount that is allowable by law is 1 and 1/2 times the monthly rent amount so if you home is renting for $1000 per month you could ask for a security deposit of up to $1500.

You can still screen and choose the tenant:
One misconception about section 8 housing is the though that section 8 tenants are horrible. Although this may be the case for some, it should not be a major factor because you are still able to screen applicants and reject those who do not qualify as long as it is in accordance with Fair Housing Laws. This means that you should be able to find out who the "bad apple" tenants are and toss them aside.

Housing Counselors May Get Involved:
It truly isn't in the tenants best interest to destroy a house while on section 8 many of them rely on the money the voucher saves them to be able to live a "normal life" and many are not willing to throw that away. However if you do have a problem with a tenant it is possible to talk to their Section 8 Representative and get the issue worked out. Most tenants know they could be kicked off the program if they do not take care of the properties so they are some times better tenants than non section 8 tenants.