Section 8 Landlord Bible Blog

The greatest tool that a Landlord can own is not a power tool, not a hammer or a chisel, but a Lease! A great lease will get you out of any jam that your tenant puts you into. Most leases were created to be fair, right down the middle. They didn’t favor the landlord and they didn’t favor the tenant. In most cases, the landlord and tenant would sign the lease and both would feel good about the transaction. However, if you’re a Landlord, it usually won’t take you long to figure out the lease that you put your tenant into has many loop holes!

Usually you find out about the loopholes when you get into the courtroom. If your tenant doesn’t find the loopholes, their lawyer will. The lease that you thought was fair is now giving your tenant enough leverage to perhaps stay in your unit rent free for another 90 days or worse yet, denying your eviction all together. Well guess what, I’m sick of being fair! Why do I have to give the tenant any leverage? It’s my property so why should I have to play by the tenants rules? I have been a Section 8 Landlord for thirteen years and I finally figured it out, I don’t have to play by their rules!

If being a Section 8 Landlord is good for one thing, it is gaining experience in the courtroom. Time after time I would lose a battle because of some loophole in the lease that I was using. I tried different leases but they all had that same sense of fairness that would cost me in the courtroom. I thought to myself, “isn’t there someone out there who can design a lease that has no loopholes”? Just then a light bulb went off in my head and said, “Hey Mike, why don’t you do it!”

That’s right, I know every loophole that a tenant will try to jump through, I know every piece of language that a lawyer will turn around on you and use a different way, and I know every clause that a pro-tenant judge will find in that lease to give your non paying tenant more time to stay in your property. All I had to do now was eliminate every single loophole, clause, and pro-tenant language from that lease. Well that is what I did and then some!

I have designed a lease that is bullet proof. I have never lost a court battle yet with my lease and neither will you. It’s 100% in the landlords favor. There is no other lease out there that comes close to protecting you like the Bullet Proof Lease! If you’re a Section 8 Landlord, this is the only lease that you should be using. I’ve added fourteen addendums that counteract all housing authority rules that are completely bent in the tenant’s favor. Section 8 renting will now be a breeze once you use the Bullet Proof Lease!

Popularity: 80% [?]

One of the most important checks a Landlord can perform is a credit check. Right off the bat, it will tell you if you have a tenant who has a history of paying their rent, or a tenant who makes a habit out of beating landlords out of their rent money. There are hundreds of agencies who will perform this check for you. They usually charge anywhere from thirty to fifty bucks. Is it worth it to have it done? Yes and no is the answer.

If you are a Landlord who rents to retail tenants that pay their own rent, than by all means, get the credit check done, it’s worth it. However, if you are a section 8 landlord, you could be wasting your money. Let me explain. For some reason when renting to Section 8 tenants, I would have to go through about twenty to thirty tenants just to find one that had “okay” credit. It got to be very hectic. I would show them the property, charge them forty bucks for a credit check, wait for it to come back, and then phone the tenant and tell them they were denied because of their bad credit. You can see how annoying this process can get after doing it about twenty times in a row. The entire time your running around like a chicken with your head cut off doing credit checks, your property is sitting vacate and collecting no rent.

Finally I said to myself, “why are you so worried about their credit when Section 8 is going to be paying their rent anyway”? I came to the conclusion that when renting to Section 8 tenants, credit checks just really aren’t the way to go. I feel more comfortable getting more of a security deposit. Instead of two months, get three. There are many government programs such as Acorn and Community Action that will help your tenant come up with the security deposit.

Another reason to get a larger security deposit is that Section 8 no longer will pay for tenant damages. Years ago, if you received a one thousand dollar security deposit from your tenant and they did two thousand dollars worth of damage, Section 8 would reimburse you the other thousand dollars. Not anymore! You are fully responsible for all of your tenant’s damages so you better get the biggest security deposit possible before your tenant walks through the door! In my book, the Section 8 Bible, I tell of several different ways to protect yourself against tenant damages.

Popularity: 83% [?]

I am a Section 8 Landlord who participates in the Section 8 Voucher program which is funded through the Philadelphia Housing Authority. For years, I have had no problems finding tenants and getting them signed to a lease and into a unit rather quickly. I would say from the time I signed their section 8 voucher packet to the day of inspection, it would only take about two or three weeks for the entire process to be completed. Now, it’s a different story!

The Philadelphia Housing Authority is now one of the slowest Housing Authorities in the United States. After signing a tenants section 8 voucher, it has been taking about two months just for an inspection date! If you pass the inspection, it will take another six weeks to get the lease signed. Meanwhile, you’re property is sitting vacant and you are generating zero rent.

What can you do to speed the process?

I have the answer!

It seems as though the Philadelphia Housing Authority favors its tenants over the Landlords who participate in this program. What the Philadelphia Housing Authority fails to recognize is that with no Landlords participating in the Voucher program, none of them will have a job. More and more Section 8 Landlords are becoming fed up with the program and are simply renting to retail tenants. As much complaining as I and every other Landlord that I’ve talked to have done, are complaints seem to fall on deaf ears. Here is what I do now and it really seems to work!

When I find a Section 8 tenant who is interested in renting my property, I tell them that I will fill out their voucher but if an initial inspection with the Philadelphia Housing Authority is not set up within two weeks of the date that I filled out their voucher, the deal is off and I won’t be renting them my house. Guess what? I’m six for six! That’s right, every one of my tenants got a quick inspection date and I had them leased up in under four weeks. Why? Because like I said, the service reps who work for the Philadelphia Housing Authority favor the tenants. If I, a landlord, were to ask a service rep to speed up my inspection date, it would never happen. But when a tenant goes in to the section 8 office and tells her service rep that she will lose the property if the inspection isn’t done quickly, by some miracle, it gets done. That is why I put pressure on the tenants to get the ball rolling. Otherwise, you’ll be playing the waiting game and continue to lose money.

Check out the Section 8 Bible outline, a book, when bought and read will answer all your Section 8 landlord questions and save you a ton of time and help you start making more money on rental properties.

Popularity: 100% [?]