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I have a house to rent. People keep calling me and asking if I accept Section 8. I’ve got very few calls otherwise. I’ve done a little bit of research and it seems that Section 8 is a pretty good deal for landlords since the money is guaranteed to come in each month. My question is how do I know which forms to fill out, who to inspect the house, who approves it, and so on. I live in California if that matters. Thanks.

In order to rent to a Section 8 tenant, all you have to do is have the potential tenant contact their Section 8 worker. The worker will give the tenant all of the paperwork that you and the tenant will need to fill out. Section 8 will perform an inspection before a tenant can move in. All electrical sockets should be covered and working, all plumbing should be working, apt. must have a source for heat, and so on. Once the Section 8 inspection is done, if the house passes inspection, the tenant can move in within a specified period of time. Most homes will pass inspection without a problem. Just be sure there are no broken windows or missing screens, loose wires ,etc. After the tenant moves in, the federal govt. will pay a portion of the rent, and the tenant pays a portion. You are right, it’s a pretty good deal for landlords. Just remember that regular inspections are done and you are given 30 days to fix something that they might find. If you don’t fix it by the next inspection, the federal govt. portion of the rent will be withheld and it won’t be paid back to you. So know that regular inspections will be done and that you need to fix things as quickly as you can. Once you establish a good rep with the Housing Authority, that will let you list your Section 8 home on their website which is free advertising that will bring you a ton of calls. It’s great. I never have my Section 8 home vacant for more than 2 weeks and I spend nothing on advertising.

Make sure you do a thorough background check (check with old landlords, neighbors,etc), to be sure you are getting a good tenant who will take care of your property.

Each city or county will have their own Housing Authority website for the Section 8 voucher program. So google your city name + housing authority section 8. Here are some links to sites you might find helpful depending on which city in California your rental home is located in.

Los Angeles Section 8
http://www.hacla.org/

San Francisco Section 8
http://www.sfha.org/

San Diego Section 8
http://www.co.san-diego.ca.us/sdhcd//renters/section_eight.html

Fresno Section 8
http://www.hafresno.org/default_sub.asp?page=rental_housing_choice_voucher

Sacramento Section 8
http://www.shra.org/Content/Housing/HousingAuthority.htm

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I have decided that I want to put my house up for rent but I have never done this before. I want to make sure that I do it right and cover all of my bases. My big concern is the lease agreement. I want to make sure that it is right and thorough. Also does anyone have helpful tips on advertising? If you have had any bad experiences where you learned some hard lessons that would very helpful as well. Thank you in advance.

I have several homes that I rent out. I advertise for really cheap in my local circular that goes out once a week. Honestly though, I have found that I get more prospective tenants when I pay a little more to advertise in the newspaper.

Another great way to advertise is that if your home is near a road, put a yellow sign in the yard with huge red letters that way people who drive by will see it.

As to your contract you should get a strongly worded one that protects you in any possible circumstance that could come up.

I highly recommend the guide that is sold through this website at http://www.ownersecrets.com

Technorati Tags: hard lessons, helpful tips, lease agreement, prospective tenants