What in the world is Section 8? And how can you use it to your advantage?

So I had interesting conversation with a potential client today and it went something like this:

Client: Tom, could you send me some more info on the property I saw on craigslist.org?

Tom: Sure, no problem? Are you investing by yourself or with partners?

Client: No, it's just me and my wife. I have the cash, good credit, but not really interested in taking any mortgages.

Tom: Have you signed up to be a Section 8 approved landlord? Just wondering.

Client: No, I've heard of that though. But how do you do it?

I cannot begin to explain how many times a day I hear this from investors. To be fair, some of the more savvy ones have heard of this and are using it effectively to generate positive cash flow, with the majority of the rent coming in every month guaranteed from the government. Still, there remains too many would-be savvy real-estate investors who are missing out on a potentially useful asset in their portfolio.

[Note: Section 8 Housing in not meant for everyone, and this is definitely not to say that it is always best to use]

Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program is a government run program that allows low-income residents to find affordable housing while also helping out the private sector, i.e. you! The tenant is required to pay a small portion of their income to the rent and the rest is covered by Uncle Sam. It offers guaranteed income to landlords without the hassle of chasing after tenants for each month's rent.

So anyways here is the link I would recommend checking out to get a lot of information on what is now knows as the Housing Choice Voucher program, formerly knows as Section 8

It looks like you need to attend a landlord briefing first, and from there you register for the Institute of Real Estate Management course, which is on a Saturday ($200 approx.) before you can register as an HCV-Landlord affiliate and begin renting to Section 8 tenants

Regardless of whether you end up actually renting to any Section 8 tenants, going to this briefing (and possibly even the course) could help you in networking with other investors, and just learning more about programs that exist.