Terry — welcome. Since you're starting from zero, skip the courses for a week and go get two documents instead. They decide every Section 8 deal you will ever look at, and almost nobody pulls them first. 1. The payment standard, by bedroom count, for the specific housing authority that covers the address. Section 8 rent isn't one number — it's set per PHA, and the same house on opposite sides of a parish line can be two different deals. The address has to sit inside that PHA's jurisdiction. 2. That PHA's rent reasonableness comparables. This is the part people miss: the payment standard is a ceiling, but the PHA will not approve a rent above what comparable unassisted rentals in that area actually command. You can be under the payment standard and still get cut. So underwrite to the lower of those two, then subtract the utility allowance, vacancy, repairs, taxes, and insurance. Not to market rent, and definitely not to the number in a YouTube thumbnail. Louisiana specifics worth knowing before you make an offer: most of south Louisiana is in a flood zone, so get an insurance quote with the address in hand — a roof or HVAC age can move that number enough to kill the cash flow. Property taxes are parish by parish, so don't carry an assumption across a line either. Inspections now run on NSPIRE, and the failures are usually cheap and stupid — handrails, GFCI outlets, window locks and egress, smoke and CO detectors, peeling paint on anything pre-1978. Walk the unit with that list before you call it ready and you save yourself a re-inspect cycle. Simple filter while you're learning: payment standard divided by all-in cost at 1% or better, and a pre-walk that passes the list above. Everything else is a detail you'll pick up.

This is right, and for Section 8 specifically I'd add five filters to the buy box, because "budget / location / property type" under-specifies an S8 deal. Two properties that look identical on those three will produce completely different cash flow once the Housing Authority is the tenant. The filters that actually decide it: 1. Payment standard vs market rent, per bedroom count, in the exact ZIP. This is the entire structural edge of Section 8 — when the PHA's payment standard sits above the open-market rent for a 3BR in that submarket, the tenant's voucher covers more of the rent pressure and your net is more resilient. Run the payment standard against actual rental comps before anything else. If the standard is below market, the "S8" label is doing no work for you. 2. Voucher demand, not just supply. Is the PHA's waitlist open, and is the bedroom-size mix you're buying the one that's actually moving in that ZIP? A 4BR voucher may be generous but sit empty if the demand is all 2BR. 3. Inspectability as a filter, not a surprise. Pre-1978 (lead paint), roof and HVAC age, deferred maintenance — the deal is whether the house clears HQS/NSPIRE on the first inspection. Build the correction cost into the offer instead of discovering it at the inspection. 4. Which PHA governs the address. Two ZIPs five minutes apart can sit in different jurisdictions with different payment-standard tables and very different inspection habits. That single fact changes the numbers, so confirm it before you underwrite. 5. Turnover reality. Voucher turnover is not one month. Budget 1-2 months plus make-ready on the front end, and keep a re-inspection cushion. The clean filter rule: work the payment-standard table first, underwrite to the standard (not to market rent), then narrow by the other four. And keep the watchlist for outliers, like you said — but the filter is what keeps you from spending the weekend on the wrong half of the market.

That's a tight buy box — the fastest way to fill it is to work it backwards from the dirt, not forward from the MLS. A few things anyone sourcing into those zips should know: - Those are Preston Hollow / North Dallas zips (75230, 75229, 75225 especially). The lots that fit 8,000+ sf are almost always sitting under livable 1950s–60s homes, so it's rarely an empty lot — it's "buy the house, price the dirt, demo it." Underwrite the lot value and treat the structure as a demolition cost (~$8–15K for a typical Dallas slab teardown plus haul-off), not an asset. - His criteria tell you exactly what kills a deal: platted with an address, utilities in place, no flood. An unplatted tract or a lot needing a new water tap or sewer extension adds real money and 6+ months in permitting — don't bring those. - Before you bring anything, check zoning and overlays. A platted 8,000+ sf lot still fails if the new build doesn't meet setbacks / height / lot coverage, or if the parcel touches a conservation or historic overlay. A quick call to the Dallas zoning desk on the specific address saves you the entire exercise. - To source: pull Dallas Central Appraisal District (DCAD) for each zip, filter by lot size and build year (pre-1960 = demo candidates), then layer absentee / out-of-state / estate ownership. Cross-reference pre-foreclosure and probate filings for the ones that are also distressed — that's the motivated slice. - Vet the buyer before you spend the week: 8 zips is a wide net, and "$1.8M+ ARV" is aspirational. Ask for one lot he's actually closed in those zips, proof of funds, and how he funds the build. A builder who can't name a closed deal inside the box usually can't close yours either.

Good post — and the "comment BUYING" crowd is exactly why a lot of sourcing relationships die: buyers say BUYING, then can't perform. Here's what actually qualifies a buyer to receive deals: - A written buy box: markets/ZIPs, price, property type, min net cash flow or CoC, beds/baths. If it's not on paper, it isn't a buy box. - Proof of funds with a date on it (not last year's screenshot). - Proof they can close: last closed deal + the title company/closing attorney they use. - Whether they'll actually sign the contract and what EMD they'll put up. Section 8 specifics I'd add: does the buyer understand voucher payment standard vs. market rent at the ZIP level, are they underwriting to the payment standard and not the optimistic rent, and do they have a plan for the HQS inspection plus the realistic 1-2 month turnover between tenants. Buyers who've closed at least one S8 deal behave completely differently from first-timers — weight them accordingly. On my side, most of the flow is FSBO / price-drop / pre-foreclosure pulled off Zillow plus county lists; I use a free Chrome extension called PropGlean for the Zillow side so the feed stays current. propglean.com if you want the same.

John — the tenant-problem worry is mostly a screening-and-management issue, not a Section 8 issue. A few things I'd flag on an all-S8 multifamily: - Management is the whole game. All-S8 concentrates your inspections and PHA correspondence on one property. Great if you have a process; brutal if you're self-managing 8 units across 3 PHAs with different payment standards and timelines. - Payment standard sets your rent ceiling per unit. In a small multifamily that means underwriting each unit to the voucher size the market actually supports (1BR vs 3BR vouchers can differ a lot), not one blended average. - Turnover looks scarier than it is: S8 tenants move less, but when they do you're waiting on a re-inspection and a new HAP contract before the next payment starts. Budget 1–2 months of vacancy per turn, not two weeks. - Inspections: a failed item can pause the HAP, so keep the property inspection-ready year-round. Deferred maintenance hits cash flow faster here than in market-rate rentals. - The conversion play you described (buy from a tired landlord, raise NOI by going S8) is real — but underwrite to the PHA payment standard minus utilities, and confirm the unit will actually pass inspection before you count the increase. The value-add lives in the compliance, not the paint.