housing choice voucher program

SheReadyLLC

No Rent For 3 Months

For the first time, I experienced one of the things that most landlords dread.

A tenant did not submit a rent payment!

It’s dreaded because some landlords have a mortgage and may not have enough reserve funds to cover bills like insurance or property taxes without receiving the monthly payment.

Yes, I have a tenant who is using the Housing Choice Voucher Program (HCHV) and I didn’t receive payment for 3 months. Yes, from July through September, I didn’t receive rent money. My first thought was to panic, but I know I have a great property manager and a responsible tenant so the panic didn’t last long.

The tenant did what she was supposed to do in a timely manner.  I called myself and spoke to several employees at the HUD office responsible for the area.  During my calls, I found out they were experiencing a lot of turn over and my tenant’s case worker changed about 3 times before the issue got resolved which is what caused the tenant to be behind in rent.

When it was all said and done, I received back pay and I’m glad I didn’t go through the process to evict the tenant because it wasn’t the tenant’s fault. I’m also glad that I had a reserve fund to cover cost when things like this happen.

Bottom line, just because you have rental properties that are cash flowing doesn’t mean that you won’t experience difficult times and you must prepare for them.

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SheReadyLLC

The Neighbor Paid For Damage To My Porch

A couple of months ago, I wrote a blog post about receiving a message from my Property Manager.  The neighbor’s dog had come upon my porch and tore up the carpet. 

That was in August, it’s now October and my Property Manager sent me a text of what the porch looks like now.

It is decorated beautifully for the fall weather. It looks like a porch you would see on HGTV. It has a dark brown carpet now. The tenant decorated a couple of end tables with orange and white pumpkins on them. She also has a scarecrow and fall welcome signs.

It’s all so tasteful and I couldn’t be more pleased to have someone taking care of my property. It has a special place in my heart since it was the first home my mom bought and paid off. As long as I own it, it will always remain part of our family.

If you read the first part of this story, check out the blog post.

Look What The Neighbor’s Dog Did To My #Property

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SheReadyLLC

2 Year Property Walk-through

I cannot believe it’s been 2 years since the first property that I acquired, renovated, and rented.

Before my most recent trip home, I contacted my Property Manager to let her know I wanted to do a walkthrough of the property. Without hesitation, she said okay and noticed the tenant.

I arrived at the property a few minutes earlier to just take in the view of the property.

The tenant greeted me when I walked through the door and I was amazed at the view. It still looked the same with the exception of a few drawings on a door. It looked really good.

As she showed me around and pointed out a few things that I needed to fix, most of which were not emergency fixes; I felt very happy and proud. She also told me that the HUD HCV Program Inspector mouth dropped to the floor when he came inside. He couldn’t believe someone would put all that work into a property in that program.

She said she loved the place and that I did a great job on it. My Property Manager who is also a Real Estate Investor loved the layout of the kitchen so much that she is going to be doing well the same layout on her next project.

I couldn’t take all the credit for the kitchen layout; I only picked out the appliances but that was the ultimate compliment anyone has given me during my real estate journey and she has a lot more properties than I do.

I wrote this point to not only continue to inspire myself, but others as well. Real Estate doesn’t have to be scary or hard when you have a good team.

SheReadyLLC

I was DENIED one time.

Instructions letter

Did you know that as a Housing Choice Voucher Program vendor, you can request an increase every year on the rent amount?

Well if you didn’t know. I’m here to tell you that you can request an increase in payment.

I learned this from my property manager who also rents to people in this program and has much more experience with it than I do.

What she didn’t tell me or what I didn’t ask was how to go about doing it so when I sent the email requesting an increase it was DENIED.

It was denied because I didn’t list some information shown in the picture of this article and it wasn’t mailed in with a signature.

I ended up writing a letter on paper with the information they wanted and I got approved for my increase that I requested.

Everyone is happy especially me because now I feel I’m starting to receive an adequate amount for the amount of work that was put into that property.