Rent Money

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

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.

SheReadyLLC

The GOVERNMENT didn’t pay me!

No Check on the 1st

As a landlord for a Housing Choice Voucher Program (formally called Section 8) tenant, I never expected to hear what I heard today.

Yes, I know that we are living in days of uncertainty and overwhelming madness, but everyone knows the government pays their bills and usually on time.

So what happened…

COVID 19 happened! That’s what happened. The regional office is closed due to an outbreak and since it’s unknown how many people the person with COVID 19 came into contact with, everyone was sent home and will be returning on Monday.

I’m in shock! Not because I don’t understand the severity of COVID 19, but because I didn’t know these payments were not automated. Someone has to manually enter this information. I totally thought they had a software system to manage this. Yep, I still have some learning to do.

If this is not a wake up to people. I don’t know what it will take. Not only should we all be investing or providing services and goods to each other, but we can’t have only one thing. There needs to be multiple baskets, even if those baskets only have one egg in each of them.

As I write this post, it’s a reminder for me stay focused on my goals and to keep moving forward and I want others to do the same.