Renting your property under the Housing Choice Voucher Program (formerly known as Section 8) is really no different than renting to conventional tenants from a profitability standpoint. The main difference is that your property will have to pass a Housing Quality Standards inspection to ensure that the property is decent, safe and sanitary. If you're hoping to make a profit by charging a rental amount equal to or greater than the mortgage payment, that's probably not going to happen unless you already have equity in the property. However, the expenses related to rental property (including depreciation) might allow you to shelter other income. Check with your accountant to find out if this applies to your situation. That said, the rental market in this area seems to be firming up - a recent rental property near my office received 3 applications within two days of being listed.

Thu Apr 24 2008, 05:22