Paid my house off about 10 years ago. Put that last payment in the mailbox,COULDN'T WIPE THE SMILE OFF MY FACE FOR AT LEAST A WEEK !!

I dont know about now but 20yrs ago you could buy houses in the projects for $3-4000. Put about that much more in them and rent them section 8 for $600/month. House paid itself off in a year. My old boss had a bunch of them. He had a guy to do the needed repairs. I think maybe he had about 20 of them renting between $600-800/month. Thats a pretty good paycheck. No idea if it still like that

Rules and regulations were changing in the 90's. That's when my dad got out. He was going to have to do a lot of upgrades. Better insulation to keep power bills lower, etc. His rented to the Government for $650-$800/ mo. The tenants paid $20-$100/ mo based on their income.

You are correct though. You could buy them cheap. $5k to $15k each. And most were already liveable.

Why did you say he was a slumlord Irish? Have you been to any of his houses? Probably not. I have several rentals, some Section 8. Depends on their income as to how much of the rent they have to pay. Now you have some that will never get off the program and it wasn't meant to be a for ever home but you know the government. All mine have HVAC's, maybe why my tenants seldom move or it could be that I address repairs quickly. Check out the prices in the Hood, most are at 70000 or above unless it's a piece of crap. Section 8 has a premise inspection before allowing anyone to move in and one every year. It has its headaches like any other business and its costs even if you use a management company. Hedge funds are the ones heavily buying against us private investors and over paying. Work two,or three jobs like I did and eat bologna and you might can buy some rentals.

My buddy and I own about 100 rentals. Mostly multifamily. Doesn't matter if you're a good landlord or not, people are still going to judge you. I will say it is been a blessing for my family.

Don’t let it bother you. You gotta do you

My friend started renting his units to section 8 when they got rezoned. This is in the best area of town too. South Huntsville! It's an insult to us home owners to have it in this part of town. He said he raised his rent to the max of what the government pays out. I know in 2018 it was like $700 hundred I think. He was charging $500 before. And guess what...all the whites left and were replaced by blacks. Litter everywhere within weeks. Loud music and police calls. He doesn't care. He said it's well worth the change.

I'm not saying it wasn't this way at one time but that is not how it works anymore. Section 8 homes are supposed to be inspected every year and have to have all appliances in good working order. Roof can have no leaks, AC has to work, all pluming and outlets have to work. They are still great investments but you can't just buy a $%^@ box in Ensley and collect $850 each month.

I was using the term colloquially, because that's what most people would think of this type of investment. You just interpreted it negatively. I genuinely like and admire the guy. He's a great dude with an amazing family. He's actually got me interested in investing the same way, I just haven't had the time to get into it, because of my job and trying to get our other house ready to sell.

Thank heavens I don't need to eat bologna, but I appreciate your work ethic in order to build your business. I have nothing against anyone being a land lord. Mrs. Irish have been looking into it ourselves. So it's definitely an option for us.

No indeed. He spends money getting everything up to meet the requirements of the program. But he's the one who told me about the appliances.

If you are interested in getting into the real estate investing game, spend some time over at Bigger Pockets. They have a forum and a podcast. The forum is less active than it used to be, but a wealth of knowledge.

Several free investor meeting groups in Birmingham.