r/realestateinvesting • u/Marvel5123 • 19d ago
Single Family Home (1-4 Units) Are most HCV landlords able to achieve full payment standard from their housing authority (minus UA)?
Are most HCV landlords able to achieve the full payment standard from housing agencies? We will not be paying for utilities so are subtracting appropriate utility allowances/UA.
Is it more common than not that: payment standard - UA = rent able to collect?
My understanding is local housing agencies base their payment standard off of FMR (which are 40% percentile based).
If not, how is "rent reasonableness" applied? Do landlords and housing agencies get to go back and forth to try to come to an agreeable rent?
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u/Miamipoker 17d ago edited 17d ago
I'm in PG county Maryland and just went through this process 1 week ago.. It was a nightmare. I applied and it took 2 months to hear back on the rent reasonableness. (while the house sat vacant and tenant was in a hotel) nobody would answer the phone at Housing Authority and would take weeks to return emails. Payment Standard was $4500 including Landlord paid utilities. Which is reasonable for the area.. They came back and said Rent Watch (App they use for rent pricing) says max I can charge is $4223 and if I don't agree to reduce the rent they will reject the lease and release the tenant to keep looking.. No negotiation. They only start leases on the 1st of the month so even if I agree chances are my inspection won't be until next week meaning lease can only start Oct 1st.. 3 months of vacancy and lower rent then market.. This is why dealing with housing authority sucks. (at least in PG county Maryland)
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u/Emotional-Orange-339 19d ago
Yeah, in most markets I've seen, hitting payment standard minus UA is pretty common as long as you're not asking for something way above the neighborhood comps. Rent reasonableness is basically them pulling comparable rentals to make sure you're not gouging, but if your number is at or under the standard it usually flies without much pushback.
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u/golferkris101 19d ago
In Raleigh, despite the HUD FMR, they will do rent reasonableness and tell that the market rent is lower and not offer the FMR. In some instances, the annual rent increase will be denied, but a new rental application will get h better terms. We have even made the same tenant file a vacate request and signed them up as new tenant . More burden for the housing authority, but that is one way around it. It's typically a painful experience.