This house is gorgeous on the inside. Though it's surrounded by farmland, it's not actually on farmland. It's not to far from Hilsboro, where my daughters boyfriends mom lives, so that's a small plus. I am actually looking more for horse property.. but I do love the look of this one, and that it's ultimately for sale.



At the Coast

This house wouldn't even be a consideration if it weren't at the coast, but.. it is.


This 5 bedroom in Washington is also beautiful, there's no yard though, and I'm not really trying to move to washington. It is one exit off from the casino though lol. Anyway, it's really pretty. I don't care much for the tiny yard, but it is what someone on section 8 should expect from a housing voucher.

FAIL Is that one of the old project apartments right there? Anyway that's something a cliche section 8'er might go after, thinking it's the best they can do. It's also an insta-fail.

I really like this one. It's a bit dated, but I'm not totally against that. In fact I love old houses and their personality. It's lacking a place for horses, but it's at least not in the center of the city, im so done with the city. It's on 2 acres and that's one thing I'm for sure looking for. A little room to spread out.

not so cute

This one's doable, in fact it's not really any better or worse than where I live now. You will notice however that I tend to shy away from property management companies. I like real people. They can be bribed, ha! Nothing like a fat deposit to get landlords to forget about all of that credit report nonsense.

I like this sturdy looking house, but .. West Lynn doesn't really have me jumping for joy.

I've just about fallen in love with this one, it's on the Oregon/Idaho border. James could bathe while I shower :O lol. I really am enamoured with this property, and it's price. So much that I googled it a bit further.

Seem's it is also for sale.

A little more googling ..

A few more pics!

So why haven't I called them yet. Fear of commitment right before Christmas of course, and.. where here can I put a horse! Yep, I want a greenhouse, and I want a horse. So I'm not sold yet, but I sure am window shopping.

I have become obsessive with looking for a new house. I'm leary for one. I want to buy for two. I hate moving lol.

Anyway, it's become apearant that I'm waisting the value of my voucher here. My ideal house is in Happy Valley, or Pleasant Valley. My daughter would like to stay in the David Douglas district, but I'd very much like to get out of the city.

I'm looking at properties all throughout Oregon. My favorite thus far was a property in Myrtle Point Oregon. My husband objected, I let it slip through my fingers, and I'm so regretful.

My friends and family are all to used to seeing the parade of URLs come from me each day as I find properties that interest me, but that I don't commit to. In fact, I haven't even gone to see a property in person yet.

Part of the reason for that is I'm just not up for the section 8 stigma yet. Or the background checks. I don't like people looking at my credit, there I said it.

Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's not. It's a constant work in progress, but you'll get your rent on time like clockwork.

Anyway, until I find that perfect property, I've started listing some that I do like a lot here, where we can discuss the pro's and con's of each property.

I do tend to stray away from what I'm looking for now and then, but .. I do hope that in doing so, I show a mom or two what can really be done with a section 8 voucher.

Without further ado - today's picks..

I'm on section 8. That means that the government pays a huge chunk of my rent each month. It's a super exclusive program that's really hard to get signed up with, as you could imagine.

In my county, Multnomah County, the waiting list works like a lottery. So you might be on the list a year or two to get on the list. After waiting a couple years, you might not get on at all.

The line is usually blocks long to apply.

So it's a big deal. Now here's the funny part though. Section 8 pays 'Market Rent'. Usually they pay more than the average person would pay. They aren't allowed to effect the market, so their rents have to stay right there within market.

If Section 8 paid way more than market, the theory is that people would just rent to us section 8'ers and charge more, therefor forcing the market rent up.. and making the average joe pay more for housing.

If Section 8 paid less, the idea is that landlords working with section 8 are forced to lower their rents.

But Section 8 has an old stigma. When people first started learning about the housing voucher program there was a lot to protect tenants involved, and not so much to protect landlords.

Landlords didn't look into the pasts of their tenants, they took inadequate deposits.. and here's the biggest peice..

Most section 8ers lived in low income neighbors in apartments that accepted section 8.

The mentality in that kind of place is so different!

So section 8 got a bad name.

Now we have this program, in the midst of a recession that sends the landlord the majority of the rent on the 2nd of every month, never ever late..

Section 8 also inspects the property annually to ensure that maintenance is kept up to date, and that the tenant is acting responsibly and respectably toward your property.

What's more is the tenant's underwent a background check to even get on section 8. :O There's a bit of a money saver for ya. If they've ever sold drugs, or used drugs in public housing, or committed any number of other crimes that are often red flags for bad renters, they flat out don't qualify for the program.

Section 8 tenants are long term tenants.

When a person on section 8 in Multnomah county moves, we have to sign a one year lease. It's also no easy feat for us getting moved. We have to put in a thirty day notice to even start the process of getting a new rent voucher for a new house. Then we have to take some classes about moving and moving a voucher.

Then there's inspections, houses have to b e livable, and the rent has to be approved. To do all of this in a timely manner that doesn't scare off all prospective landlords, we have to give our thirty day notice to our old landlord before we even find a place to rent.

That's right, no skipping out on you, we have to give notice or we don't get to move. Plenty of notice.

So here's the amazing thing... right here in the midst of a recession, I still see 'no section 8' listed in rental adds.