Dos & Don'ts

Follow Three Dos & Don’ts When Talking to Prospects

August 30, 2018

Staff members at tax credit sites can get into trouble when talking with prospects. Any false assurances, improper assumptions, or inappropriate statements could trigger noncompliance and a possible fair housing complaint or lawsuit. To avoid problems, here are three Dos & Don’ts you...

Include Unrelated Household Members When Calculating Household Income

June 30, 2017

When you calculate a household’s income to determine if it’s qualified, total the income of all the household’s members, even if they’re not related. If you make the mistake of counting members’ incomes separately, you’re likely to determine that their...

Don't Include Approved Rent Subsidies When Calculating Household Income and Rent

June 30, 2017

Don’t include the value of any approved federal or state rent subsidies the owner gets for a household when you calculate the household’s income and rent. If you do, you may charge the household too much rent. Or you may lose out on renting to a qualified household because you...

Verify Every Source of Household Income

June 30, 2017

Make sure that you verify every source of income a household reports. A household isn’t qualified unless you have the verifications to prove it. So if you accept a household without verifying all its income, the owner won’t be able to claim tax credits for the household’s unit...

Don't Perform Full Recertifications When They’re Not Necessary

March 28, 2013

The Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA) eliminated the annual income recertification requirement for 100 percent buildings. Each state agency, however, may opt to tighten the rule and impose its own recertification requirements. In addition, some owners may still complete annual...

Focus on Resident Retention to Save Money, Paperwork

March 28, 2013

The paperwork associated with tax credit sites is formidable. Owners and managers must not only deal with paperwork generated from the application process, but also annual owner certifications and submissions of various compliance forms on an annual basis.

Stagger Maintenance Staff's Work Shifts to Add Perceived Site Value

July 15, 2012

Try staggering your maintenance staff's hours to add perceived value to your site, suggests marketing expert Tracey Hopkins. Maintenance staffs typically work the same hours that residents work, which means that most residents don't see the maintenance staff hard at work to keep the site...

Let Prospects Pay Security Deposit by Credit Card

July 15, 2012

If your tax credit site lets residents pay their rent by credit card, consider letting prospects pay their security deposits by credit card as well, suggests property manager Kristen Morgan. Doing so can increase the likelihood that prospects will sign a lease when they first visit your site,...

Don't Allow Commercial Use of Community Room

March 23, 2012

If your community room is part of the site's basis for tax credit calculation purposes, meaning that the owner counts it as part of the property for which the state has awarded tax credits, don't permit commercial use of this room. To permit this type of use would reduce the amount of...

Don't Count Same Child as Part of Two Households

March 23, 2012

Don't count a child as part of two households if her parents live in separate units at your site and share custody. According to the HUD Handbook, you must count a child in a joint custody arrangement as part of a household if that child is “present in the household 50 percent or more...

Rent Up to Minimum Set-Aside

March 23, 2012

An owner can claim only the credits allocated to him by his state housing credit agency. Suppose an owner is in the process of leasing up a brand-new 80 percent tax credit building and the marketing department brings in nine qualified low-income households. Eight of the 10 units must be rented...

Don't Round Down to Meet Minimum Set-Aside

March 23, 2012

Don't round down the number of units you must rent to qualified low-income households to meet your minimum set-aside, warns A.J. Johnson, president of A.J. Johnson Consulting Services. Rounding down may seem like an attractive option because it leaves you free to charge market-rate rents for...