All Forum Posts by: Ken Livingston

congratulations!!!  the market is insane in this area so that fact that you secured anything with a positive cash flow is outstanding!!!! keep my info should you need assistance with finding a new tenant once the current lease is up. You may even be able to increase the rent!  yay for you on your first purchase!!!!

Don't install solar panels probably anywhere, but certainly not on a rental.

Never finance solar panels.   If you don't think the up front cost of $30-40-60,000 is worth it, then it is not a good investment.

How do you make ROI off solar panels on a house? I don't think you get more rent in 99% of the cases and certainly not enough to pay for it.

Also think about your exit strategy.   I can tell you almost no buyer wants to assume a solar panel loan.  They typically do not add value to the house, so when the buyers are looking at comparables, none of them sit there and say...well every other house sold for $200,000, but my gosh this one has solar panels....let's pay $240,000 for this one.

Maybe one day, maybe someplace, but NOT today in NJ I expect.

Only way I would even look at solar panels is if it is for your forever house, and you have enough land to install them on the ground, not on the roof....so maybe if you have 1-5 acres or more.  Still not sure it makes sense, but worth a look.

If you want to be green, just buy a green energy plan from your electric provider if you have a choice of providers/plans.

@Ken Livingston

Rule number one for maximizing your income in real estate  is to not spend money that doesn’t earn you money unless you have to.  

Solar costs money to install and benefits you how?  What about when you need a new roof?  You have to pay to  take it off and pay to put it back on.  And how much more do you make each month?  None! It’s not a feature a tenant will pay extra for, much less maintain.  I would never consider solar for rentals.

My 2 cents!

All the best!

Randy