All Forum Posts by: Kenny Lincoln

1. Has anyone purchased a property through Alex Cooper Auctioneers?

2. I'm curious about the bidding and purchase process through online auction sites especially Alex Cooper, does anyone have feedback about the process?

3. I noticed that you can finance a purchase made through Alex Cooper but they require the loan application to be made within 7 days of sale, has anyone used financing to purchase a property through Alex Cooper or other online auction websites? What was this process like?

4. What are some other online auction websites specific to Maryland, DC, VA ... I've heard about a different site but can't recall the name.

Thanks in advance for any feedback.

1. Has anyone purchased a property through Alex Cooper Auctioneers?

2. I'm curious about the bidding and purchase process through online auction sites especially Alex Cooper, does anyone have feedback about the process?

3. I noticed that you can finance a purchase made through Alex Cooper but they require the loan application to be made within 7 days of sale, has anyone used financing to purchase a property through Alex Cooper or other online auction websites? What was this process like? 

4. What are some other online auction websites specific to Maryland, DC, VA ... I've heard about a different site but can't recall the name.

Thanks in advance for any feedback.

Julian Joseph - I just read that you’re not married, don’t have any kids, and don’t have a girlfriend at the moment. I would take advantage of this opportunity and invest now because you never know what is around the corner. Without a family/girlfriend you have the ability to make all the decisions/choices you want right now. This changes when you become a parent. This CAN also change when you get married and your spouse isn’t really supportive (she tries but it’s a struggle). Let’s say for example that I waited and didn’t purchase my first investment before getting married and starting a family ... if that were the case it would be extremely hard if not impossible for me to get started now because “it’s not all about me anymore” and I have to account for my family in my decision making. Find a way to reduce your monthly student loan payment and focus on paying off all other debt. This will put you in the best position for your first investment. A lender will then be able to tell you how much you can afford. BTW ... pay off your debt but keep good standing credit accounts open. Don’t close good standing credit accounts. You want to show you have a good amount of money available through credit lines. When I paid off my credit cards I kept the accounts open and placed small monthly expenses on them like Netflix payment.

Originally posted by @Julian Joseph:

Quick question all!

After being so motivated I’m going to begin reading the necessary books and network best I can in the next couple months. Giving myself until maybe the Fall or Spring of next year to begin!! Want to play by ear.

HOWEVER. I have a $100,000 in student debt.

Now I know investing can begin with little to no money. And I know it is probably SMARTER to wait until I have my debt all the way down.

But play Devils advocate with me a bit and tell me if there’s a smart way I can still play this investing game without being so caught up on my own student debt!

I'm thinking BRRRR or House Hacking to begin, or Multi family. But are any of these still a good play with having an existing debt?

Thanks :)

@Julian Joseph - I was in a similar situation and decided to pay off all outstanding debt before my first purchase WITH THE EXCEPTION OF MY STUDENT LOANS. I didn't have any debt working against me but a simple $230/month student loan. This process drastically increased my credit score and put me in a position to qualify for as much loan as possible. I had a tremendous amount of flexibility. My first purchase was with an FHA loan and I only had to put down 3.5%. My 30 year fixed rate was 3.2% due to my high credit score and other factors.

You have the ability to purchase while having student loan debt. I recommend attempting to pay off as much debt as possible. Don't stress about paying off your $100k student loan debt before purchasing. I wasn't going to be able to pay off my student loans either and thus decided to pay everything else. This will put you in a good position when dealing with lenders even if you still have existing student loans.

Originally posted by @Steve K.:

@Nathan Gesner average “break even” for solar where OP lives in DC is 5 years on a cash purchase in 2018: https://solarpowerrocks.com/washington-dc/ but payback period is irrelevant to the OP since there is no initial investment to be recouped on OP’s end, as this would be a leased system (a third party owns and operates the system, the upfront cost to OP would be $0). The third party leasing companies are able to leverage economies of scale/ bulk buying power on equipment / vertical integration to drive costs down such that they can install solar cheaply enough that they will be making money on the system very quickly if not immediately (by selling the tax credits to banks/investors/tax equity funds and by selling energy back to the grid at a premium) . They then pass the savings on to the owner of the roof that they're “renting”. 

@Steve K - I'm awaiting further information on this opportunity and your reply makes a lot of sense to me. I assume this is how the 3rd party is making money off this opportunity. The only difference is that the actual electric bill would remain the same and not be reduced. I was told the payment for electricity would still be with the current provider at normal rates BUT the 3rd party company would send me a monthly check for allowing them to get solar energy from my roof.

Has anyone rented their roof for additional monthly income as it relates to solar energy?

This opportunity has presented itself to me and I'm doing a bit of research. I can rent my roof to a company for solar power. If the roof needs repairs they would handle that process and maintain the solar equipment. Lease terms are usually 20 years or longer, they would cut me a check for renting my roof. My tenants would keep paying the regular utility bills each month while I make money off the roof. I could offer my tenants a credit towards monthly utility bills based on how much income I make from the solar company.

Originally posted by @Daniel Andrews:

@Kenny Lincoln The floors are luxury vinyl planks, engineered wood floors. I did all the work myself except from the exterior paint. Total reno took 5 months and total holding time will be around 6-7 months. I am hoping to cut that time in half next flip.

@Jose Luis Hidalgo thank you

 LVP to the front and FTW. I placed some in a rental of mine as well.

Great feedback everyone ...

More ideas are rolling in ... instead of adding 15% margin I would like to shoot for 30%. I'm thinking of the following but this might get too complicated.

See 4 person household example below.

Base Rental Amount = $2200/month

Average Utilities = $230/month (2 year data w/ 2 person household)

1. Add 30% margin to average utility cost

2. Include the following in the lease

a. Each additional person (after 2) will add $75/month for utilities. In this example we have a 4 person household.

b. Monthly Rental = $2650 (This is actually the average utilities from past 2 years divided by .7 + base amount + $150 for 2 additional people. Round down to $2650)

c. Tenant will be responsible for utilities in excess of $478 per month (230 divided by .7 + 150).

d. Landlord will rebate tenant utilities in excess of actual monthly total.

e. Landlord will provide tenant with a check at the end of lease for the excess amount.

f. Tenant has the option of rolling the excess into a new lease

A colleague of mine mentioned that I could give the tenant a rebate if I want to keep them. Offering a rebate of any excess at the end of the lease may influence the tenant to roll the rebate into a new lease.

This is just another idea and again I understand this may get too complicated.

Thanks to everyone for the advice. Someone also mentioned to me that imagine the tenant doesn't pay rent for whatever reason and then I'm out the mortgage payment and the utilities.

It was also recommended that I could cap the utilities. Example ... tell the tenant I pay for the first $270 of utilities but they have to cover anything additional. I think this would get sticky/tricky.

I could always increase the margin but then risk pricing myself out of the market. This might also further incentivize tenants to leave windows open as mentioned above. I can hear it now ... "I'm paying $2600/month for this place and I'm going to get my money's worth.

Originally posted by @Daniel Andrews:

I just finished my first flip. The house was purchased off the MLS as a banked owned. Asking price was 119k and I offered 125k cash two weeks closing. They accepted the offer.

Repairs. I am purchased a house flipping spreadsheet to estimate my repair cost, holding expenses and selling fees.  I also used this spreadsheet to track my expenses. www.houseflippingspreadsheet.com

I estimated around 24k in repairs plus 20k in real estate selling cost. I replaced all the floors, new kitchen, baths, paint interior and exterior, new doors and trim.  I had a contractor paint the exterior. 125k + 24k + 20K = 169k invested. 

I am finished with the house and spent 26k in repair cost so I went 2k over budget.  The house is listed at 225k with multiply showing every day. 

I would like to here your feedback and let me know if you have any questions.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/115-Brookwood-D...

What type of flooring did you use? That looks like either true hardwood or engineered wood. Did you complete any of the work yourself and how long did the renovations take? You are looking at around 25% margin according to those numbers ... nice job.