The BRRRR Investor Podcast
The BRRRR Investor Podcast is a dynamic resource for aspiring and seasoned real estate investors, focusing on the Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat strategy to build generational wealth. It offers expert insights, practical advice, and real-world examples to guide listeners through every step of successful real estate investing.
The BRRRR Investor Podcast
Solar Energy Basics for Investors and Homeowners: Kim Ford's Expert Insights
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Welcome to The BRRRR Investor Podcast! In this episode, Kim Ford, a certified residential solar energy consultant, shares her expertise in solar energy and its benefits for real estate investors.
Here’s what you can expect:
* Kim Ford's journey into the solar industry and her diverse background in sales and construction.
* The basic workings of solar systems and the importance of having a battery for backup power.
* Different financing options for solar systems, including purchasing, financing, and leasing.
* The potential impact of federal tax credits and the effects of governmental changes on solar incentives.
* The suitability of different roof types for solar installations and what to do when replacing a roof with existing solar panels.
Connect with Kim Ford:
Email: harnesstherays@gmail.com
Website: powur.com/harnesstherays
Phone: 818-395-1408
Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and check out the links in the description for free resources and more information.
Thank you SO much for stopping by! I appreciate you!
💰Subscribe to my YouTube channel: https: alexnahleonvideo.com
Check out our next Real Estate event here - https://shorturl.at/jEO46
Grab your FREE SOP for analyzing deals here: https://www.thebrrrrinvestor.com/brrrr-sop
Welcome back to the BRRRR Investor podcast where our mission is to empower aspiring real estate investors in their journey towards building generational wealth. Welcome back to another episode. Today we have the pleasure to be with Kim Ford, who's a certified residential solar energy consultant. Kim has over 25 years of experience in business to business, business to consumer, in a variety of industries. So I'm gonna, you know, allow you to share a little bit about that. So, Kim, thank you so much for joining us today.
Yeah, thanks for having me. I'm very happy to be here.
Awesome, awesome, awesome. So let's start with if you can share a little bit about your background, your experience, and then tell us a little bit how you got into the solar industry. Sure.
So I have worked in sales, like you said, for a very long time. Most recently did a little venture into construction, into contracting in a couple of trades. One was electrical, apprentice electrical. And then I actually ended up working in a roofing. And I guess you could say I did my rank and file. I started buying scheduling, moved up to inspections. From inspections, I was production manager, you know, taking care of all of the jobs that we had going. And then I went into sales, roofing sales, where I was for a long time until I became general manager of the company. And even at that point, I still, I was still doing sales myself, you know, here and there. So that was, that's. Then I was in landscaping and waterscape sales. I ran a sales team, ran a whole lead generation program there. And eventually then I had a baby, had my second baby. So took a little time off and then when I went back to work, I was in dental marketing. So I did direct to business sales, like outside sales, helping dentists all over the country with marketing programs. So then I took a little break. I went after a passion, which for me is fitness, and I actually became a certified personal trainer and I ran my own training business for nine years. And you know, it Covid kind of came and went. That was a little bit difficult in the personal training space. It was definitely challenging. And after that it just wasn't the same. So I started looking for other opportunities and believe it or not, a client of mine was like, hey, you know what, with your background in sales and construction and your knowledge of roofing, you really should check out this solar company called Power. Now I am independent, but I'm working mostly with this residential solar company called Power, which we'll get into. But so I, you know, I looked into it and honestly, being a roofer, I was like, I hate solar. Solar just goes in, punches holes in people's roofs and then walks away. And then I have to go and like, fix the leaks. And it was a nightmare. So I was like, all right, well, I'll look into it. And honestly, doing my due diligence on this company, I learned a lot about their background, their integrity. And when I found out that they carry a 30 year warranty on the entire installation, including the roof, I said, okay, well, if they're gonna stand behind their work like that, then I could probably, you know, they've, they've got, that was the tipping point for me. Like, they've got my, my vote, my trust. So I got certified and I've been working together with power, a couple other companies, But I'd say 90% of the time with power for the last two years now. And that's kind of how I arrived here.
That's exciting. That's a great. So that's a true entrepreneur, right?
Yes.
You know, majority of your experience seems to be, you know, you know, business in general, but in the real estate industry, obviously, a little bit in the dental. But it's funny how you mentioned, you know, you were working in roofing and then now solar and, you know, I can imagine you've had your share of issues with solar problems when you were in the roofing business, right?
This is true, this is true. Now solar has come a long way since I was in roofing. I worked in the roofing company 19 years ago, so it's been a minute. But I'll tell you honestly, that experience definitely gives me tools which I wouldn't otherwise have as a solar consultant because we're working directly on people's roofs. So the knowledge I have from my time in roofing definitely lends to my expertise when it comes to solar.
That's excellent. So it's setting you up for success in, in the current industry that you're in. So that's, that's amazing. I'm very excited to dive deeper into the topic of solar. You know, as a real estate broker and a real estate investor, it's kind of a mystery. It's, it's, you know, something a lot of unknown in solar. You know, I hear a lot from, you know, other colleagues, whether Realtors or investors. They're not sure, they're afraid of solar. They don't know how to answer solar questions. So I'm very grateful, you know, for us to have connected, you know, and you've, again, you've helped, you know, me get a better understanding in different situations that I've faced either while helping a client or, you know, an investment property. And I truly appreciate that because, again, that's not my expertise. I feel that everybody should stick to their lane. And you're very proficient as well as, like, very open to helping, you know, when it comes to solar. So I'm very grateful for that because you've unraveled a lot of, you know, unknowns for me and my clients. And, you know, most recently, you've helped my client obtain a significant amount of money explaining how their specific contract is after you reviewed it. So I do appreciate that. I'm looking forward to diving into this, you know, talking about the basics, talking about, you know, the pros and cons, some of the, you know, things that you face on your end. But before we continue, you know, if you, I want to mention, you know, if you're watching on YouTube, please, if you can take a moment and hit the like button and subscribe to the channel. As you know, that's going to help the algorithm and help us promote the channel. If you're listening on the audio version, jump in to our YouTube channel. Check out the video and other episodes that we have. Also in the comments section below, we're giving away standard operating procedures on how to analyze investment properties, investment deals. So click on the link in the description below and get a free copy there. So let's go ahead and continue. If you can start off by sharing just like a little bit about the basics, like, how does solar work?
Yes. Okay. Solar. So panels go on your roof, and there are no moving parts in a solar installation, just to let everybody know. So the panels sit there, they have semiconductor materials inside just to dispel one false idea or rumor that they generate a lot of radiation.
Okay?
If you stand in front of your microwave watching your lunch, you're getting more radiation than you are from your solar panels. So the sun's energy, the sunlight hits the panels. That's direct current, okay? That is captured by the panels, and they are run. All of that energy is run to an inverter because your home runs on alternating current. So we've got AC and dc, right? The inverter switches it from direct current to alternating current, so it can be used by home. And then that runs straight into the breakers in your main electrical panel. Let's say the sun is out, your home is being powered by everything that it's collecting on your roof, and there's excess. So that excess has to go somewhere and it's going to run back to the grid. So it's going to be redistributed via your meter back to the, to the grid. Okay. So your utility company will get that energy and redistribute it into the area around you. So you've heard about redistribution or that that is what they're referring to. So you are contributing to the power of your neighbors for anything that you're over producing and not immediately using. Now, if you have a battery on your home, that excess production will first go to your battery until the point at which your battery is full and then it will be redistributed back to the grid. Okay, so that's the basics. One question a lot of people ask me is if the power goes like if the grid goes down, if there's an outage and I have solar and the sun is up, will I still be producing power? The answer is maybe because if you have a battery with backup, you will essentially become a self containing unit. The battery is going to power the whole system and you'll continue to create energy from the sun, from your soul. If you do not have a battery, you will not have power during an outage because any of that overproduction that feeds back into the, the utilities lines outside. You know, if you've got an outage, you've got linemen up there working to fix whatever the problem of the outages and you have electric current running through those lines from your house back to the grid, he'll get electrocuted. So what happens is there's an automatic shut off between you and the grid when there's an outage. So if you have no battery, you're without power. If you have that backup battery, that switch turns off and your battery goes. Yeah, just to set it up.
Yeah, that is a common question, you know, whether, you know, we'd have power if there is an outage. So it sounds like no, unless you have a battery. So not all the systems come set up the same way. Some are just the panels, some are panels with the battery and the generator. And to have power in an outage you would have to have the batteries because they're going to charge and it's going to keep you. So even if the sun is out and you don't have the batteries, it's not gonna work. It's not going to give you power.
That's right. Because the system isn't on, there's no power to your house. Okay, yeah.
So then it sounds like it's, it's, it's pretty important to get batteries when you do have a Solar system. If you, if you're in an area that has a lot of outage.
That's correct. If you don't experience frequent outages. But they do happen. I never try to sell something to somebody that they don't need. And right now batteries can tend to be more on the costly side. So you're not experiencing outages. I'll say get a generator. You know, if you get a generator, you can keep your lights on your WI fi and your fridge running and then you're fine until, you know, the power comes back up. Yeah.
So there is a significant price difference between just having, you know, solar panels and then having it with batteries.
Yeah. And it really depends on what type of battery.
So price wise now it's clear it does make a difference depending on the batteries you have. Also how many panels you have. That's determined based on the size of the house, I'm assuming, and it actually.
Is based on the amount of energy your house you use, what your consumption is. You know, you could have a, a medium sized home, but with maybe one or two people living there and their consumption is pretty low. Or you could have a medium sized home and you could have a family of four, plus an ev, plus a pool, you know, and let's say both the adults work from home. So you're gonna have a lot more consumption in the same size home. So it really just depends on how much are you using.
So it sounds like, you know, solar companies usually do some type of like survey or ask questions to figure that out or they're supposed to, Right. Rather than just sell you, you're supposed.
To here the thing. I, I just ask for a person's electric bill. I just say, hey, give me a copy of your bill because it's going to have a graph on there that shows their consumption over 12 months.
Okay.
And that gives me the exact picture that I need. So it's like, okay, let's say they use, I don't know, an average is about 9,000 kilowatt hours a year. I will design a solar installation that produces about 120% of their consumption because I want them to either be able to store it in a battery if that's what they need, or send it back to the grid and accrue credits to use at night when the sun is down. The idea is you have zero electric bill with your solar. Sometimes that's not always possible, but when it is, I like to, I like to make your electric bill an avoided.
Cost because I do, you know, run into some situations you know, when we're looking at properties either for buyers or for ourselves, you know, standard size home, 1500-2000. You know, sometimes when they do have a solar panel, we ask and they're like some, sometimes it's like 25,000, sometimes it's 45,000. So it's pretty significantly different. And that's probably because of the amount of panels and if they have backup batteries, etc, Right?
Exactly, exactly. Yeah. If anybody is looking at getting solar, if the solar consultant they're working doesn't ask for their utility bill, something's wrong. Because that is the only basis that's going to tell that person how, how. What size of a system you need. And without that, they're either going to undersize it, which I've heard a lot about, and then people have not only to pay for their solar, but also their electricity, or they're going to oversize it and they've paid way too much for what they need. So really, depending on that bill is how you determine the size of the system. And of course, the size and the components will determine the cost. Yeah, got it.
Okay. Yeah. Because sometimes it's discouraging when we do see it's a high amount. But then I guess we need to look into it a little bit deeper or get you involved on the situation to give us a better explanation of what's going on. Because it might make sense. I mean, especially if we're going to resell the property, it might, you know, add value to the resale. So that's cool. So how about like credits and rebates? What's available out there? You know, when you have solar really.
Depends on your location. There is the federal tax credit that's available. There are also state and municipal incentives and credits. So really, again, depending on where you're at, what utility you're in, what city you live in, but for everybody, when it comes to residential, you are. You may. I need to qualify this. You may be able to claim the federal tax credit, which is 30% of the total cost of your installation contract.
Wow.
Right now it you do. I, I never tell people, oh, you're totally qualified and you're going to get this. They do need to check with their, whoever does their taxes to make sure that they can claim it. It depends. And it's the line item credit. Just to be clear, it's not a rebate or a refund. It's a line item credit on your tax return. You can claim up to $10,000 in any fiscal year. So let's say you have 30% of your installation is going to be $13,000. You can claim $10,000 that first year, 3,000 the next year. So that is going to be available to you until it's used up. So that's one major plus. And just as a note, let's say we put a new roof on your house as part of that scope of work because you need a new roof. So that is included in the contract, meaning you'll also get 30% credit on the roof installation, which. Yeah, so you can bundle the two and take advantage of that tax credit. So okay, yeah, that's the federal. And in California, unfortunately there are no credits or incentives depending on the area that you live in. Like right now, for Glendale, California specifically, they have, they have a huge push to go solar. They want to get 10% of all residential customers to adopt solar by the year 2030. They're at about three and a half percent right now. So it's a tall order. But in order to make that attractive, they have an expedited permit line for solar. If you've ever done any type of home improvement in the city of Glendale, I mean it takes forever to get a permit to put up a fence. So they've made an expedited permit line for solar, which is great. And they are allowing what they call a self attest to the size of system that you need. They used to limit you to 100% of your energy needs and they would look at your bill and they'd be like, oh, you can't go over that amount. Now if you were going to get, let's say an EV or something, you're going to put in a pool and your usage was going to go up, you'd have to present receipts to show I'm going to need more. And then they would allow it. But now they've changed that and they're saying if your system is under 10kW in size, you don't have to show proof that you need, that's you need whatever. So that, so if you, if I design you a system that's like 150% of your energy needs and you're just banking that extra production and they just go, great sign off move next, you know, they make it really easy. And they've also changed their, their terms to you can have up to three batteries on your house, which is a lot, no questions asked, like they'll just sign it off. So that's, that's one incentive that is existing. If you live in San Diego San Diego Power generates electricity for some SDG and E customers, and they have a storage incentive going on. So for every customer who installs a battery to store Energy, you get $350 check, like cash in hand for every kilowatt of storage your battery holds. Most batteries are 5 to 10 kilowatts. That's pretty standard. So you put a 10 kilowatt battery on your house, you're getting a 300, $3,500 check, which is a wonderful incentive. So you get that on top of your federal tax credit. You're, I mean, your system starts paying for itself.
That's phenomenal. There's a lot of, you know, unknowns. And, you know, I learned something every time I talk to you, so it's, it's great. And I want to, you know, being that majority of our listeners are, you know, invest, you know, just starting up or, you know, they have multiple properties, you know, I want to really highlight, especially if, like, for example, I flip properties, I also Burr properties, so I, I rehab them and turn them into rental properties. I highly encourage you to connect with someone like Kim that knows solar because one, so you don't shy away from potentially really good deals just because it has solar. Two, so you don't, you know, leave money on the table. But when you're reselling a property or when you're renting a property. So what do I mean by that? Like, if you're reselling a property, you need to know what type of system you have, what it's going to offer the new owner and how you can, you know, market that. You know, as a realtor, I need to know how to market that and build value to be able to get the most money for my client or if it's a property that I'm selling for myself, for, for myself and my investors. So that's why, you know, I partner up with someone like Kim. And also when it's a rental property, you know, what I've, you know, seen and I've been, you know, always thinking about is just like, you know, there's certain situations, sometimes the landlord is covering utility bills, right? And they're, they're charging X amount for rent, you know, you can probably get more for rent when you're covering the utilities. In a similar situation like this, if you have solar and it's covering the majority, if not all of the electric bill, you're able to demand more for rent. You know, so don't leave money on the table. Know what you have. And if you do have solar, I highly recommend connect with Kim. You know, she's going to be able to share with us a little bit more of how to reach her. But this is really exciting. I want to continue. You know, one thing that also comes up a lot is there's many different ways to obtain solar. Right? You can either purchase it, you can finance it, or you can lease it. Can you share a little bit about the difference? What is a better way to go about getting solar? And if it's somebody long term, if it's somebody that might want to sell it, should they worry about, you know, completely paying for it? Should they worry about leasing it? Can you touch a little bit on that, please?
Absolutely. So depending on a person's circumstances with the property and their intentions is how I sort of determine which road we're going to go down financially. If you purchase a system, you own it. When you own a system, you can claim that tax credit. And there are obviously other. If it's a. If it's a business you purchase this home for. You know, I don't know if you're Airbnb it, you're leasing it out, whatever you're doing, it's a business transaction. And you, you know, there are other benefits to that. So you can add the 30% tax credit to that list of benefits when you own it outright. Let's say you're going to sell the property. It's. It's clean, it's easy. You don't have to deal with signing over leases or anything like that. For people who are homeowners, when I'm speaking to homeowners, if this is their forever home, then I do use and they have the capital I usually recommend. Just purchase it because it becomes an asset. It does improve the value of your home. And there are multiple studies which I'll send you links if you want. You can include them in the information on the podcast. But there are several studies that show that solar does improve or increase home value. Those are instances where I would say purchase it if you plan on purchasing, staying there long term, or, you know, if you want to add value to your home in California, by the way, they. Your property value increases when you add solar, but they don't increase your property taxes, which is a benefit.
Yeah, yeah, that's a big thing. So I guess that's an incentive, surprisingly.
I know, right? I know. So that there's. That. That's a route to go on purchase, to finance it if you want to own it, but you don't have that capital free and clear to Just purchase it, then you can finance it. The way that our financing works, it's zero down. There's no money out of pocket. Your term, your payments start when the system is up and running. So there's, you know, a few months between signing that contract and having to make your first loan payment. So that's great if you want to own, you want to take advantage of the tax credit, but you don't have that upfront capital. And just to clarify, it's very simple to qualify for a solar loan. We work with Good Leap Sun Gage Enfin. They are leaders in solar financing and you have to have a 650 credit score to qualify. So really easy, no problem getting that financed, usually. And we've got a lot of. There's been drops in interest rates, which makes it a lot easier nowadays, thank goodness, to go into one of those. We've got loan products that are almost same as cash and makes it really easy to make that decision to own if you don't have that capital to put out to purchase it. So leasing is great. Sorry, financing is great. Let's say you have a property that you're going to lease. As you were saying, you're going to have a tenant there and you're going to have monthly payments because you financed it or leased it. You can bake that into the cost of that into the tenant because you're going to be covering their electric bill, basically. So let's say your monthly payment is, I don't know, $250. It's kind of high, but let's say it's 250. Then you adding 250 onto their monthly rent, usually going to be much less than they would be paying to the local utility if they were paying the utility bill. So you can say, hey, you know, electricity is included in your rent and here's your rent. Anybody's going to jump at that because it's a fixed cost, it's predictable, they don't have to go, oh, it's summer and I don't want to run the AC because my bill is going to be insane, them knowing, hey, this is my rent and it includes my electricity. That goes a long way in terms of tenant retention because it's a great deal and it's covering your cost for the solar. So when it comes to income properties, it's awesome. And then when it comes to leasing, leasing is great for a few categories of people. One, if you're retired, okay, if you're retired and you want to put solar on your house because you Want to fix your costs? Leasing is excellent because it's zero money out of pocket, zero interest. You're just paying for the electricity that's being generated by the solar on your roof. And it's fixed monthly for 25 years. It never changes. So for example, I helped a few couples here in Glendale. Older couples go from 2, $300 to 97, 95 to $97 a month, fixed, never changing. Regardless of what the utility does, regardless of how much they use their air conditioning or not, they have a fixed, predictable cost. Zero money out of pocket, zero interest. And leases are 100% transferable. So let's say you take out a lease for solar and then you go, oh my God, I'm gonna move. I'm moving now. I have to sell my house. What, what about this lease? Like how, what do I have to do? Do I have to prepay it? Da da, da da. There's a few options that you have. Okay, you can prepay the lease, meaning just pay the amount that you would have paid over the term, and you and your agent can figure out how you want to work that into the sale price of the home. Yeah, you can turn the lease over to the new owner, which, by the way, if they aren't interested in taking it, they need to be educated. And I'd be happy to talk to them because anybody coming into a house knowing this is my fixed cost for electricity, to say they would rather pay the utility is insane. That just means they don't understand how it works. So you can turn that lease over. They only need a 650 credit score to qualify to take over the lease. And just to not go onto a tangent, but a lot of agents I talked to go, yeah, but they've already, you know, got the loan and their credit and all of this stuff, it never converts to a hard credit check. So it's a soft credit check. When you qualify for the lease, it never converts. So it's never going to show up. So the bank isn't going to go, oh, but you can't because it's one more thing. And you know, it's not going to affect the debt to income ratio. Nothing. It's not going to appear anywhere. So. So some agents that have said like, yeah, but that, that really makes it hard to, to close out everything because it's just one more financed thing on their line of credit. But it isn't because it never shows up. So it's almost like null. They just have to qualify.
Yeah.
So it's really easy. So you could transfer that, that lease over to the new homeowner. The third thing you can do, and it really depends on how far you're going to move. A lot of leasing companies will allow you to take the solar with you, believe it or not.
Wow.
So you could take the. You'd obviously have to pay labor, but the installing partner could take that and move it to your new home and install it on your new home and your lease resumes. So those are the three options. So depending on the circumstances, and if we're talking to investors or agents, I mean, even, you know, a lot of them, I'm sure, are homeowners themselves. If you're looking at income properties and you want to keep them long term, I would say purchase or finance to own, because it really is an asset and you recoup that cost quickly, depending on the area that you live in and the utility rate. A lot of people, especially in Southern California, are seeing a return on that investment of the full purchase within four to five years. It's fast. You're really making the electricity cost an avoided cost, and you're recouping it through, you know, your tenants or what have you. If, if a, you've got a. You're representing, Sorry, either like the seller who has the solar lease, you know, that's no problem. It's easy, easy to transfer that over. And I'm happy to look at anybody's contract to decipher the terms and conditions like I did for you. Or if you're representing a seller, that, or sorry, somebody, you're representing a buyer who's concerned about taking over that lease. Same thing. They really should understand that a lease is simple and it's to their benefit as long as the system is still under warranty and still in good condition. It's to that buyer's benefit to take over that solar lease. Because again, the electricity is a fixed cost, it's predictable, and they're not going to have to worry about utility rate increases. So hopefully that answers the question.
It does. It sure does. And, you know, this is really why I was so excited about getting on the podcast. I mean, this is one of those episodes that I'm going to listen to over and over again. I encourage others to do, do the same. And this is for, you know, whether you're a realtor, whether you're a homeowner, you're an investor looking to purchase a property that has solar, you know, don't shy away from it. Get yourself educated, connect with Kim. Because, you know, just like you mentioned about Realtors, they're always like, discouraged, oh, I don't know if they're going to approve of, to affect their, their loan and so forth. You know, don't make decisions on behalf of others. You know, take the step, connect with someone like him. These are true nuggets you're dropping on us here. Again, I, I just learned a ton of new information. I want to remind everybody, if you're watching this on YouTube, please click the like and subscribe to our channel to help with the algorithm. If you have any questions for Kim, please drop them down below. And also don't forget, you know, whether you're on Spotify, Amazon music or on YouTube, in the description section, we're giving away standard operating procedures on how to analyze real estate investment deals. So take advantage of that. Click the link, get a copy of that. This is amazing. I really, really love this. I want to keep on going. I have, you know, a few more things that come to mind in regards to, you know, the new administration and you know, the changes in government. How does that affect solar with, how does that affect, you know, the federal tax credit? Would they, will they be getting rid of that in your opinion?
You know, we're really holding our breath on this one because obviously Trump hasn't taken office yet. There is, there are rumors, I know Elon's up there saying get rid of the EV tax credit and some people are grouping the solar tax credit in with that. I'm not going to freak out until I actually hear it, you know, from the horse's mouth, so to speak, because I don't trust the media. But as it is, the, the federal tax credit for, for residential solar is part of the inflation Reduction act and it was in the, but with the Biden administration, it was extended until 2032, I believe. So unless the new administration comes in and just slashes it and gets rid of it, it's there. Now I would be surprised if they did because energy is a huge push for this administration coming in and there are a handful of US based solar manufacturers, believe it or not. So in terms of tariffs and worry, you know, concerns about that, you know, we have a huge opportunity as a country to really launch solar production and solar as a source of energy. Q cell is one of the leading residential solar module like solar panel manufacturers. They're based in Georgia and they are just, they broke ground last year for a new manufacturing facility in, I believe it's South Carolina. So they're investing billions into the US Solar industry. So US with power, we use Q Cell panels all the time. And it's great because you keep the cost low. There's no impending, you know, tariffs that are going to jack the price up. You know, don't have to be worried about that. Batteries, there are some like, well, enphase is, does have domestic content within their battery equipment and their inverters. So again, you can really avoid increased cost if you request domestic content in your, in your solar installations. But I don't see anybody getting rid of that tax credit, honestly, anytime soon. It would be an ill effect on energy industry, especially with all of the EVs that are being manufactured. We have to be able to support the grid. Can't support it. The grid is, especially in California. It's already overtaxed. In most places in the country the grid is overtaxed and you already are going to have to have charging stations. They're building them throughout. You know, people are on long trips. You're going to have to stop and charge your EV and so forth. So I don't see solar taking a dip. Companies, it's a tough industry. We call it the solar coaster. Honestly, depending on the company and their integrity and the intelligence of their leadership, the company might not survive. But there are some that are leaders, you know, power. The company that I work with, fastest growing solar, privately owned solar company in the country. Four years in a row on Inc. 5000. Freedom Forever is another leader. Sun Run. Everybody's heard of Sun Run. And Tesla. Tesla, everybody knows Tesla. It's kind of like the Gucci of electric stuff, right? Solar, I think Tesla is great for cars, for rockets, going to space. Solar like it, it's not, it's tough. Okay. I would just say their products are great, their customer service is not. You don't usually speak to a human being ever when you work with Tesla, but I'd say those five companies power, Tesla, Sunrun and Freedom Forever are going strong. If you want to look into solar, just do your due diligence as a consumer. Get at least three quotes, ask for references. You know, just look into the performance of the company before you get in bed with them. Because unfortunately a lot of solar companies close up shop and then, you know, you're stuck with an unsupported system, you know, your warranty is void and, and all of that. That's more my concern in terms of solar instability. More than, you know, the, the federal industry itself. Yeah, okay. Yeah.
I mean, yeah, it's a big industry. It's the technology. It's just gonna grow at the end of the day. It's a business and in business there's a lot of greed and you know, there's leadership that can go the right or wrong way. So I have heard of, you know, quite a few that have, you know, gone out of business, but others are still going. So definitely do your due diligence. This is, this is, these are good points. Now regarding, regarding, like roof types, are there, you know, two things with that? Like one is, are there any roof types that you cannot or should not put solar on? And then the other thing is, you know, that came up a few times with my experiences, let's say, you know, I know they do, they inspect the roof, they say, you know, it's good for solar. But you know, how about if somebody has solar for a long time and then they did need to replace the roof. Can you answer those two questions please?
Sure, yeah. So the types of roof we cannot install on are slate roof, we cannot install on a shake roof. Not too many people in California still have wood shaped roofs, but some are there. We can't install and shake. We can't install on that, that lovely mid century rock and gravel, you know, and we cannot install on clay tile. Okay, so like tops and pans, like Spanish tile, there's that cement tile that mimics clay tile. Yeah, that's fine. But clay tile we cannot. There is a workaround on the clay tile which is we take up the tile on that roof face, we lay underlayment and we put down a asphalt shingle. Just like a three tap shingle.
Yeah.
Then we install the solar and then we relay the tile around so it frames the solar. So you don't actually see, you can't see the, the asphalt underneath. Yeah, we call that a comp inlay. So we just inlay. Yeah, so that's a little more involved, a little pricier. But those are the types of roofs we cannot install on. Also very steeply pitched roofs you can, but the racking system has to be construct. So let's say you have like a Tudor style and your roof looks like this. The racking is going to come out from the roof because it has to be at the right angle to properly capture or harness the sun. If your panels are flush to a steep roof, it's not going to, you're not going to harness as much as you need to for your system to be efficient. So on roofs like that we can, it's going to be raised, it's going to look ugly. So if there's a part of your house that can't be Seen from the curb, I would say do it on that part, if that works out. Those are the. Those are the ones we can install on. And to answer your second question, what if you need to get a new roof?
Yeah.
Well, you call your solar installer. Hopefully they're still around. You have them take. Or you call another solar company. If they're not, you have them come disconnect the system, take the panels off the roof. Usually they'll just store them on site, like in your garage or in your driveway. The roofing gets done, and then they reinstall on the new roof system. Power does that, and it's pretty inexpensive. It's about $135 per panel for the labor, and that's it.
There aren't any roofing companies that are getting trained or getting, you know, the right personnel to be able to do that completely, like, you know, to do roofing jobs, but that have solar to remove on themselves or should people just get the solar company to do it?
As of right now, if your system is. Is, excuse me, still under warranty, get the solar company to do it.
Okay.
If the roofing company has certification and licensing as a solar installer and you're comfortable with that, then they could do it. But you don't want a roofer doing electrical work if they're not trained in it. You know, just like you wouldn't want your solar installer to do your roof. You know what I mean? Yeah.
Again, you don't want to affect your warranty in any way or give the solar company an excuse to do so. So I'm just. I was just thinking about it. It would be a cool idea. Like if, you know, I own my roofing company, I would probably want to get into that space a little bit deeper because I'm sure people are going to run into that.
So this is so cool. That's a good point. Sorry to interrupt you, but some roofers bringing solar into their, you know, list of services because it makes sense, they'll get certified. They'll bring in a guy or a small team or subcontract to like a single partner the solar with power. A lot of our sales reps, we're all independent, but a lot of them are roofers. And because they're there on roofing jobs and they can sell solar power, gets their installing partners to. To do the roof as well. So you can really marry it together very well.
This is cool. This is a lot of great, great information. You know, I just want to share with our listeners out there. That Kim will be coming down to our real estate and investing events. We do host three events on a monthly basis. If you're in the LA area, we'd love to have you come down, meet, you know, meet in person. She'll be there in March and she'll also, for those that are not local, they're not in the LA area or have business busy schedules and can attend for whatever reason. We do have, you know, two virtual events every month that we host. Kim will be on as well. This way you can interact with us live, you can ask questions and so forth. So to get more information about the schedule, when she'll be there, there's a link in the description below. You can, you know, access all our upcoming events. So check that out. It's our eventbrite page and you'll, you'll be informed of any upcoming events. Kim will be there in March again in Pasadena. I look forward to having you. Kim. Thank you so much, you know, for taking the time and doing this. I learned a tremendous amount of information. Awesome. And you know, I'm sure there's a lot more to go but again, I can't wait to, you know, to, to have you at the Pasadena event and talk a little bit more about that. Could you share a little bit with our listeners of how they can, you know, get in touch with you or you know, to learn more about your services? What is the best way for them to reach out to you?
Email is great. Harnesstheraysmail.com I know you'll put everything in the description, but harness the raise gmail.com if you'd like to go to the website, it's power p o w u r.com forward slash, harness the rays. And anybody, if you want to call or text me, I mean, I'm very open to answering Questions and communication. 818-395-1408 is my cell number. So yeah, I'm reach out. I'm very, very happy to, to answer questions, help anybody out, give a quote, whatever, whatever might be needed.
Yeah, yeah, I highly recommend anybody that's getting exposed to solar, whether you're a realtor, investor, a buyer, seller, reach out to Kim. She's a wealth of knowledge. Again, you've helped me a lot. You've helped my clients and you know, I do truly appreciate that. So I highly recommend reach out to Kim. And thank you so much for taking the time and joining us today. Truly appreciate your insight and your knowledge and you know, you're just, you're amazing. Thank you so much for that.
Thanks for having me, Alex. I appreciate it.
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Absolutely. Thank you all for joining us on the BRRRR Investor Podcast. If you found today's episode helpful, please hit like and subscribe. Subscribe to our channel for more real estate insights. We love hearing from you, so please leave your thoughts, questions or topics you'd like us to cover in the comments section below. Be sure to check out our website, theburinvestor.com and follow us on social media. HeberInvestor. Keep learning and investing and we'll see you in the next episode. I'm your host, Alex Nale. Stay invested.