Cell: 609-468-9324 (609-HOT-YEAH)
Personal Email: Rick.Bagel@gmail.com
LinkedIn Page: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-bagel-98a626239
US Treasury 10 Year Yield - https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/DGS10
CE BofA BBB US Corporate Bond Index Yield - https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/BAMLC0A4CBBBEY
St Louis Fed 30 Year Fixed Rate Mortgage Avg US - https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MORTGAGE30US
B.S., Economics, 2008. Duke University. Durham, NC. Beta Theta Pi. Duke RE Club Founder.
M.B.A., Real Estate, 2011. University of Miami. Coral Gables, FL. GA Scholar.
Nonbank Clearing. Philadelphia, PA. Lending. Present.
Concord Home Mortgage. Chadds Ford, PA. Lending. Present.
Cardinal Financial. Edgewater, NJ. Lending. 2023.
HQ Commercial Capital. Edgewater, NJ. Lending. 2023.
Conventus. San Francisco, CA. Lending. 2022.
Morning Sky Capital. Philadelphia, PA. Acquisitions. 2021.
Leith, Inc. Cary, NC. Sales. 2020.
Wetrock Farm I, LLC. Durham, NC. Land Development. 2013-2019.
Hometown- West Windsor, NJ (Princeton Area).
Old Schools- West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District, K-8. The Peddie School, 9-12. JV Tennis.
Business- Real estate and real estate finance. Housing supply and commercial lease deals. Planning and development. Sales and trading. Algos, benchmarks, and parameters.
Personal- Family. Road trips. Tennis. Cars. Real friends. Capri Sun.
Favorite Music- Early trap music. 90s or 70s rock music.
Favorite Movies- Risky Business. Uncut Gems.
Favorite TV Shows- The Boondocks. Rick & Morty. Euphoria.
Favorite Funny Website (I know from this)- www.jewornotjew.com.
Dear Friends- Herein are tools and musings on loans and financial literacy.
*** This is for informational purposes, it is not legal advice, it is generalized, and I make no warranties for its accuracy. The information on loan programs is not at all comprehensive. No preliminary checklist is a substitute for a loan application process, and there is a wide range of factors that go into credit decisions. ***
For my loan calculator apps to function, check for monthly vs annual figures, and plug in “0” for blank fields.
© Rick Bagel, MBA 2025
The periods are monthly- for a 30 year mortgage, the # of months = 360.
For homes, or rental properties, these payments do not include property taxes, insurance, hoa dues, or other assessments- this is just the principal + interest which is only part of your mortgage payment.
Cars also have insurance payments, but the insurance payments are not part of the car loan, so this principal + interest payment would represent your actual monthly debt payment for a car loan, and then your insurance bill is separate.
Credit cards are open ended, but if you assume a current balance amount, then this payment would represent the amount you need to pay monthly to pay off your card in a given # of months assuming you don’t spend any more on the card.
This is not applicable to a bridge loan, which is a type of balloon loan.
*** This info is for financial literacy purposes only and not connected to any business ***
This calculator is for computing mortgage payments, housing expense ratio, and debt-to-income ratio. For Principal, plug in the amount you are looking to borrow, typically 80-97% of the property’s purchase price. Property taxes vary by municipality- to find the property tax rate check the property listing or go to the city’s website to try to find the property tax rate which will be a % or thousandth (mil) of tax assessed value. Check that the rate includes County, City, and Special Assessment taxes if relevant. For property insurance you would need a quote, but you could plug in 0.6% annually or 0.05% monthly of the loan amount for a ballpark. Condos and townhomes always have HOA dues and they are often quite high. Houses in neighborhoods with amenities typically have HOA dues, and some other houses do as well. The listing, listing agent, or if not listed then the seller, would be the best source for this information. Debt payments outside of residence include car payments, other installment loans, credit card minimum payments, child support, and alimony, to name a few. A more recent uptick in income might help, but go by the lower of the last two years’ income to be conservative. In some cases, with W-2 income and not self-employment, most recent one year of income history will suffice. Gifts do not count as income, only as down payment.
If you don’t yet have the last 12 months (T12) or previous year end financials from the seller or listing agent (or yourself if you are the owner), please get that information. Sometimes people don’t have an income statement on pdf or excel, but they do have a tax return which has the relevant information. Ask if there have been any changes in the tenancy, leases, or expenses since that tax year so you can make appropriate adjustments. Review any existing leases.
To approximate net income from a tax return, take the bottom line net income figure from the first page and add the dollar amounts for “depreciation” and “interest” which should be on a breakdown on the later pages. Check to make sure the tax return does not include other properties.
To use this calculator, you can either input the net income in the gross income field and input $0 for the expense rows, or you can fill out gross income and the 3 expense rows. For a 10 year loan with a 25 year amortization schedule, plug in 300 for “amortization term (# of months)”.
Lenders typically require a debt service coverage ratio (DSCR) of 1.25 or 1.3, meaning the net cash you have coming in after expenses needs to be 1.25x or 1.3x your monthly payment.
For new acquisitions, banks typically lend at 60-70% of purchase price with DSCR of 1.25 or 1.3 or better for commercial properties, and sometimes stretch to 80% of purchase price for residential rentals. For refinances, after a seasoning period (one year after the purchase date), borrowers can sometimes refinance based on appraised value. If you are buying a rental property worth $2mm for a $1mm purchase price, then a lender is only going to lend you $600-700k for the purchase for a commercial property and maybe $800k for a house. You might have a shot at refinancing for a higher amount later. You can’t just borrow the entire purchase price because you are getting a deal, or count seller financing as a down payment.
Lenders might pass on a commercial loan request due to imminent lease expiration (aka “roll”), deferred maintenance, high local market vacancy rate for your product type, or in-place rents that are above market rents. Basically, the key metric for a lender is current cash flow with some cushion to meet the payments, but if there is reason to doubt that cash flow would continue, then a savvy lender would know better than to write the loan at full leverage.
Getting a commercial or residential permanent loan from a bank generally requires good credit, income history, and track record. Private lenders will write loans based on the property income, purchase price, and appraised value, with less stringent borrower-level requirements or even DSCR requirements, albeit at a higher interest rate.
Bridge loans are typically 1-2 year balloon loans, interest only, where the borrower intends to repay the loan by either refinancing (taking out) the bridge loan with a permanent loan, or selling the property and repaying the loan at sale.
The above assumes interest being charged on undrawn amount for any rehab budget. Interest payments are paid monthly by the borrower, often out of pocket if the property is being rehabbed or mid-lease up and there is no tenant in place. If the borrower fails to make interest payments or gets to the end of the loan term and fails to sell or refinance for an amount to repay the bridge loan, then the borrower will be in default, the loan will be accelerated (full balance due immediately), and the property goes into a foreclosure process or workout process where lender takes title.
Lenders underwrite these deals based on borrower’s skin in the game (% of purchase price as down payment), appraised value (as is, and as complete), and borrower’s experience, credit, and assets.
Getting a bridge loan for commercial or residential real estate from a bank generally requires good credit, income history, and track record. Private lenders will write loans based on the property fundamentals and cash down payment from borrower, with less stringent borrower-level requirements, albeit at a higher interest rate.
Whether you are a Fortune 500 company, a homeless man living on the street with 25 cents in your pocket reading this on your busted phone, or anyone in between- every company or individual’s financial situation can be measured by three standard financial statements-
Balance Sheet is a current snapshot, usually year end. Cash Flow and Income Statements are monthly or quarterly lookbacks, and they are consolidated into an annual statement.
Health is wealth, knowledge is wealth, your network is your net worth, and reputation is everything- In addition to finances, your health, habits, education / knowledge, and network need to be taken into account. Working more hours, stress eating, and not making time to exercise might yield better financial results but you are paying with your health. A drug or alcohol habit that you use to cope with the shift may or may not impact your bottom line, but you are paying with your health. Knowledge, skills, things you learn, work experience, education, credentials- these are all valuable things that might not have cash value on a balance sheet but they have value. Similarly, your network is your net worth- your network and the resources embedded in that network might have tremendous potential value, and this wouldn’t be on your balance sheet. Reputation needs to be built over time and it can be lost in an instant. Generally being a good person, not breaking the law, keeping a clean legal record, avoiding any criminal or civil allegation of wrongdoing, maintaining an honest reputation, and having a track record of good work with references is highly valuable and this is not shown on a balance sheet.
Yes and No. Technically yes because the rich win, but no because the rest of us don’t really end up holding the bag. Sale profit on property, businesses, stocks, and other assets held at least one year is treated as a long-term capital gain, which has a lower tax rate than short term capital gain or ordinary income. The lower rate for long term capital gains (i.e. “capital gains” or “LTCG”) contradicts the graduated income tax rates which are progressive (i.e. people who earn more, pay a higher tax rate). Most of the LTCG savings go to the super wealthy, who start a company or build a large real estate portfolio. However, smaller investors, savers, and business owners can sometimes benefit from the lower tax rate as well when they sell. My personal opinion is that capital gains tax is less equitable, but it is better for the US economy and doesn’t really leave anyone worse off. A progressive system where higher earners get taxed at a higher rate is more fair. However, without giving folks a break on long term capital gains tax, some of those folks will not sell homes, properties, businesses, stocks, and other assets because they don’t want to pay the taxes. The result is people living in houses where they don’t want to live, and owning businesses and properties that they don’t want to own and operate, because paying half of the sale proceeds on taxes is a disincentive. It is better socially, and from the perspective of maximizing use value of resources, for people to just sell and move on when the time is right, and for a more interested owner to come in. Taxes might not be collected at all (0%, instead of 20% or 40%) if owners just don’t sell. All other things being equal, if twice as many owners sell at a 20% tax rate vs. a 40% tax rate, then the same amount of tax dollars is collected in both scenarios that year... Having fewer sellers makes markets less liquid and the economy less robust. The break on capital gains tax helps the US maintain its business-friendly reputation amidst international competition for companies and human capital, and its spot as the world’s largest economy by GDP. Sadly, the super wealthy have a lot of leverage in this scenario and we are better off if they live in the US and spend their money and invest here, instead of going somewhere else.
Note- Please consult a CPA for any tax matters. I am not a CPA or an attorney.
See below, the Laffer curve (Source: Wikipedia). There is an optimal tax rate for maximizing tax revenue. When tax rates are lower than an optimal rate, the government is leaving money on the table. When tax rates are higher than optimal, economic agents change their behavior to avoid taxes, and the government is caught overplaying their hand. The Laffer Curve might look familiar from Ben Stein’s boring economics class scene in the movie “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”.
Yes and no. Technically yes because mortgage interest on a primary residence isn’t really a business expense, but no because a landlord gets to write off the interest. It is not crazy to give homeowners the same treatment as landlords even though mortgage interest isn’t really a business expense. The government allows homeowners to deduct mortgage interest on primary residence from their ordinary income tax up to a certain amount. There are many societal benefits for giving this little tax break for homeowners. It helps distribute wealth and capital appreciation across the middle and lower-middle class through homeownership instead of those gains being reserved for people with more cash to invest. The good part about pwnership society is that people care about what they own. I want to live in a world where more people have skin in the game, and a piece of the pie.
Note- Again, please consult a CPA for any tax matters. I am not a CPA or an attorney.
Yes and no. Eyeballing it, I would guess about half of the wealth in this world was derived from smart decisions and hard work, and the other half from theft and fraud. You have the cumulative hard work and planning of employees, business owners, and independents going back a very long time. You also have organized crime, slavery, etc, which makes up the other half of all wealth accumulated in this world. It is not healthy to write off the system as entirely messed up and unlivable, but it is also unhealthy to be one of those people (mostly people born rich or talented) who think the financial system is fair and just. It is not.
Money is a proxy for other things. While acknowledging that the financial system is a little messed up, some of the struggles people attribute to that system are personal and social struggles they would endure anyway if they lived completely outside the financial system. If you lived on an island alone, at a co-op, or even if you individually control a means of production, you will still struggle with not having enough, the work being too hard, and living with the animals.