Today we’d like to introduce you to R. Bentley Marlow
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Bentley Marlow began his career in 2004 with the purchase of a foreclosed home in the Mechanicsville neighborhood of Knoxville. This home, in which he still lives, became his proving ground as he pulled permits and passed inspections fixing it up.
Bentley, concerned with the high concentration of blighted and abandoned houses in the neighborhood, wrote many letters to the city seeking assistance. Ultimately in 2007, Bentley decided to take matters into his own hands. As some of Bentley’s neighbors in Mechanicsville were facing foreclosure, Bentley interceded, negotiating with the homeowners for the purchase of their homes, while working with the banking institutions to get the banks to agree to accept his offer, (which was less than what the homeowners owed the banks), as payment in full for the homeowners’ mortgage. Bentley’s novel solution accomplished two very worthy goals: 1) This solution prevented the banks from pursuing the families, forcing them into bankruptcy and destroying their credit, and; 2) It allowed Bentley, with limited funds at the time, to invest his sweat-equity to reclaim each home for future use.
Further, in purchasing one of these homes, Bentley attracted investors in May 2007, he did the remodel work himself over the summer of 2007 with the deal subsequently realizing a handsome profit after only 109 days of ownership. Although this effort proved successful in multiple ways, unfortunately, the business partnership did not prove long lasting.
Undeterred, Bentley worked with family and friends to bootstrap a small loan. In July 2008, Bentley and his father purchased another condemned home; with Bentley working sporadically on the home as time and funds were available. Unable to obtain further financing on the condemned home, Bentley began selling blood plasma to buy lumber. Bentley literally invested his blood, sweat and tears into the effort while struggling significantly with limited funds to dedicate to the success of reclaiming this property!
While still struggling with the reclamation of this condemned home, Bentley pursued another opportunity as another vacant home was in foreclosure down the street. He was able to work a deal with his best friend’s father for financing for this additional home in the fall of 2009. Like the first home purchased in 2007, this acquisition succeeded in keeping the homeowner out of foreclosure and also succeeded in making the home available for reclamation and reuse, when it very well could have been demolished. Bentley performed basic rehab maintenance and began leasing the property in April 2010. The investor was pleased with the results and extended additional credit to Bentley, who in October 2010, purchased a bank-owned property, performed basic rehab maintenance, and began leasing this property in March 2011.
April 2011 brought numerous hailstorms to the Knoxville area. Bentley’s two rentals suffered extensive damage and received a large insurance payout for the damage to the roof and siding. Realizing the opportunity, Bentley began roofing storm-damaged homes for friends and neighbors. Having saved a significant amount of money from the roofing endeavors, in February 2012, Bentley embarked to fully gut the first rental unit with these available funds. Working largely alone, Bentley took one year to fully gut, rewire, re-plumb, level floors, change the layout; remove all old siding; insulate and reside, add new windows, and doors— creating a brand-new house with old bones. Bentley’s hard work and determination paid off as he leased the property in April 2013 to two female vet students for $1000/month. Previously the rent had been $600 and dependable tenants were difficult to attract.
This success affirmed Bentley’s business model, and he returned to work on the condemned house purchased in 2008 which he had largely set aside until this time. His timing was fortunate because the City of Knoxville was simultaneously demanding that the condemned house be either demolished or repaired in a timely manner. Bentley’s best friend, the son of the primary investor, believed in Bentley’s vision and loaned him $10,000 which was enough funding to get the electricity and water turned on at the house. Once the utilities were reconnected, the primary investor agreed to finance the completion of the project. This project was completed in June 2014 and was leased before it was finished to a couple of graduate students for $1150/month.
To celebrate the reclamation of this condemned home, Bentley threw a celebration party in the home before the new tenants took possession. A college friend of Bentleys who had made it big in a Silicon Valley startup, attended the celebration and was impressed with Bentley’s efforts. This connection would prove critical in just a years’ time!
Meanwhile, prior to ultimate success being achieved, there was one more setback to suffer. Impressed with how this just completed project turned out, the original investor agreed to provide funds for one additional acquisition and remodel, but he notified Bentley this was likely his last investment as he feared any future investments would not be repaid in his lifetime and he did not want to burden his survivors with unfinished business arrangements. Bentley purchased a house down the street with those funds—one that proved to be a learning experience as virtually everything that could go wrong—went wrong. Nonetheless, Bentley persisted and eventually—behind schedule and over budget—completed this property in December 2015.
Back to the celebration party in June 2014, where Bentley had reconnected with a college friend. This introduction initiated a series of conversations throughout the remainder of 2014 that culminated in a half-million-dollar line of credit. This provided capital empowered Bentley to scale up his operation and expand into a portfolio of properties-acquiring 8 additional homes, bringing his total to 12: with several of them in modest rent-ready condition. That initial line of credit was doubled by the end of 2015 and by 2016 Bentley had found his stride and had developed a dependable labor force. He scrapped the business model used in prior years—namely hiring himself and his crew out part-time to generate capital to self-fund his own endeavors—as he determined that was too costly in terms of both time and lost wealth generation. Largely thanks in large part to a tax sale Bentley orchestrated with the Knox County Tax Office, Bentley’s empire expanded by 10 units, and 6 lots for future expansion.
By the end of 2016 the line of credit with his college friend was doubled yet again–this time to $2,000,000! With capital plentiful and multiple ongoing projects acquired, Bentley developed a large labor force averaging 18-20 full-time workers. As evidenced by his initial letters to the city in the 2004 to 2007 timeframe, Bentley has from the beginning been very socially conscious. As such, many workers in the crew that he employed were from the local homeless or formerly homeless population, for whom he also provided housing, and trade skill development. It was out of this initiative that Marlow Charities, Inc, a 501c3 nonprofit organization was started in April 2016 and remains active to this day.
Between 2017 and 2020 Bentley and his motley crew averaged six full gut renovations per year. Bentley continued to scout good deals on houses throughout the neighborhood but very few opportunities remained. At an 2019 auction, he was outbid on a house, however the winning bidder would later reach out and seek consulting services from Bentley. Through this relationship, the new investor would ultimately trust Bentley’s advice and acquire the neighboring 4 houses and several vacant lots nearby. This then turned into Bentley becoming the contractor to complete this expanded project of five remodels and extensive site work to develop a cottage courtyard-style development! In addition to gaining a dear friend, Bentley also benefited from the mentoring and extensive professional contacts this relationship afforded, as the gentleman had built up and recently sold a national electrical contracting firm.
The Covid-19 crisis in 2020 affected Bentley significantly. Fortunately, he had the forethought to pre-order a year’s worth of lumber and sheet goods at the early onset of the pandemic. This insulated his projects from the material price spikes that occurred in 2021. He also began redeveloping a large, multistory, older house—his first commercial project. This project required the addition of new skills and licensures as well as new construction materials and techniques. Despite these challenges, Bentley was able to keep his crew together and healthy for all of 2020.
As the pandemic lingered into 2021, shut-in homeowners wanted minor renovations and outdoor amenities. Meanwhile, many of the skilled workers Bentley had trained left for other opportunities, mostly working for themselves. This reduction in his labor force, coupled with labor scarcity, forced Bentley to slow down his rate of production. Initially fearful this reduced pace would negatively impact the business, in time it became evident the rapid increase in housing prices and the corresponding high demand for rental housing would balance the equation. Another consideration, as with many Americans, a lasting positive effect of the Covid-19 crisis was that it forced Bentley to reevaluate his life/work balance. For the first time since going full bore in 2015, Bentley was able to enjoy weekends away from jobsites!
Also, during the Covid-19 crisis Bentley’s college friend who had become the primary investor (over $2,000,000) like most of the world, became wary of the economy and was pressuring Bentley to sell and/or convert his debt into equity. As a result, Bentley sold three of his completed houses—then setting the highest comps for the neighborhood and providing him much-needed cash to keep his projects running.
As those funds began to dwindle, and Bentley’s longtime investors were still wary of the economic outlook Bentley begin exploring additional sources of capital. This is perhaps the other positive, and perhaps the most significant, change to the business. Beginning in the fall of 2021 Bentley began negotiating with multiple private equity firms to consolidate and refinance his entire housing portfolio. It culminated in a thirty-year fixed rate refinance that closed in January 2022. Now Bentley paid off all investors putting Bentley firmly in control of his company whilst also providing ample seed money to robustly begin construction of new housing on vacant lots. Bentley has since completed five new build homes.
For so many years, Bentley’s focus on success was such that he worked 365 days a year without break. Humanity seems to expect individuals so driven toward succeed to not have time or compassion for the rest of humanity. However, professional and business success has not caused Bentley to lose his deeply held conviction to help others. Through Marlow Charities, Inc, which Bentley created, he dedicates 10% of his rentals to affordable housing, which helps alleviate the rental increases his development is partially responsible for.
Bentley found other ways to help his community too. Last fall an elderly neighbor and friend came to him seeking help. She, as with so many elderly Americans on fixed retirement incomes, wished to remain in her home, but with inflation and escalating costs of living contributed to by ever increasing medical bills, she simply could not make ends meet. After helping her pursue and then exhausting several options to obtain aid funding, Bentley structured and funded a reverse mortgage, thereby providing her the funds she needs whilst permitting her to remain in her home for years to come. Further, earlier this year he came to the aid of another neighbor who had lost her job due to severe medical issues to take over her mortgage thereby preventing her foreclosure and allowing her to remain in her home. Bentley also significantly contributed to relief efforts in the immediate aftermath of the severe flooding in Western North Carolina, and East Tennessee, which will be discussed in more detail later in this article.
Where does he go from here? Bentley is enthusiastically looking toward the future. His experience and his success have demonstrated that it is possible, with ardent determination, to realize the revitalization of an important, historic, rundown, crime-affected neighborhood such that it is transformed into quality, affordable inner-city homes available for let for decades to come. Mechanicsville, like all older neighborhoods that predated automobiles, is built around a human scaled and pedestrian friendly design and often features multiple units within the same building (granny flats, or carriage houses with apartments, or even a small apartment within a larger house). This development pattern was regulated out of existence in the post WWII era that valued suburban development designed around automobile travel. This style is known as Missing Middle Housing, which is named because it occupies the middle of the housing development pattern—more intense than single family homes yet not as dense as large apartment complexes—and has become absent from zoning codes since the 1940 prohibited it. Middle Housing is making a come back as it’s far more cost effective to build; can blend into neighborhood aesthetics, makes use of existing infrastructure, all while seamlessly increasing housing options. For years Bentley has been operating within this housing type as it prominently exists in Mechanicsville. The knowledge of this success has transformed Bentley into an enthusiastically zealous advocate for Missing Middle Housing in Knoxville, and as a result last fall he led the cause for an overhaul of the Knoxville zoning code.
Since the enactment of the Middle Housing Zoning Ordinance in February 2024, Bentley has been designing and moving forward with a robust plan to convert three historic single-family homes into duplexes; replace two structurally defective homes with new duplexes; and to construct six additional duplexes on vacant lots or in the rear yards of existing houses on Callaway Street. Those projects are currently in various stages of review by the City of Knoxville. Bentley expects to break ground in early 2025 and bring an additional 23 new dwelling units online by the end of next year, 2025! Bentley remains undeterred in his mission to bring affordable housing stock to the people of Knoxville.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
As mentioned above, the primary challenges have been – lack of knowledge/experience getting started; knowledge increased faster than access to capital; the lack of capital was a huge obstacle for many years; eventually when capital became abundant, and the business grew the Covid-19 crisis upended the entire financial system.
Again undeterred, Bentley found new capital markets; was able to capitalize upon the historically low interest rates; and refinanced the entire multi-million-dollar portfolio at a fixed rate 30-year term, thereby ensuring adequate cashflow and lines of credit to continue to grow the business. Most recently the lack of skilled labor has forced Bentley to become more comfortable with and reliant upon outsourcing labor rather than having in-house crews. While more expensive, it allows for faster production and is forcing Bentley to grow even more and become comfortable with larger and more exciting projects.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Bentley is the founder and owner of Marlow Builders, Inc. a licensed general, electrical, plumbing, and HVAC contractor. He has over twenty-five years of experience in residential construction. Over the past two decades he has primarily restored dilapidated historic homes however he has transitioned to building new homes that look historic on vacant lots throughout the neighborhood.
With Bentley’s other company—Marlow Properties, LLC—he manages a portfolio of over 30 rental homes in the historic Mechanicsville neighborhood near downtown Knoxville, Tennessee. Finally, Bentley is the founder and executive director of Marlow Charites, Inc., a 501c3 nonprofit that focuses on affordable housing and trade skill development within the homeless and indigent communities.
Bentley is a zealous advocate for Missing Middle Housing—working successfully to implement zoning changes in Knoxville. Currently, he is in the permitting phase of a project on Callaway Street that seeks to transform five historic single-family homes into duplexes while adding five additional duplexes to the rear of those lots utilizing the alley; building yet another duplex on a vacant lot, and restoring an existing house—thereby adding much needed housing units.
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
Bentley is an Eagle Scout (Troop 374) and holds a JD from the Cumberland School of Law, Birmingham, Alabama (May 2009), an MA in social & political philosophy from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (May 2010), during which he was awarded a fellowship to attend the 2005 Trans-Atlantic Summer Academy at the University of Bonn, Germany, an elite program focused on international relations, law, and foreign policy in a post-September 11th world. Bentley also holds a BA in philosophy from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (Dec. 2001). After college, Bentley taught conversational English for over a year in Cheongju, South Korea. He passed the Tennessee Bar in 2010. During the Covid-19 crisis Bentley took flying lessons and became a private pilot in June 2023. He owns N170KM—a 1949 Cessna 170A—which he has flown to Alaska as well as landing at Cessna Airfield on 19 October 2024—exactly 75 years to the day—of N170KM’s first flight. Finally, after the devastation in the mountains of East Tennessee and Western North Carolina Bentley stepped up and volunteered with Operation Airdrop flying his plane on 13 missions filled with a total of nearly 3,000 pounds of donated supplies to remote airfields in these affected areas.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.marlowpropertiesllc.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rbentleymarlow/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/robertbentleymarlow
- Other: https://www.knoxtntoday.com/fighting-for-and-sometimes-with-mechanicsville-bentley-marlow-builds/
Image Credits
R. Bentley Marlow & Carol Krispin
