The average house hunter has a laundry list of features they want in a home, and solar panels are becoming more prominent for many of them. Buying a house with solar panels already installed can be a smart way to take advantage of solar power without dealing with the process of installing panels yourself, but there are some factors to understand before you sign on all those dotted lines.
Potential Financing Scenarios
The main financial factor you’ll encounter is different levels of ownership. The best-case scenario is often finding a home with panels fully owned by the seller. If a solar energy system is fully owned, the current owner has paid the full cost of the panels and ownership will transfer to you upon sale. It is important to know, however, that a fully owned system will raise the total price of the home, sometimes by several thousand dollars or more. Take a look at the following financing scenarios to see how they would affect your home purchase.
- Leased solar panels: As the new owner, you would send monthly payments to the third party that installed the system. Be sure to understand the lease inside and out so you’re not surprised by any fees or liens on the panels.
- Power purchase agreement (PPA): In this setup, the seller, buyer, and developer create a financial agreement which results in the buyer paying for the electricity produced each month.
- Solar loan financing: This arrangement places liability on the homebuyer but also often means that the home’s asking price will pay off much or all of the solar loan.
If you’re concerned about straightforward ownership, you can cross out options other than fully owned panels. However, many potential buyers can find excellent deals if they’re willing to take on a bit more complexity in the ownership process.
Asking the Right Questions
Financing scenarios aren’t the only thing to consider when buying a home with solar panels installed. There are three key factors to understand about your potential new property.
- Get to know the solar company: What’s their reputation? What services do they provide besides installation? What maintenance agreements or warranties will transfer over to you?
- Get to know the energy system: Will the array be enough to supply the amount of power you need?
- Get to know your incentives: These are highly localized, and you should be aware of incentives like net metering, especially when moving between states.
When investigating a potential new home, a quality solar energy company can make all the difference in helping you understand your deal.
Simply Solar Can Help
For solar services throughout California, Simply Solar is here to help. We make it easy to understand things like your energy consumption and provide other services like energy usage audits. If you’re considering buying a home with solar panels already installed, bring your questions to Simply Solar by calling us at (707) 285-7037.
