Buying a house with a solar lease

[kiki]

– I am trying to create a poll but keep getting error message-

When buying a house with a solar lease:

a) Have bought or would buy a house and take over the lease

b) Have bought or would buy only if seller buy out the lease before.

c) Have bought or would buy and buy out the lease

d) Have or would pass on a house if the seller doesn’t want to buy out the lease.

[Rich Toscano]

Hi Kiki — Sorry you couldn’t create a poll. I don’t know what the issue is; I tried creating one and it worked ok for me. Do you remember the error message? BTW: I added you to the spam filter whitelist, which you weren’t on before… if that was blocking you somehow, it should not be an issue for you any more. Still, I’d be curious to hear the error message you encountered, if you remember it. Feel free to private message me. Thanks.

Rich

[Rich Toscano]

BTW my answer is A, I’d be fine to take over a lease assuming the terms were reasonable.

[an]

D. I wouldnt pay very much premium for a leased solar. I would only pay premium for solar if solar was purchased and not lease.

[kiki]

Thanks Rich,
I just sent you a message with the steps i took and error i encounter.

I just tried again and did not get any message or the option to write the verification code. Maybe when you added me to the spam filter, it helped. Thank you.

[kiki]

How would you assess if it is reasonable? If you did not live in the house BEFORE the panels where install , how do you know how much are you savings.

There is a house i really like but it has a solar lease on it. The NPV of what i have to pay for lease the remaining period is around $30K and i still need to buy out or renew after period expired. I read buying could be $15K-$25K before rebates and incentives. if i have the money to purchase, it doesn’t make sense to take the lease.

I only know one person that did not know the house she was going to buy had a lease until after her offer was accepted . She told buyer to buy out the lease to proceed with the purchase. Online, i read similar stories.

So, i am curious if this is the norm, or there are people (you seem to be one) that would take the lease and how would they assess it to be reasonable.

[svelte]

It really depends. I wouldn’t say absolutely no to a house with a solar lease, but it would definitely be something I looked into very very carefully before I agreed to it.

Also…do you know about the HERO program in San Diego county? You can buy – not lease – solar from any approved company and have the payments added to your tax bill. That avoids problems when selling the house later on…the tax bill goes with the house.

[Rich Toscano]

I basically just meant if the cost per kWh is reasonable, you are probably fine. You didn’t need to live in the place beforehand to determine this — some leases charge by the kWh, but for other ones, you can just ask for data on how much the system generates per year, and how much the lease costs, both of which should be easy for the owners to document. Then you can just compare that cost/kWh number to (for example) what you pay for your own electricity at your house, and if it’s similar, that’s “reasonable.”

[phaster]

have had this though that has been bugging me for years, sure installing “solar” panels made in china is a benefit to the “local” economy because installation requires local “labor” and panels can be a hedge against long term electrical generation costs (as well preventing CO2 being released into the atmosphere – since buildings energy consumption account for over 50% of CO2 generated when I look at the problem years ago)

but to really make a difference solar panels on the home should be coupled with micro car companies to make and service EVs

basically what I wish they produced here is a basic yet “sexy” NEV (neighborhood electric vehicle) with something like a 70HP AC motor that would be reasonably “spirited” and have a 100 mile range (and be in 20k price range)

http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/buying-maintenance/news/a4227/aftermarket-westfield-lotus-seven-replica-kit-car/

that would be powered by rooftop solar

[kiki]

I heard about the program not sure if it would apply if i decide to buy out the lease. I am guessing not as the investment for energy efficient has already been made :-(. I will still look more into it.

[svelte]

[quote=kiki]I heard about the program not sure if it would apply if i decide to buy out the lease. I am guessing not as the investment for energy efficient has already been made :-(. I will still look more into it.[/quote]

Unclear who you are responding to, but if it was me then yes the HERO program is only for new solar installations.

It was unclear from your original post whether you were considering purchasing a home that had an existing solar lease, or whether you were considering leasing solar to install on your current home (and were worried about the sale repercussions down the road).

[kiki]

Yes it was to you svelte.
Sorry for the confusion. My situation is I like to put an offer on a house that already has a solar lease. I was debating whether to still put the offer or not considering the seller does not want to buy it out.
If i do end up buying, i still want to considering buying the lease out.

If i buy a house with no solar, I would buy 100% over leasing but since this house already has a lease, my dilemma was what to do? or how to assess if it is a good deal.

Unfortunately i live in a townhouse so i cannot even compare my current bill because the house i want is double the sqft and has a pool.

[kiki]

Separate question: How do i put the text/comment that i am replying to at the beginning of my reply? I hit REPLY to a comment but still doesn’t show. Sorry, i am long time lurker, and rarely posting (maybe 6 years ago was the last time)

[ocrenter]

[quote=kiki]Yes it was to you svelte.
Sorry for the confusion. My situation is I like to put an offer on a house that already has a solar lease. I was debating whether to still put the offer or not considering the seller does not want to buy it out.
If i do end up buying, i still want to considering buying the lease out.

If i buy a house with no solar, I would buy 100% over leasing but since this house already has a lease, my dilemma was what to do? or how to assess if it is a good deal.

Unfortunately i live in a townhouse so i cannot even compare my current bill because the house i want is double the sqft and has a pool.[/quote]

More specifics are needed. How big is the system? What is the lease term? How much is the buy out option? How much longer is the lease?

Solar prices are dropping extremely fast. Which means the terms for some of the leased systems installed early on may not be that great especially compared to brand new system you can purchase out right now.

[Rich Toscano]

[quote=kiki]Separate question: How do i put the text/comment that i am replying to at the beginning of my reply? I hit REPLY to a comment but still doesn’t show. Sorry, i am long time lurker, and rarely posting (maybe 6 years ago was the last time)[/quote]

Hit “quote” instead of “reply”. 🙂

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