Is Installing Solar Panels a Help or Hinderance to the Resale of a Home?

Posted by The Place For Real Estate News and Green Tips on January 23, 2012 · Leave a Comment

Well, it is definitely a loaded question….

Does a park across the street help or hinder a sale? If the buyer is going to use it, it can be great. If they aren’t, it isn’t. What is the value of the park?

There are a lot of things to consider before going solar. Is your house energy efficient as is? If you don’t have proper insulation and duct work, you would do far better to insulate and repair those in order to get the most for your money. But if your basics are covered, you can then start to consider solar.

There are many things that solar energy can be used for (pools, water heating, etc), but for the sake of this article, we will focus on full house energy.

Generally speaking and in this time of “green/eco” hype, most people would see a solar upgrade as a positive. However, how you implement it makes a big difference.

If you are interested in using solar because you want to and believe in it, then it is a good choice. But if you are thinking about installing solar as a money-making investment, I would suggest skipping it. You will be paying big money for the panels, and even with the rebates, it will take many years to get your money back. A purchase doesn’t make sense unless you have a large family and use a lot of energy. However, the energy in use with solar is renewable and clean, so you can feel good about it even if you are not saving $200 a month.

Personally, I didn’t spend enough on electricity to make it worth while to buy panels according to three solar companies. But that did not prevent me from going solar. I am leasing my solar system from Solar City.

I had a couple choices that I feel were very attractive (results depend on the system you need). I can pay $1000 upfront and then pay Solar City $40/month ($60 less then my usual bill of $100). Or I can pay $2000 upfront and pay Solar City $20 /month for 20 years of the lease (so $80 less then my usual bill). In the end I chose to pay $3200 upfront and pay no monthly fee for the duration of the 20-year lease. With my current bill of $100/month, this will pay for itself in almost 3 years.

This means that when I go to sell my house in 10 years, I can offer my buyer almost free energy for 10 years with the ability to renew two more times for five years after that. And if the owner declines, Solar City will remove the panel and fix any roof damage at their own expense. Plus throughout the lease, Solar City does the upkeep if something goes wrong that is not my fault. So easy!

I don’t see how any buyer would say no to that deal. I believe having almost no energy bills will be an aid to selling my home. And will allow the buyer to have one less bill to worry about when qualifying for a loan.

There are some reports that say that adding solar to a house can increase the home’s value by $5000. So this is not to pay back for an entire solar system. However, you will appeal to more buyers and offer them value. That can’t hurt.

As you can see the answer to my original question really depends on the person putting in the system, what sort of system they are looking for and what the desired intention of using solar is. The best use of money it to insulate, and make sure your HVAC system are in proper working order. But with solar leases, times are changing. There are also tons of rebates and energy efficient loans out there to help you with this process.

The House Agents