Leased solar panels can complicate — or kill — a home sale

[sloeffle]

This was in our local paper over the weekend. Something to think about for folks who are thinking about leasing solar panels.

http://www.latimes.com/business/realestate/la-fi-harney-20150322-story.html

Scott

 

[peakbagger]

Same issues as leasing cars, the nice salesman who convinced them into signing the lease is long gone when this comes up. On one of the solar forums I participate in someone bought a house at foreclosure from a bank and found out that the lease was structured that even though the house was foreclosed on, the new owner had to buy out the lease.

With the solar tax credits over at the end of 2106 I expect a marketing push to get folks to lease systems before the rebate runs out. Of course once the fed rebate runs out I expect that price for solar to drop like it usually does when tax credits go away. And then 90% of the installation companies will go away leaving folks stuck with warrantees that no one will honor.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Interesting.. I hadn't thought of prices dropping when the rebates run out. It would make sense though.

On the other hand, if the prices go down, there will be less of a worry about warranties. If a system is 50% cheaper I would expect a shorter warranty period. Repairs will cost less also.

 

[iamlucky13]

Interesting.. I hadn't thought of prices dropping when the rebates run out. It would make sense though.

Most of the price drop will likely be on the installer end. The panels have gotten so cheap there's not much room to cut more cost out of them, and the Chinese dumping already has pushed other producers to cost-reduce their production basically as far as they can. Inverters might have a little more price flexibility. I'm not sure. So labor, overhead, and installer profit will be where the slack has to come from for installers to try to keep their volume up.

My point is, don't expect the 30% subsidy going away to cause a 30% drop in list price to make up for it.

I'd hazard a guess there could be as a 10% drop in price, which of course, leaves a big difference for buyers to make up.

Actually, looking up the details, I see now that in 2016, it drops to 10%. I think it would have been better had legislatures phased it out more gradually, dropping to 20% in 2015, and then to 10%, and then after 2-3 more years, to 0%. The