Solar lease question

[Big B Hova]

Buying a house that has a solar lease. Sellers agent told solar had 4-5 years left on lease and didn't know payment info.

Spoke with sellers, said payment is $170 a month and lease has 14 years left.

Finally got copy of lease and the average price per month is $172. Actual payment goes up by $4 a month and maxes at $204 a month.

Solar system produces 4.58kw-dc ( 14 panels)

Lease says .27 cents kwh

According to my math there is about 28k left to pay on the lease. And apparently after lease You still gotta buy it out or release it.

Big difference from.what we were told when we offered on the house.


Should we ask seller to pay the lease off? We do really want the house. But this solar lease doesn't look like a good investment.

Thoughts?

 

[azsunfun]

sounds to me somebody got taken, why would you lease panels to reduce electric bills , when in reality only helping power company with the required green power output back to grid, its very rare solor companys build the system to actually put enough out to be free power to you. you have zero battery storarage, with needed switch gear and generator, every 10th inch of dirt reduces output, they are not maintainance free, guess its a feel good thing. no advice to anyone on how you spend your money.

 

[Andy B.]

Walk away if you were misled about the solar what else is wrong they're not telling you.

 

[Tpltrbl303]

Make the seller buy out the lease as part of the deal. Based on the numbers that lease is a bad deal that you want no part of.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[boatpi]

Really bad deal. On top of that you get no Federal Tax Credit.

 

[Christopher Lucero]

Should we ask seller to pay the lease off?

yes. if you don't think its a good investment, you should tell them. now: what will you do if they stand fast?

AND this:

Sellers agent told solar had 4-5 years left on lease and didn't know payment info.

Spoke with sellers, said payment is $170 a month and lease has 14 years left.

is not a good sign at all

 

[Big B Hova]

yes. if you don't think its a good investment, you should tell them. now: what will you do if they stand fast?

We still want the house.... just not 28k of additional solar debt

 

[WildWilly]

unfortunately in todays market a buyer doesn't have much leverage. Unless maybe a new purchase is contingent on this sale, or some other need to get this closed quick, They could cancel your contract and have it back under contract in no time. Sucks for sure

 

[Christopher Lucero]

We still want the house.... just not 28k of additional solar debt

I think you should tell them, plain and simple..."It is not a good investment", (and they can) "pay it off as part of the terms of escrow."

(or default on their contract and have the lease company come reposess it, and restore roof and other misc removal effects, subject to your inspection, BEFORE closing, as terms of escrow.)

I cannot gauge your 'want', and you would be foolish to have some stranger on the internet guide your true desires...it is just what I would do...good luck and best regards

 

[Big B Hova]

Thanks for everyone's input. I'll talk to my agent and work something up

 

[port austin pirate]

we did solar about 4 years ago about 28 panels cost around 32 k and gov tax rebate was 30%, sounds like they got hosed on lease, dont recall details but we thought lease was poor deal at time.

 

[DaveC]

I just went through this exact thing. I am not sure why people lease when they can buy.

The numbers are so bad. I mean really bad under the lease. The escalation is the killer. I mean the system has value because electricity costs money but the lease cost is twice what it should be over buying new. People should just get a loan and buy the damn thing and get the rebate.

Read the contract and look at the options. my solar city lease said we could buy out, prepay in full or have seller assume and move to another house. Mine was in year 6 of 20.

The buy out and prepay were significantly discounted. The prepay was the cheapest by far. Both were still too expensive than buying new. No way I was making all installments because that was twice as expensive as the other options. And it was still cheaper to buy new. Their FMV to buy out was a joke. (Buyout $32k with FMV is $15k)

Here are my lease numbers on a 10kw system. Total lease payments for 14 years = $44k. Buyout = $32k. Prepay lease = $22k. Estimated FMV at year 6 = $12-15k. Brand new system after rebate = $20-23k for 10k. I would buy 7.5k system instead for less.

Anyway look at the actual value and the cost of electrical service and the savings and do some math. Maybe ask them to buy it out.

First I asked them to move it. They said No. Then I asked them to buy out the lease for me. They said no. So I gave them a higher offer to win the house and during inspection asked them to give me a credit of $10k which makes the prepayment of $22k make more sense. Then I prepaid the lease. (So I paid $12)

It still sucks for me but I got better value. My problem is this was on a vacation home and I don’t need it. .(I am there say 6-8 days a month) If it was on my primary we would use it daily and get more value. YMMV

If you are gonna live there try to figure out monthly electrical service payments without the system. It will help you figure out the value of the system. It will have more value if this is your primary residence

good luck

 

[Boat 405]

28k for a 4.58 KW system???? Someone got fucked. Not to mention it's a lease and you get no tax credit. Which today is 26% of the cost of the system.

a 4.58 Kw system should be installed price of $2.5 to $3.00 per watt. So, $11,500 to $14,000 plus you would receive the 26% tax credit knocking down the price to around $10,000.

How in the world someone is on the hook for $28k for the remainder of a lease and then still has to buy it out. I have no idea who signs up for shit like that. At least it gives you an insight as to why some many people are pushing solar so hard, because they are absolutely fucking the customers.

 

[TCHB]

We just installed a new solar system by Sol Up in Henderson, 22 panels. It is designed to produce 12,000 KWhs. $19500 and a federal rebate of $5,000. Out of pocket $14,500. My last 3 Ebills were under $13..

 

[Big B Hova]

Yea it sounds like these owners signed on the dotted line with out doing any math.

 

[Boat 405]

Yea it sounds like these owners signed on the dotted line with out doing any math.

Ewf.... Well I hope it works out so you don't get stuck with the bill and you get the house.

 

[azsunfun]

We just installed a new solar system by Sol Up in Henderson, 22 panels. It is designed to produce 12,000 KWhs. $19500 and a federal rebate of $5,000. Out of pocket $14,500. My last 3 Ebills were under $13..

now $14535

 

[Big B Hova]

Stupid sunpower won't give me a buy out quote on the phone. Want me to fill out forms and they will get back to me 4-5 business days

 

[ONE-A-DAY]

Tough deal, if you want the house bad enough you are going to have to take over the lease. When the lease is up you can tell them to get all there stuff. We have it, I cant complain, lease came with the house. We pay $200 a month for the lease and then our electric bills are the minimum billed about basically to be hooked up at $23.
We run three central AC systems, and 4 mini splits, house stays at 75 all day, and we drop our bedroom to 70 at night, 4100 square foot house, RV and two car garage are kept at 80 degrees, and we have never gone over the $23 minimum.

I am OK with that, $223 total works for me being the voltage ho's that we are.

 

[Springfield]

Once you make an offer on a home with leased solar, get a copy of lease prior to full acceptance, (subject to acceptance.) Do your calls and research to satisfy yourself as it is a deal killer for some buyers and you dont want to jeopardize your earnest money deposit. There are some nasty leases out there.

Sounds like you are on the right track.

 

[Bigbore500r]

Yea it sounds like these owners signed on the dotted line while doing all the meth.

Fixed it for you

 

[STV_Keith]

The leases must be done way different over there. Our house came with a Solar City / Tesla leased system on it. It's an 8.6KWh setup. The monthly payment is based on what the panels produce. Sunny month, around $175. Not-so-sunny month, I've seen it as low as $75ish in December. The price per KWh is what's in the contract. It was $0.1111/KWh when we picked it up and has a max increase of 2% per year. The idea was the solar increases would be less than the power company, so you'd pay less than by buying it from NV Energy. I think I'm actually paying a little more than the NVE rate now, but I sell my overage to them and "bank it" for use later in the year *usually this time of year when the AC's are kicking hard). The lease does guarantee that the output must maintain 90% of the original output or they have to fix/replace the panels. They are also responsible for the roof under the panels.

 

[RVRKID]

The leases must be done way different over there. Our house came with a Solar City / Tesla leased system on it. It's an 8.6KWh setup. The monthly payment is based on what the panels produce. Sunny month, around $175. Not-so-sunny month, I've seen it as low as $75ish in December. The price per KWh is what's in the contract. It was $0.1111/KWh when we picked it up and has a max increase of 2% per year. The idea was the solar increases would be less than the power company, so you'd pay less than by buying it from NV Energy. I think I'm actually paying a little more than the NVE rate now, but I sell my overage to them and "bank it" for use later in the year *usually this time of year when the AC's are kicking hard). The lease does guarantee that the output must maintain 90% of the original output or they have to fix/replace the panels. They are also responsible for the roof under the panels.

That's pretty much my lease in CA. I love having my house at 69 when I sleep and 72-74 by the time I get home from work.

 

[Big B Hova]

My agent reached out to their agent. Waiting on results. We asked for a credit for solar lease. We will see what they come back with