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capttony84 t1_j5uk28c wrote

would you be owning the array and $90 covers the debt? If so the house is difficult to sell for 20 years

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Linenoise77 t1_j5uo456 wrote

When we bought about 10 years ago, we looked at a house that had solar. The system was maybe 5 years old at the time, and the owner wouldn't disclose the utility numbers to let us decide if it was something that was worth having (which means it wasn't).

We put an offer in contingent on them removing the system and a roof inspection, OR giving a concession for 10k, and another 10k in escrow for 5 years in case we needed to replace the roof.

Surprisingly they told us no. That house sat on the market for about 6 months, when everything was flying off the shelves at the time.

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capttony84 t1_j5upu7e wrote

yeah these are the issues to which I'm referring. I looked into it with one solar group and they wanted to do a 20 year loan on it collateralized by the array. In this scenario it would have negated our electric bill but the debt service was only maybe 20 or $30 less so that's not much of a savings. The sale of the TREC's was something but it was still probably less than $100 a month in savings/TREC revenue and a big headache.

Then when I want to sell the house I'd be stuck trying to get the buyer to take over the debt and if they didn't I'd have to remove the array and eat whatever was left on the loan.

Jersey is the second best solar market in the country after DC I don't know why these guys are making it so difficult. On some of my bigger commercial properties I have solar groups renting the roof and giving me the power in exchange for them keeping the TREC's. Not sure why this isn't more common on houses.

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Linenoise77 t1_j5uqkb3 wrote

Here is the thing. What do you plan on doing with the house 5 years, 10, years, etc from now.

Is 1k a year in POTENTIAL savings, worth you having a nightmare selling the house, and either having to just eat the cost out of pocket to pay it off and remove it, or drop the price to the point where a buyer will look the other way.

Like i said, it didn't deter us from putting an offer in on a house we otherwise liked, but i wasn't about to assume someone else's decision without some backing, and the fact that they weren't happily going, "Hey here is a check we get from PSE&G every month!" was enough for us.

And this isn't to shit on solar, like i said, we have looked into it. But the way to go isn't through these companies, and requires you to get out your checkbook.

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capttony84 t1_j5usaqa wrote

No I agree the only two scenarios that make any sense is a roof lease or to buy it outright. Encumbering the house with the debt is silly for what it is. Not to mention pissing off your lender.

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Linenoise77 t1_j5uvnho wrote

And while i feel NJ is somewhat insulated, if you are buying now, or recently bought, its not crazy to think housing prices can pull back pretty quickly, and suddenly any equity you have that you were planning on using to deal with the solar stuff if it comes up, is no longer there when you wake up one morning.

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