School me on solar

[cliffish]

Kind of the inverse of this thread...Anyone here remove a solar panel system off their house. We are selling my FIL house and the two offers we have both stipulate removal of the system. The lease has 9 years to go, his electric/lease panel payment is cheap like $125/mo...way cheaper than if he had no solar. I am not sure why they don't want it. The solar company wants $18K to terminate the lease, then I have to find someone to legally remove them $$???? Then I have to worry about the liability of an older roof after the company walks all over it.

 

[Apparition]

Kind of the inverse of this thread...Anyone here remove a solar panel system off their house. We are selling my FIL house and the two offers we have both stipulate removal of the system. The lease has 9 years to go, his electric/lease panel payment is cheap like $125/mo...way cheaper than if he had no solar. I am not sure why they don't want it. The solar company wants $18K to terminate the lease, then I have to find someone to legally remove them $$???? Then I have to worry about the liability of an older roof after the company walks all over it.

I think I'd wait for an offer that didn't want to spend unnecessary money, if possible.

 

[macleanflood]

I'd remove the panels myself and reinstall them wherever you're moving to and keep paying the lease.

And I'd never lease panels again.

You're probably going to end up putting a new roof on the building... really depends on the extent of the installation and how many brackets...how old the roof is and if replacement shingles are available.

-Mac

 

[cliffish]

FIL is going to assisted living in FL and needs the income interest from the house to pay the monthly (house is in a trust)..The roof is pushing 30 years old. We might try offering a $20K rebate to the buyers to keep it. Their offer was $835,000 with only a 20% mortgage and the rest is in cash. This offer was $35K over asking so they might go for it.

 

[macleanflood]

Is the lease even transferable?

I'd offer them $13,500 - that's 9 x 12 x 125.

Free power for nine years.

-Mac

 

[cliffish]

Is the lease even transferable?

I'd offer them $13,500 - that's 9 x 12 x 125.

Free power for nine years.

-Mac

yes it is transferable. We will probably make some kind of $ concession, really need it gone. Bad enough it takes 3 months to close in NY.

 

[BlueC]

yes it is transferable. We will probably make some kind of $ concession, really need it gone. Bad enough it takes 3 months to close in NY.

It might be worth it to ask why they don't want the panels, then try to address that concern. We could speculate why, but we'd all be guessing.

 

[5632]

I would and will never buy a house with solar.

 

[macleanflood]

My guess is they know they need a new roof...the cost will double with a large solar array because it has to be removed and reinstalled.

And depending on the terms of the lease agreement it might need to be the company doing or contracting the work driving up costs further.

-Mac

 

[srimes]

It might be worth it to ask why they don't want the panels, then try to address that concern. We could speculate why, but we'd all be guessing.

Probably because they don't want their house to be gay.

 

[BlueC]

Around here I see solar panels, but only on the "budget" end of the housing market. I find that interesting, but most likely it comes down to those who are financially wise vs those who are not, and let me tell you something, the are-nots here really like solar panels.

 

[macleanflood]

I would and will never buy a house with solar.

Respectfully disagree with a lot of caveats. Well installed, code compliant solar array that's not past the prime of the panel's efficiency...I'd probably want some testing done. And that's all assuming the panels are owned by the homeowners and it's not some predatory lease bullshit agreement.

-Mac

 

[cliffish]

Probably because they don't want their house to be gay.

well then most of that block is gay!

My guess is they know they need a new roof...the cost will double with a large solar array because it has to be removed and reinstalled.

And depending on the terms of the lease agreement it might need to be the company doing or contracting the work driving up costs further.

-Mac

I just read the contract and if doing work that the panels need to be temporarily removed it is $499 for removal, storage and reinstall.

 

[JMT]

financially wise vs those who are not, and let me tell you something, the are-nots here really like solar panels

This^^^

I spent a couple of hours doing the math. Not a good investment.

 

[cliffish]

Respectfully disagree with a lot of caveats. Well installed, code compliant solar array that's not past the prime of the panel's efficiency...I'd probably want some testing done. And that's all assuming the panels are owned by the homeowners and it's not some predatory lease bullshit agreement.

-Mac

Well on my house a company proposed a $57K system with no battery backup. It would have reduced my bill a whopping 13%

 

[macleanflood]

I just read the contact and if doing work that the panels need to be temporarily removed it is $499 for removal, storage and reinstall.

Perfect... that's not bad at all...you might want to pass that information to the potential buyers.

You might also want to negotiate having the roof replaced and charging the potential buyers a little more.

The advantage would be the roof could be done during escrow and the house would be move in ready.

-Mac

 

[cliffish]

Around here I see solar panels, but only on the "budget" end of the housing market. I find that interesting, but most likely it comes down to those who are financially wise vs those who are not, and let me tell you something, the are-nots here really like solar panels.

yeah my FIL always took the budget way to things. Spread all of his insurance, oil and everything into a level monthly premium instead of paying more every 6 months to lower the premium. He needed a fridge several months ago and opened a Best Buy CC to get 0% monthly payments.

 

[macleanflood]

Im still working on closing up my aunt's estate five years after she passed. The 16 revisions of her her trust didn't help... especially the revisions that modified portions previously struck out by previous revisions.

Further she had farmland that was supposed to go to my cousin... wasn't in the trust, had to do a long probate process and days before signing over the property my cousin passed away.

I've done elder care and estate arrangements for my grandparents, aunt and uncle...my parents are next, then my MIL and FIL.

It's almost a full time job. Especially when they resist and don't want to trouble you. Oh I'll just take care of it myself and then I spend six months getting them out of a contract or something worse.

-Mac

 

[BlueC]

I spent a couple of hours doing the math. Not a good investment.

I've met and talked with dozen of solar system homeowners around here over the last decade. Out of probably 50, only 2 have made sense, and they were the smallest systems. I've talked to several people that had $80-100,000 systems installed on the roof of their $200,000 house. I remember asking one guy a few questions and watching him do the math for the first time as he answered. He was trying to impress me talking nerd about the system, then I asked him how much it saved him (~$60/mo) and how much it cost ($100K system added ~$150/mo). He didn't want to talk about it after that.

 

[Apparition]

I would and will never buy a house with solar.

But this one already has it and they apparently like it enough to make an offer.

Would you rather buy it with solar intact or with recently removed solar?