Selling a Home With a Solar Panel Lease

When selling a home with a solar panel lease, you need to carefully evaluate whether you can buy out the solar panels before the sale. If you do, you can enjoy a higher selling price. It’s vital that you work with a professional who can help you deal with the credit requirements of the solar company. And be sure to advertise how much money you’ll save, so that potential buyers will see how beneficial the new solar system will be.

Buying-out solar panels removes solar lease from home sale equation

Before selling a home, sellers should figure out the cost of buying-out the remaining solar lease. Buyers often view solar panels as an issue. Although solar panels are the property of the lessor, they are still in the equation when determining the purchase price. Buyers worry about maintenance costs, equipment becoming obsolete, and the lease being a bad deal. To avoid potential problems, home sellers should work with a Realtor who knows the ins and outs of buying-out solar panels.

Before buying-out solar panels, buyers should carefully consider whether to pay the remaining balance on the lease, leave the panels in the house, or buy them outright. A buyer should also consider the buyout price and the buy-out period of the solar lease. It’s always a good idea to ask the seller for their utility bills in order to estimate the amount of utility-generated electricity produced by the home.

Dealing with escalating payments

You may not be aware that you can transfer your solar lease when selling your home. If you do not have the money to transfer the lease, you can negotiate with the previous owner and transfer the lease to his or her name. However, make sure to ask your solar provider for details on the process. You will have to meet certain criteria, such as the amount of your monthly payments and the credit requirements of the buyer.

You can avoid this problem by contacting your leasing company and seeking details about the transfer process. Some leasing companies recommend bundling the solar panel lease with the purchase price of the home to minimize hesitancy. You can also ask them to remove the panels upon the expiration of the contract, if necessary. This is a better solution than re-negotiating the price.

Avoiding legal hiccups

Before you sell your home, make sure you’re aware of any solar leases on it. Most solar leases do not require any up-front payments, but if you’ve paid a deposit for the panels in the past, you may find yourself unable to get a home loan after adding the solar lease. You’ll want to let prospective buyers know about any credit check requirements and include a copy of the lease agreement, as well as the contact information of the solar company’s service transfer specialists.

If you’re planning to sell your home with solar panels installed, you should make sure that the buyer assumes the lease. Even if you’ve paid for the solar panels yourself, you shouldn’t put the cost of the panels in the listing price. The solar company can repossess the panels at any time, so you need to make sure that you can get them back.