Question about solar tax credit

[Steve C]

Just my 2 cents, understanding that no two situations are alike...
Suppose I am able to pay a max (pre-qualified) $350k for a home. I find two homes at that number, one of which has a new-ish solar system installed. The home with the solar may be somewhat less appealing but is at my price point and I am more likely able to make random, less costly improvements over time as I wont have the electric bill. It is unlikely that I will be able to afford to purchase a solar system (say $20k before ITC) as I has used most of my money for a down on the house. Hence, I may be likely to lean toward the slightly lesser home with solar. It is a situation like this where a seller may get more return out of their solar system.
If none of that makes sense, I ask the moderator to feel free to delete this post.

[veritass]

Just my 2 cents, understanding that no two situations are alike...
Suppose I am able to pay a max (pre-qualified) $350k for a home. I find two homes at that number, one of which has a new-ish solar system installed. The home with the solar may be somewhat less appealing but is at my price point and I am more likely able to make random, less costly improvements over time as I wont have the electric bill. It is unlikely that I will be able to afford to purchase a solar system (say $20k before ITC) as I has used most of my money for a down on the house. Hence, I may be likely to lean toward the slightly lesser home with solar. It is a situation like this where a seller may get more return out of their solar system.
If none of that makes sense, I ask the moderator to feel free to delete this post.

plus you essential finance your the solar system at your home mortgage rate.

[foo1bar]

I show you a paper that has 23,000 homes with a proper statistical analysis.

I'm suprised no one has pointed out what I see as the major flaw of using that paper for determining current value for solar - it's sales from 2002-2013.
During 2002-2013 the average for a solar install was >$4/Watt.
So if I bought a system for $9/Watt pre-tax/incentives or $5/W post-incentives/taxbenefits in 2007, then sold it in 2008 for $4/W extra on my sales price, I probably didn't actually benefit financially from doing it. I probably would lose a few thousand on doing the install in that scenario. BUT it would still fit this study's data - and today that array may only be worth $3/W or $2/W extra on the RE price.

JMHO - but I believe an existing paid off install adds somewhere between the 70% and 100% of what it'd cost to do a new install today. (And IMO a leased system is a negative item - I think probably detracts by at least 50% of the buy-out cost for the lease)

[ltbighorn]

I completely forgot about the 30% federal tax credit. Who in their right mind would pay anything close to full price for a installed solar system when they could buy a house without solar and put in a new more effective system and get the 30% for themselves? Let me change that previous statement.

Well, I'm certainly not arguing that solar will add any particular value to a home, but there are lots of reasons why they might prefer to have it already installed.

- roll the cost into the home loan rather than cash out of pocket (or a more expensive loan)
- don't have any idea of what it costs to install solar -- only knows how much in electrical bills it can demonstrably save
- don't have time/want to do extensive research to get educated to be able to size & get sane bids
- even if they already have the knowledge, they may not have time/want to deal with identifying quality contractors and going through interruptions in life for installation and shaking out whatever issues may come up, including potential roofing issues etc.
- potentially grandfathered under favorable metering schemes

Many of the same reasons someone buys a move-in ready home instead of a fixer or something that would require extensive remodeling to suit their needs.

[J.P.M.]

A home is only worth what someone is willing to pay. No more. No less.

Potential buyers of anything who know what they need and have knowledge of what they are buying generally pay lower prices. Most folks are solar ignorant in terms of what they need and what it's worth. So, they pay more for stuff that is probably not optimal for their needs.

Pay your money, take your choice, but get informed and walk in with your eyes open. I'd only suggest that real estate peddlers are probably as or more ignorant about solar that the general public and also have skin in the game.