Solar Panels on Primary residence

[Brett Tvenge]

Title says all. My wife and I are strongly considering getting Solar panels put on our primary house in Phoenix, AZ. We are wanting your personal experience with them. Thanks BP

Advantages we see are tax credit and no electric bill

Disadvantage is solar panel lease/loan is attached to your mortgage if we go to sell buyer must assume lease/loan

[Bill B.]

Zero chance I would buy anything that next buyer has to assume. You’re pricing buyers out of your house. If they’re buying the most they can qualify for, they won’t qualify for your house once you add that payment. If they can qualify for more they’ll see they could buy a nicer house for the same payment. If you’re already thinking about selling I don’t think it can pay off. 

I'm in Las Vegas, 2500sf SFR with an electric car, 3 pool pumps, and 2 ac units. Just by signing up for time of use billing I'm paying about $48-$55/mo 8 months output of the year, about $120/mo 2 months and $180-$200 the other 2 months. This is a 20 year old not particularly well built house. Take away the pool pumps and the electric car and who knows how low my bills would be. It would take more than a decade to get my money back with solar. That's not saving money, that's just getting it back.

If you plan to live there for 20-30 years and don’t think solar technology is going to get any cheaper or better than go ahead, otherwise skip it.