Investor · Granite City, IL · Member since 2014 · 658 posts · 301 votes
I have been listening to the podcasts with regularity - they are great for a person on the go! One area that interests me is the idea of more cash flow by bringing in other sources of income.
I'm wondering about the use of solar panels to help increase cash flow.
Let's assume the cost is $30K. I tie that back to the grid and recover my costs in seven years (national average). For the next 20 years or so, I'm booking $400 a month on that device. And I also get to depreciate the investment, so it's saving me about $250 a year in taxes.
Has anyone done this or considered doing this? What are your thoughts or experiences?
Investor · Columbus, MT · Member since 2013 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
12y
I love this idea!
However I would wonder about long term repairs on a solar system. Would you end up with $200 a month in repairs at year ten? I have several friends in this area that are shelling out big bucks for these fancy units to power their own houses off the grid, but they are all relatively new. (Bought in the last year or so). I just wish we had more info about them. That's the nice thing about rental housing is we have a great history of people telling us you can expect 50% expenses over the long hull. But what is solar 20%? 80%? How do you know?
However, tying to the grid and having the local power company fund you sounds much better than powering a personal house...(no battery's involved) are you sure they will allow this? I just assumed that my area will not because I live in a rural area of Montana, but I better call and make sure.
I'm still waiting to hear back from the SolarCity rep to see if their company will be expanding operations into the Spokane area any time soon.
There's zero upfront costs for the SolarCity installation, however with electricity rates in the Pacific Northwest historically being the lowest in the nation it might not make sense financially for them to finance 100% of the cost like they do in So-Cal.
My hunch is that it's not going to happen for this flip, but it would be interesting to see how Spokane buyers react to the presence of a home solar system.