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Selling A Home With Solar Panels Cheat Sheet | DroneQuote

Posted on August 30, 2022

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Introduction

I love having solar panels on my rooftop; it is literally really calm, 73° calm in the summer months, to be specific. I say that comfortably with both air conditioning units running full blast on a hot day and not worrying about my utility bill. The best part about having solar is that I really don’t have to do anything for the system to work other than paying the bill in my case since I financed my solar panels. This blog will talk about the tips on selling a home with solar.

Unfortunately, since the system doesn’t get much thought, it is far too easily forgotten. Should I ever sell my home or refinance my mortgage? Some things would greatly benefit me knowing before I start either of the two processes.

We put together a solar cheat sheet. This will guide you through the information you should always have readily available related to your solar panels. If ever you refinance or sell your home, the solar won’t hold you up. Believe us when we tell you we’ve heard some stories of last-minute discoveries related to the solar system, which unduly hindered the transaction.

Vital Records To Have When Selling A Home With Solar Panels.

Well, for one, I have never met a man or woman who regretted being prepared. On the contrary, when unpreparedness hits us in the face, we are shocked that we didn’t see it coming. If you have all the information about your solar panel system readily available, you will be able to answer the questions a real estate transaction may call on. Adding details to the solar installation will allow you to add a quantifiable value to the solar panels. When people know what they are buying, they buy with confidence.

Keeping track of solar documents is essential when selling a home with solar panels. Typically, people realize they need one piece of information or another from this solar cheat sheet. Not having it readily available costs them time, holding up the close of escrow on the sale of a home or interrupting the processing of a refinance. When you have your completed solar cheat sheet filled out, you can easily share it with your agent or mortgage professional and make your lives much more accessible. I promise you, they’ll thank you for it!

1: Start by taking note of the site conditions of the solar panels.

Most solar installations come with an owner’s manual that provides the information you’ll need to fill out your solar cheat sheet. So, if possible, start with that document in hand. Don’t forget to date the solar panel install report so you can start with a frame of reference in time.

Site Conditions

  1. Date of installation – This is used to determine the remaining warranties.
  2. The current roof age – The newer, the better, as you may imagine.
  3. The version of the Net Energy Metering agreement(NEM) for the solar panel system operation- This you would get by calling the utility company responsible for your home’s area. Older versions of Net Energy Metering are more favorable, and those terms and conditions are typically grandfathered for some time.

This information will support the system’s value when you sell a home with solar panels. While the age of the roof or net metering version may not be exact details about the solar panels, they are nonetheless valuable pieces of information.

2: Be in the know about workmanship details relevant to your solar panels.

Solar workmanship is one of the most essential details of the system because it will make a difference in whether or not warranties are honored by manufacturers and, of course, impacts the solar panels’ performance. If you can fill out this section without leaving anything blank, you might choose a good installer.

Workmanship

  1. Installer – Who installed the system?
  2. Installer’s phone number.
  3. Copy of sales agreement – Here, you should be able to define the warranty periods and other important information.

When selling a home with solar panels, passing on up-to-date and accurate information about a solar installer matters, especially if you can pass on a solar panel installation with an active warranty period by a company able to service it. Unfortunately, this is not always the case, nor is it uncommon for concerns or questions about the solar installer.

3: Along the way, gather as much information about the solar components as possible.

This information is beneficial if you have to file a warranty claim on any of the equipment parts. It is also valuable at the time of sale of the house because it gives your realtor additional information they may be able to use in GREEN MLS fields to better categorize a home into available inventory.

Again, here, you will be assisted tremendously if you are given an installation packet put together by your installer.

  1. Inverter Model number, Serial number(s) – If you don’t have a resource to look up inverter details, you can sometimes find hardware numbers on the device itself if it is accessible.
  2. Monitoring – Monitoring is usually managed through a mobile or web application operated by the manufacturer of the inverter. Solar Edge and Enphase are two examples of this. If there is a monitoring system, have the login and password credentials accessible.

 

Solar power monitoring portal

  1. Panel’s Model number, at least one Serial number(s) – Getting these numbers may be a bit harder if you do not have access to panel-level monitoring unless you get on the roof. Again, you may be able to find these numbers in an installation packet.

4. Be transparent about how the solar was paid for.

The part about how the solar panels were bought is significant, specifically, how the solar panels were paid for. This matters so much because sometimes there are delays in selling a home with solar panels . After all, there was a Uniform Commercial Code Financing Statement (UCC-1) lien on the title that the homeowner forgot to mention.

Conditional statements you need to address

If you purchased the system outright from the installer, you would want to ensure you have a countersigned agreement readily available to show as proof of ownership. This is always the best-case scenario because it keeps things simple and straightforward. This is also why we always tell people about the “secret” way to buy solar or pay for roofing.

If you financed the system, know your finance account login details. Know whether or not you can pass on the debt for the system, or if you have to pay oit ff at the time of sale, or with the refinance. The solar cheat sheet includes the contact information for the transfer departments of major solar finance companies.

Say you choose a lease or power purchase agreement from Sunpower, Tesla (formerly SolarCity), Sunrun, or Vivint. Most, if not all, lease companies will have departments dedicated to transferring leases at the time of sale or temporarily lifting UCC-1 liens for refinances. Though they will typically ask for a notice in advance, all the more reason to have this information ready. As a side note, between 2011-2015, the prepaid lease was all the rage in solar, and it was a great deal too. Unfortunately, a lot of homeowners confuse this as a purchase when, in fact, it is still a lease.

Final notes 

Finally, if your solar was paid for through Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) funds like HERO, Ygrene, Figtree, or the like, you may be in for a bit of a ride. The challenge with many of these options is that they have a natural tendency to complicate the transaction, be it the sale of a house or the rrefinanceof a mortgage. Often, there are issues with the subordination of these loans, prepayment penalties of some kind, or some other issue. If you have this method of financing for your solar system or other home improvements, make it a point to share it with the realtor or mortgage professional from the onset, as it will only help you.

5. Put a number on it.

With enough information, you will be better prepared to answer any questions that may come up when selling a home with solar panels or refinancing your mortgage.

Now, the last thing you may be thinking about is what kind of value the system may add to the home. First, it is essential to note that value, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder, but an astute seller like yourself, who is armed with data, will have more ground to speak on when asking for a higher sales price.

You can take the information gathered in the solar cheat sheet and use a website like Pvvalue.com to get a good idea of what the installed system may do to help the value of your home. Other essential factors here are how the system was paid for and whether or not the installer is still in business to service the system and honor warranties.

Just do it and forget about it.

Taking the brief 10 minutes would let you assemble the solar cheat sheet below. It can save you significant stress and worry if you ever need to get that information quickly or beat some deadline.

Do yourself a favor and fill out the form, print it, and tape it somewhere near or on your equipment.

If you have questions about your system or need help with a system installed by a company no longer in business, please contact us at info@dronequote.net or with the contact link to request assistance. Or, if you are on the buying side, look at what you should look for here.

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Solar Cheat Sheet

Use this form to help you collect and store the information you will need when it comes time to sell the property on which you installed solar. Also, there are contact numbers and email addresses that you may find helpful in the future.

Site Conditions

  • Date:
  • Installation date:
  • NEM version (Contact SDGE):
  • Current roof age:

Workmanship

  • Installer:
  • Phone number:
  • Copy of sales agreement – Print and store with this form

Inverters

  • Inverter Make:
  • Model number:

Warranty transfer contact:

Monitoring:

  • Screenshot of recent production

Joint monitoring platforms include:

Panels:

  • Solar Panels Makel:
  • Solar Panels Model:

Warranty transfer contact:

Financing:

If you paid for your system by means other than cash, the following details would be pertinent to you. You must contact another party to lift the Uniform Commercial Code Financing Statement (UCC-1) lien if refinancing or selling. If you are working as a homeowner for some kind of real estate/mortgage transaction, remember that with some prepaid leases, homeowners will be under the incorrect assumption that they purchased the system in cash when, in reality, lease contingencies still apply.

Below are some of the contacts for major solar lessors:

Below are some of the contacts for major solar finance companies:

We hope you find this information helpful as you enjoy the benefits of having installed solar. But we really hope you take my suggestion to find this information and store it somewhere easy to access. At the bare minimum, you can save this page or share this page so that if you sell your home or refinance your mortgage, you can get the ball rolling with the right channel.

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Solar Panel Maintenance: Don’t Bother Cleaning | DroneQuote
1 year ago

[…] you own the system, you have a lot more flexibility for options. The catch is to keep the installer’s warranty. You have to ensure they do the work for anything more than […]

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