An ongoing issue in home sales is the evaluation of solar panels. Systems can be owned or leased. When a system is leased, the homeowner doesn’t own the system. Leased items typically don’t add much value, and in some cases can be legitimately excluded from appraisals. Leasing also creates a liability (the payments) which can negatively affect the affordability of the home and the ability of the buyer to qualify for a loan – which has meant that some home owners have had to buy out the lease (which can cost up to $30,000) to sell their home. So up to now appraisers have generally been unable to attribute any significant value to a leased solar home that offsets the liability created by the lease. Owned systems are different, and will be discussed in Part 2.
