Solar Panels affecting credit

[Raysa Acosta]

Im currently looking for an investment property , but that may take me 3-12 months before finding and finalizing it. Im also looking to lease solar panels for my resident home. Has anyone had solar panel lease negatively impact their debt to income ratio, credit or anything else that than caused them to be unable to move forward with the deal? Trying to see if its worth waiting off on solar panels or just installing them now (my current electric bill is high).

[Carlos Valencia]

Hi Raysa as a former Solar sales rep. I would highly suggest not to lease any panels. If you decide to add solar panels definitely purchase them cash which is actually cheaper or via a loan but make sure you are owning them. Lease will create a headache for you later especially if you decide to sell you property. Yes you can transfer the lease to the new buyer but many buyers dont want to assume that lease especially if for them it doesnt make sense to pay ex-amount of money per month. This would just add another hurdle for you when selling. If you own the panels you would have to pay the solar loan off upon sell of the property. Just make sure you add that to your sells price so you dont come out of pocket. Avg solar system depending on size will run you about 30-40k. Lastly from what I was told leasing panels does not affect your dti because you are replacing your utility bill with lease payment of solar panels. That I would verify with a solar company. Hope this helps. 

@Albert Bui @Matthew Kwan