Primary Residence Deal with Solar Lease

[Grace R.]

Hi everyone, hoping you can offer some thoughts on this deal. My husband and I are in escrow on a new primary residence that cuts both our commutes in half, is in a more established community, etc. Because the house needs some updating, we are getting it for less than what comps are in the area.

What worried us initially is the 20-year Solar City lease, with 2.9% annual payment increase escalatory, tied to the property. But after some back and forth we were able to get the seller to agree to pay off the entire amount due on the solar lease ($19k). 

[Side note: I would have loved to have the seller buy the system outright, but in the contract, the system needs to have been on the roof for 5 years before the buyout is even allowed. And the system has only been on the roof for 3 years].

So now we'll be able to use the solar for free for 20 years (yay!). But of course the next logical question is what happens after the 20 years is up? Solar City offers two options: 1) Buy the system outright at the end of the contract or 2) Sign a 5-year extension on the lease (ha, yeah right!).

My thoughts are that we wait until year 20 and then buy the system outright. Solar City says they send a 3rd-party appraiser to determine the buyout price. After 20 years, the panels/inverter will be about 5-years from the end of warranty and should be appraised for far less than in year 5 (when a buyout is first allowed).

The one concern I have is that maybe the buyout price in year 20 might still be high (5-10k?). I figure that when push comes to shove, we'll have to buy the panels out no matter what, in order to remove the "fixture filing" Solar City puts on title.

What do you think of this deal? TIA!