All Forum Posts by: Cody Lambson

Thank you all for the input. The house is in a desirable neighborhood so I was able to find tenants rather quickly. Initially I Charged $150 over average rent for the area, for the panels. They payed it, but my property manager at the time did not under stand what I wanted in the contract, and I deployed before I was able to see the final draft. What the contract should have said was something along the lines of:

Rent will be $1250, ($150 above average). All bills coming from the electric company (APS) will be the responsibility of the tenants.

Mine did not include that second part and was a big hassle. I eventually got it figured out.

If you owe more than $10k in taxes each year. I would still suggest solar. If you do not owe taxes, stay far away until you do.

I was hit with a $10k bill (30%) of the cost of the panels in June (1 year after signing solar contract). This is because instead of owing the government that money, you get a tax credit, and then owe your solar company that money. All of which goes to pay off your solar panels. So after June, I only owed $20k to solar.

Just like my tenants are paying my house off for me, they are also paying off my panels. I am holding this property currently, and as long as I do for the next 5 to 10 years, I will profit off of the sale. Just not 100% of what the cost of the panels were.

When we resigned the contract, I took the $150 off of the rent, and put the solar bill directly in their name. If I owned the panels outright, I would have kept the higher rent.

Back to my original question of, if you as an investor would buy a property that already had panels for more? You would be able to skip all of the steps I went through and most likely buy the panels at a premium. But again I would be hesitant of doing anything other than buy-and-hold. Also I have not sold the house yet, so I will not know if I truly made the right decision until that day comes. I will keep you posted.

I would only suggest solar for investors that meet all of these requirements:

- Buy-and-hold property for at least 5 to10 years

- Owe more than $10k (or 30% of your panels) in taxes next year, and can afford to pay that amount in full when it is due

- The property is in a desirable neighborhood

- The property is in a geographical location that makes since to get solar

Everyone else, I would recommend against doing it. Unless you just care about the environment, which is good too. 

Would you pay more for a house that had paid off Solar Panels?

I have a rental in Phoenix, Arizona and I have Solar Panels on them. I put the bill in my tenant's Name, so that I am not responsible for the utility.

My question is, I bought them for $33k, Would you pay $33k more for the house if it were a buy and hold?

The idea is that you have a $27 electric bill most months, and maybe $110 in the summer. That is compared to $105 on average, with $275+ in the summers.

You would possibly be saving $2000 a year in electric, which could be put towards the next property. 

This means that you will pay off the panels in 16 years if you bought them with 0% apr.

The other option I have if I were to sell this property is to take the panels off.

I'd like to see what people think about paying more for the panels to have 1/4 the electric bill.

I like the sound of the LOC idea. But why, besides getting a better credit score, wouldn't you just take the ammount of money you would have spent paying back your LOC loan, and just pay that directly to your principle each month, to avoid the interest rate you pay on the LOC.

Ex: I take a $10000 LOC out and pay that towards the principle. I now have to pay... $400 a month back, at a an interest of 7% until it is paid off. Then wash and repeat.

Or

I set up automatic principle payments with my bank for $400 a month. Then I have a 0% apr because it is my money.  That money can come from extra BAH or cash flow, or your just a good saver.

Maybe I just dont fully understand the LOC loan, but I can't think of a reason to choose to pay an apr besides like I said before, to gain credit.

I'd love to start a LOC today if it made a little more since to me, Please let me know which part I'm missing.

Hello BP nation, I am a self motivated, intiative based, hard working and reliable transtitioning US Marine. I am on my 2nd rental property and trying to expand quick. I will get back to Arizona in April and want to hit the ground running. I will be attending some REI meeting as soon as I arrive and getting my real estate license. If you have some experience in the AZ real estate market and would like a free coffee or lunch, let me know.