To Lease or Not to Lease: That is the Question.
And in our opinion, the answer is “not to lease.” Here’s why:
When you, the lessee, wish to sell your home, the buyer must assume the lease or the the lease holder can prohibit the sale. Do you really want to give up that level of control? The lessee will often try to ascribe a value to their system to convince a potential buyer that it is worth assuming the lease, but that can lead to its own problem.
The quality of the panels, inverters and workmanship is out of your control. Poor quality all the way around leads to a lower valuation. As the lessee, if you’re desperate enough to sell there’s a good chance you’ll take it on the financial chin—hard. And to add financial insult to injury…
In terms of payback period and return on investment, the lessee loses and the lessor wins. They take the incentives and tax credits, not you. This builds their assets and drives their business model at your expense. A solar panel investment should drive up the value of your home, deliver a short payback period and an excellent return on investment, and make it more salable in the future. Leases flip all this over on its back like a turtle bound for the soup bowl…
Financing makes far more sense because:
- At the end of the day you own the system.
- You can sell your house when you want and recover the cost of the solar system.
- Your return on investment is vastly superior, even with financing.
Contact us to learn more about solar financing options.
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