You’ve spent tens of thousands of dollars on those solar panels on your roof. It’s only right that you recuperate that money when you sell the house. While there are a million other things you may want to fix in your house to make it more attractive to potential buyers, the solar panels can help you take a step forward. This means that many real estate brokers and experts believe that the presence of solar panels in your home will make the property more sellable.
Talk with your SunPower dealers. They’ll tell you that many of the homes where they’ve installed solar panels have sold for a better price. Access to solar energy also helps sell property faster. Studies show that homes with solar panels can be sold 20% faster than conventional homes. That’s something good to consider for those who need to sell their homes quickly.
Look at the Numbers
Research from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory says that every $1 you save in your energy bill adds $20 to the value of the home. The exact numbers may vary because of several factors such as the location of your home and the average cost of electricity in your area. But the same research suggests that the average increase in resale value could be around $5,900 for every 1 kilowatt of solar installed.
The added value on your property will increase every time you scale up the solar panel installation. If you have a 5kW of solar panels, that will average to an increased value of $29,500 for a medium-sized home. So yes, you can recuperate the cost of the solar panel when you sell your home.
Factors to Consider
Of course, these numbers don’t reflect the average cost of the increased value for all properties. Several will affect these numbers, including the location of your home, the size of the installation, and the value of your home. For example, solar panels in New York add more value to the properties at 5.4% of the total value of the home. Metropolitan areas stand the most to gain from solar panels because the cost of electricity is also higher there. A separate study says that there is no metropolitan area that does not benefit from a solar energy system.
Seller’s Incentives
As a seller, you’ll have several advantages when your home has a solar energy system. One, you can demand a higher asking price. Two, you will sell your home much faster. And three, you can recuperate almost 100% of the cost of the solar panels you installed. Also, you’ll be receiving a lot of tax incentives from the government over the years. It’s a win-win situation.
Buyer’s Incentives
Homebuyers want homes with solar panels because of three things, too. One, they will save massively on their electricity bill. Two, solar panels last for decades, so they’ll be saving a lot more money throughout their lifetime. And three, it’s less of a hassle to buy a home with solar panels than have the system installed themselves.
In the future, there will be a more accurate representation of the value that solar panels add to a home. If you have any plans of selling your home, you should consider installing solar panels. You’ll sell the home faster, get your money back, and demand for a higher starting price.
