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Seems the only rational thing to do here is to reduce the offer to $70k over list, and then use the other $30k to pay the solar lease off. This way you're still paying $100k over list like you expected to, and the lease is paid off. Or just decide that this house is worth an extra $30k to you such that you're paying $130k over list.
I would, under no circumstances, assume that lease. You don't want to get into bed with those people, they are awful.
And some people want to force everyone to get solar panels. Who's going to pay for that? Will all homes be encumbered by solar panel leases?
Nah leasing is basically defunct at this point. Solar makes sense from an ownership perspective, it's just that the leases were mostly all scams. They will just be a part of the purchase price of the new homes.
I own a very large system and it has turned out to be a wonderful investment; it's different in every state, even every county, based mostly on how high you electric cost is. Where I live, electricity is extremely expensive and gov't incentives are strong, so my system break-even was only 5 years. I used a loan to pay for the panels so I net about $1k/yr in profit from the system and in a few years when they are paid off that savings will jump to about $3,800/yr (or more, thanks to inflation).
"The house has been sitting in this hot market since May." You offered 100K over asking and they want you to fix their bad decision? Who is going to take that on? Look up how much they paid for the house in the first place. They are probably going to make a nice profit make them pay it off cheap-O's. Man, I'd make them fix Every*thing, too. Move to Vegas you'll get a real nice house.
Seems the only rational thing to do here is to reduce the offer to $70k over list, and then use the other $30k to pay the solar lease off. This way you're still paying $100k over list like you expected to, and the lease is paid off. Or just decide that this house is worth an extra $30k to you such that you're paying $130k over list.
I would, under no circumstances, assume that lease. You don't want to get into bed with those people, they are awful.
Even if you decide to take over the lease and after paying the debt- you still have a nuisance- old degraded less efficient panels which you may need to hire someone to remove if you need roof repairs, etc.
In addition you are offered to buy a cat in the bag- are there any penalties or additional fees in case you want to terminate the lease?
How much does it cost to remove the panels and to dispose? Do they buy the excess of the energy? Or just let you feed into the grid?
Are there any batteries, inverters, controllers involved?
The panels are only a part of equipment- if they tied to the grid- is a transfer switch up to a code? Any other equipment? Is the wiring good? Any roof leaks? Are the panels even working?
What part of the electric bill they cover?
Are you required to upgrade the switch according to the new electrical code and the utilities company?? Is it regulated by your town?
Does the utilities company charge a regular fee for this system?
A big can of worms.
I wouldn’t sign the lease and even without the lease - I would renegotiate…
Did the seller ask you to repay his credit card debt too?
Ask the seller to show you his annual electric costs. Is he getting value? If so it might not hurt to keep the contract then sue the company if they stop performing. Sounds aggravating.
No surprise there. Realtors don't let anything stand between them and their commissions. That's why "buyer's agent" is a myth. Don't get me started on that.
There's another forum I used to frequent that had an awesome "beating a dead horse" emoji that would be really useful right now. Seriously . . . we all get it. You have a completely irrational hatred of all real estate agents. Personally, I don't trust insurance adjusters but that's a story for another time.
Quote:
Originally Posted by adjusterjack
I looked at a house a couple of years ago that had leased solar panels. I was provided a copy of the complete contract (which apparently you weren't). There was about 18 years left on the lease and the contract expressly did not allow for buying out the lease. At the end of the lease the solar company would remove the panels and related equipment and restore the property to the way it was before the solar went in. Well, good luck with that.
In this situation the solar company is out of business though. So, at the end of the lease you'd probably just be left with the panels. Highly doubtful someone would be coming to take them away. I'm not saying assuming the lease is a good idea. Just saying this is a somewhat different situation than what you went though.
Quote:
Originally Posted by 1insider
You should be a house painter, Jack. With that brush you'd only need a couple of strokes per house.
That's a good one!
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheLonelyGoatherd
I learned so much in the past couple of days. Last decade there were many shady solar lease deals that were operating like the sub prime mortgage companies. Get you in a deal for no money down and keep you in a 20 year lease where by the time you are a few years in, you owe WAY more than your panels are worth.
Solar leases are rarely a good idea. Typically, the leasing company gets all the tax incentives too. If they came with the house, i would take them. If I personally, would not agree to assume the lease especially this one which sounds like a particularly bad lease.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheLonelyGoatherd
I tried calling the debt collector to see if I could just do a settlement and close the account. They said they can't talk to me until the owner puts the lease in my name. I tried asking to speak to the department that supposedly handles the panels and she said no, not unless I'm a customer.
What else is funny is this was the 3rd time I called them and each time I got the same woman on the phone. What does that tell you about how much they are providing service for past customers? When I read reviews online they are all people screaming about how horrible this new ”company” (debt collector) is to work with.
The company is ASD solar. The debt collector calls themselves ASD-LP
The fact that the leasing company is out of business would make me want to assume this lease even less. Solar leases are BAD in general. I have one client who's wrestling with one now.
Years ago this client leased panels for his house. Unfortunately, some squirrels decided to nest under them one winter and chewed up all the wires ruining about half the panels. He called the leasing company to have them fixed and they gave him the run around for at least a year. Then he called one day to follow up, only to find his lease had been sold to another company and he had to start the battle over again. This happened a couple of times. Finally, he decided to just buy out the lease to the tune of $16K only to throw out half the panels and combine the remaining ones into a single array. Pretty terrible that he paid so much money for 50% useless junk so that he could have the privilege of throwing it away.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheLonelyGoatherd
The thing is in the seller disclosure form it only says ”lease with solar company” No mention of 30k of debt that goes with that lease!
And I asked for a copy of their solar agreement days ago and never got it.
So, they did disclose the presence of the lease up front. This would have raised a serious red flag for me. Why did your agent not inquire about it? It would have been great if they had offered more info up front, but there was enough of a red flag in the disclosure where you and your agent should really be shouldering some of the blame for this situation occurring.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheLonelyGoatherd
The listing agent never mentioned solar in the listing. From what I read that is because this is a lease, the owner of the home doesn't own it. So for legal/ethical reasons, they can't use it as a selling feature.
I have no idea what the laws are in your area, but around here I could advertise it as a feature so long as I disclose that it's a lease which the buyer would need to assume which it sounds like this seller did that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheLonelyGoatherd
so they all know this is a smelly deal. And that's why 2 weeks in, we only now are hearing about the debt.
I don't know what we will do. We asked the seller to please pay and close his account or we can't move forward.
Maybe things are fishy. Maybe they assumed you saw the disclosure and were cool with assuming the lease. A lot of people in the current seller's market are agreeing to things they would not agree to in a more balanced or buyer friendly market. Again, I think that should have raised a red flag and should have kicked off some investigation up front before the offer was made.
Asking the seller to pay off the lease is what I would do. Why would you want to pay $30K for old panels when you could have brand new ones for that much or less? I would only assume the lease if I was absolutely desperate to have the house.
You’re offering $100k over, they basically counter-offered for an extra $30k + removal and removal/roofing expenses. I’m not sure what the removal and reroof would cost in your area, but get an estimate. If you’re willing to pay that amount more than your previous offer, buy the house. After you are supplied with the actual solar lease and the seller puts the effort into setting up the payoff. You’d be agreeing to pay off the debt, not assume the headache.
Alternatively, counter-offer with “We’re paying $100k more than asking price, you pay off the debt and pocket the other $70k.” If they want to sell badly enough and have the slightest bit of decency, they’ll accept.
Those are two options. Personally, unless it was my wife’s dream home, I’d walk away. If they didn’t disclose this up front, it makes me wonder what else they haven’t disclosed.
Thank you all again! We have asked the seller to provide his lease contract. We need to see the entire thing. We also want to see a few months of utility bills.
They are now asking us to pay for 1/3 the balance of the lease which would be 10k. We don't want to pay anything.
Also to cancel the lease, this debt collector told the seller they need to file with the county which can take 14 business days. I wonder what this has to do with the county?
so closing will be delayed for sure. But we had to give the seller a 29 day free rent back anyway. So it's not like we were getting in the house until October anyway.
I can't believe what a mess so many of these solar lease deals are! And to think nobody mentioned this huge balance on the account to us!
I'm reading so many stories of buyers who are way into the closing process only to find this stuff out.
Thank you all again! We have asked the seller to provide his lease contract. We need to see the entire thing. We also want to see a few months of utility bills.
They are now asking us to pay for 1/3 the balance of the lease which would be 10k. We don't want to pay anything.
Also to cancel the lease, this debt collector told the seller they need to file with the county which can take 14 business days. I wonder what this has to do with the county?
so closing will be delayed for sure. But we had to give the seller a 29 day free rent back anyway. So it's not like we were getting in the house until October anyway.
I can't believe what a mess so many of these solar lease deals are! And to think nobody mentioned this huge balance on the account to us!
I'm reading so many stories of buyers who are way into the closing process only to find this stuff out.
Seller knows they are in a tough spot, and it sounds like you made as good an offer as they'll get. If you stand your ground, I feel there's a decent chance they cave and pay them off. Seems you have the leverage in this scenario.
Thank you all again! We have asked the seller to provide his lease contract. We need to see the entire thing. We also want to see a few months of utility bills.
They are now asking us to pay for 1/3 the balance of the lease which would be 10k. We don't want to pay anything.
Also to cancel the lease, this debt collector told the seller they need to file with the county which can take 14 business days. I wonder what this has to do with the county?
so closing will be delayed for sure. But we had to give the seller a 29 day free rent back anyway. So it's not like we were getting in the house until October anyway.
I can't believe what a mess so many of these solar lease deals are! And to think nobody mentioned this huge balance on the account to us!
I'm reading so many stories of buyers who are way into the closing process only to find this stuff out.
I suspect the filing with the county has to do with the lien that the solar company has on the house. Not sure though.
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