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This seems like a lot of posts where the bottom line should be that there are other houses out there.
Seriously! I know the housing market is nuts right now but damn, 100K over asking and they STILL want you to pay off their lease! Way too brazen of them, crazy market or not. Count me in as another who says toy need to move on. Even if it takes you another year to find another house, this isn't worth it.
Shocker that a realtor doesn't see the blame from the agent's side. Isn't this what agents always claim when people ask what exactly do you get paid for? "Oh we look out for our clients"
If you look back at my posts, I say that I place the most blame for the situation on the your buyer's agent for failing to protect you from this situation. Again, if you did not inquire with your agent about the disclosure after reading it, then you carry some level of blame too. If someone sent you a note that said "I'm going to kill you!" and you just sat there and waited to be killed instead of running or calling the police would you bear no responsibility at all for how the situation unfolded? Your agent clearly stunk this situation up by completely fumbling the disclosure. Again as I've said previously, if you said to your agent "what's this?" after seeing the disclosure and the answer was "oh, it's nothing" then you did everything you could do given what one could reasonably expect a buyer to know.
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Originally Posted by TheLonelyGoatherd
Why in the world would I think that there was some kind of a lease on solar? I know nothing about solar. I'm from the east coat. Solar just isn't a thing there. And even here, I've been looking at homes a lot lately and I'd say 90% of the home in our area don't have solar panels. And after two years of house hunting this is the first house that we've seen have panels.
I live on the East coast too but I know all about solar panels and solar leases because it's my job too and were you my client that knowledge would have protected you. It's unfortunate that the agent you hired did not protect you in the same manner.
This being said it says "lease" which even if you don't know about solar leases you probably know what a lease is because it's a common term and knowing that you don't own a part of the house is enough of a question mark to start some further investigation. What did you think when you saw that the panels were leased? Did you think they were being removed before the sale? Did you think the owner was paying off the lease prior to closing? Did you just ignore the disclosure?
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Originally Posted by TheLonelyGoatherd
There was no mention of them in the listing description. You only see the panels in ONE photo in the listing. Zero mention of the lease until AFTER our offer was accepted. It wasn't until the inspection that we asked what the deal was and the agent said there's a lease but honestly made it sound like the lease was from the electric company. He made NO mention of this company who lease the panels and that they were out of business and that the lease was with a debt collector.
You did not receive the disclosure form prior to entering into a contract? That seems REALLY wrong and you may have a case against the listing agent's license if that's the case. I thought you said in your initial post that you received a disclosure form that mentioned the solar lease. If you got that after you made your offer that's an important detail you left out or I failed to read.
From my viewpoint, the other details about the company being out of business are really extraneous. These leasing companies do whatever they can to get out of servicing the panels. So, it doesn't really matter if they're still in business or not because the maintenance and repair of the panels ultimately will end up being your problem.
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Originally Posted by TheLonelyGoatherd
I asked our agent why she didn't warn us and she says that she's never dealt with a sale like this. She's only sold very few homes with solar panels and they all just came with the house. She's never had a buyer of hers be asked to pay separately for panels or take over a lease. So if my agent who does this for a living didn't know to ask, how in the heck should my husband and I have known? NOW we know. And now you better believe if this falls through it will be the first thing I ask if I see a listing with panels. I'll be asking before I even set up a showing.
I've never sold a single home with solar panels and I've been an agent almost as long as yours has been around. Yet, I know all about selling homes with solar panels because I've chosen to educate myself so that I can protect my clients. Consider that when you're thinking about whether or not you want to keep working with your agent should this fall through.
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Originally Posted by TheLonelyGoatherd
the disclosure we received after inspection and it says verbatim "leased solar panels installed 8 years ago"
This is on a disclosure page that is chock FULL of other things we had to look at. So no that line didn't set off red flags for me. The flags went off when I asked for the name of the company and went to call only to find out they were out of business. Then as I was waiting for the correct number I started reading about the shams and the debt tied to these leases. And then I thought, "Surely this agent wouldn't be trying to close this house without disclosing the debt right? I mean he likes having his license right?"
Is that typical in the area you're buying . . . to receive the disclosure after your offer is accepted? That doesn't seem right and you may have a case there for a complaint against the listing agent's license.
This being said, if you saw the disclosure and immediately starting investigating then . . . great! You did what you could do and again unfortunate that your agent does not work at their craft to sufficiently protect their clients.
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Originally Posted by TheLonelyGoatherd
Even when my agent gave me the phone number of the solar company she said I had to "set up an account with them" So to me that sounded like what you do when setting up electric in a house. You don't pay the previous owner's bill, right? You set up a new account.
I see listings all the time where the seller is asking the buyer to take over their solar lease. It's not the weird, a-typical thing you're making it out to be. So, yes, many buyers just call and setup an account and take over the lease.
Personally, I think the only reason the seller is "playing ball" with you about this lease is because you absolutely crushed every other offer they got and even if they pay off the lease for you they're still $70K ahead of the game. They're just trying to squeeze you to see how much of the lease you'll pay so they can stick more money in their pocket.
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Originally Posted by TheLonelyGoatherd
There was no mention that I actually would have had to apply for the lease and get accepted. Apparently it's in the contract that they don't guarantee they will accept a transfer! All of this I found out later on. You don't see any of this as shady from the seller's side?
Again, I work in a state where our real estate laws are "buyer beware" so the onus is on the buyer to do their research. If you were told a solar lease is in place then the listing agent did what the law requires (in my area) IMO. This being said, this whole thing could have gone a lot smoother and been more pleasant for everyone if they had been more forthcoming up front with additional information. Again, from what I've always been told you just need to disclose an issue. Disclosing the size and scope of the issue is just icing on the cake that will make everything more delicious but it's still a cake even without the icing.
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Originally Posted by TheLonelyGoatherd
You don't think it's shady to mention that they want us to pay an extra 20-30k two weeks AFTER our offer is accepted? They accepted our offer on August 17th. We find out we are supposed to pay this debt on August 30th. You see nothing wrong with that?
Allow me to summarize what I've been saying since the beginning . . .
There are two questions here:
1) Did the listing agent fulfill their legal requirements of disclosure? They did tell you about the lease but did not tell you the details of the lease. What's not clear is when they told you about the lease. So, I'm not entirely sure they fulfilled their disclosure requirements. Again, they're not required to give you every detail for it to be considered disclosed.
2) Was the disclosure made in the most effective way? I think we can all agree this disclosure stunk. They should have had a copy of the lease in hand before going to market and it should have been available for potential buyers to review. More information up front about an issue like this makes for a smooth and successful sale.
Again, I feel like the person most to blame for this situation is your agent. Their job is to protect you and they didn't do that. This is why you continuing to educate yourself . . . to prepare for situations you've never faced before.
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Originally Posted by TheLonelyGoatherd
The whole thing is an artichoke with layers. Finding out there is a balance but seller's agent says "he's not sure how much" First he said he thought 30k, then he said he thinks 23k. We still don't have an exact number. So come on, man. Don't try to hoist this on me the buyer like I'm just the stupid one and the buyers and seller's agents are in the clear.
And then you wonder why so many people hate realtors and don't trust them? Yes it's all my fault for not seeing solar panels and asking a million questions immediately.
First, I never said it was "all your fault." I've been quite consistent in saying that you bear the smallest portion of the blame for this situation but that's only if you failed to ask anything about "what's this lease business?" If you asked and were told "don't worry about it" then again you did everything you could. You didn't create the problem but you may have prolonged it if you didn't ask "what's this lease thingy?"
This seller sounds like a mess, but again my biggest complaint is that your agent should have known enough to say solar leases are something you need to look closely at before getting into a contract to purchase. They should have known enough to say "we need to investigate this."
Something I didn't remember being discussed is that the solar panel installer may have placed a lien on the home that would be due at closing unless the lease is assumable and the OP agrees to take it over. The title corporation would confirm this in their title search. The OP needs to know this prior to closing and ask them for confirmation.
The solar panel installer went out of business. The seller pays a debt collector. We don't know if they're behind on their payments or if they took over the account when the company closed.
You're so right that there most likely is a lien on the house, especially since the OP did call the collection agency. If the collection agency is smart, they immediately started the ball rolling for the lien to be paid at closing.
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Originally Posted by Maddie104
So, they want a non-taxable "gift" and want you to attest that you received no consideration for the gift? If this is the case and you receive something of monetary value (i.e. solar panels) equal in worth, it does not qualify.
"Any transfer to an individual, either directly or indirectly, where full consideration (measured in money or money's worth) is not received in return."
If it were me, I would ask them to clarify that in writing -- even if I had no intention of doing it.
Agree Maddie, I forgot to mention that in my last reply. how can the solar panel money/payment not be considered payment for goods/merchandise? The OP would be buying the solar panels from the seller. In no way would whatever payment be a gift. The OP needs to have a receipt for the solar panels in case the seller or whoever says she doesn't own them because technically she has no purchase receipt.
The OP should have the seller write that it covers how many panels that are on the house along with whatever equipment there is like the box I have in my basement. The seller then signs it .
The seller was giving the OP $5,000 for closing costs or whatever. OP is giving the seller back that money to go towards the solar. I would make sure I got a receipt for that $5,000 payment for the solar so no one screws over the OP.
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Originally Posted by TheLonelyGoatherd
Yes they accepted our offer for the house on August 17th. Then on the 30th we heard about the debt that comes with the lease. And this comes after I call the solar company's number and find out they are out of business, read Yelp reviews on them, and then asked my agent a bunch of questions. This dragged out all week.
The company was ASD and the reviews are baaaaad.
So even though they accepted our offer on the house, now we have to negotiate this solar deal. I've read that legally it HAS to be a totally separate deal than the house. It needs its own closing if the seller is going to pay off the lease and we chip in money. All of this should have been done before the offer was accepted on the house.
I'm the one who had to research and speak to the debt collector. If we chose to assume the lease, they don't "transfer" anything to you. The new buyer has to apply for this lease and be approved just like the original buyer did. Basically you have to do exactly what you AREN'T supposed to do when getting a mortgage. Apply for new debt!
As for a lien, we were told there is a PUC on the property which is supposedly different than a lien. But still has to be cleared for the sale just the same.
So the last we heard was the seller said they would pay and close the account but we had to chip in $8000 of that.
I'm educating my agent how that 8k would have to be a gift at the closing table. It cannot be rolled into the sale of the house.
Our final offer was to offer them back the 5k credit they were giving us after inspection. Outside of updating the house, there is a broken a/c, hot water tank way past due and a lot of windows that need to be replaced. A good 20k of repairs and they were offering us 5k. So the most we'll "chip in" for this lease is giving them back the 5k of repair credits. That's it.
We said they can pay off the lease and take the panels with them if they want. Of course the roof would need to be repaired if need be. But this all falls outside of the house closing. It would have to be a separate contract.
That's why agents tell their sellers to take of this before listing their house. It's all a big headache.
Oh and the best part is this..............The panels on this house generated just under $1900 in electricity "credits" with the electric company in the past 12 months.
The payments of the lease 161 per month x 12 months total $1932.
So it literally cost more money to have the lease than the solar saves in electric. We wouldn't start coming out ahead until the end of the lease which is 12 years from now if we took over the lease.
Or we pay the 8,000 to help the seller close out the lease. Then we'd start coming out ahead in 4 years. ($2,000 a year in solar credits earned but paying 8,000 up front means 4 years of breaking even and earning solar credits at year 5 )
Again, I'm having to educate my agent on this so she can point this out to the other agent on why neither taking over the lease or paying the 8k is an attractive offer for us. I may as well take 8k and fling it out the window.
If they don't eat this lease after this weekend, we are walking. At this point I don't love the house anymore.
Thank you all for reading this. I really hope it can help someone out there looking to buy or sell with a solar lease
When we lease solar panels, we're selling some of the energy we made back to the solar or power company.
I don't know if you know this, but our houses are not 100% solar (mine isn't anyway), where if we had a power outage, our home electric and solar would not stay on. We lose power too. I was very disappointed the first time the power went out after leasing solar.
If your house closing doesn't end up crashing, I suggest you find out what the system can and can't do for you if the power were to go out and if you would lose it like we do. I forgot to mention it yesterday.
I've never had my solar serviced in the 5+ years we've had it. It may even be closer to 10. I don't know specifics because my hub dealt with it. I'm going to be asking him if we can access it with an app. I'd like to be able to look to see if it does need servicing which was mentioned in one of the posted articles about solar.
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Originally Posted by City Guy997S
Me? 100K over ask.............ummm that seems nuts, why not start at 25-50K?
I say the same thing, the OP should have offered $25k to start. I can't believe their agent didn't advise them against the $100k over.
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Originally Posted by City Guy997S
Solar panels, NO CHANCE would I sign the lease/take it over. I would make the current owner pay them off, heck he can even take them with him!
Read the lease terms (or better yet have the title company clarify them). If they can't lien the property, then tell the previous owner the panels are his problem and then have them removed. If the leasing company calls/mails letters then you can say your house doesn't have panels Mr Previous Owner took them with him............
It would depend on various specifics if I'd take it over or not. If they had the same quality panels that I have on my house and that they can show me it saves a lot of money, especially in the summer, then I'd consider doing it.
After we bought this house, our first summer electric bill that we got after we started using the AC was $800. We did not go crazy with the AC either with keeping it pretty cool both day and night. Our house was newly built. We don't have an established tree in the front of it so the sun beats down on the house.
As soon as we got that 1st AC electric bill we started upping the temperature of the thermostat. Unfortunately we were only able to get it down to $600. I believe the one after that was about $400. The solar has made our bill go down to about $100, sometimes less in the summer.
Maybe the seller will pay off the solar and allow the OP to keep it.
If he does not pay it off, I honestly don't think the collection agency would go after the OP, they'd go after the seller for the money.
I can tell you for a fact that solar companies do not want the solar panels and system back because it's old technology plus would cost them money for the labor to remove it.
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Originally Posted by ebbe
THIS
No way would I assume someone else's debt. There is a better house out there for you. And if you feel your agent has not represented you ethically, report her to the board of realtors. You should consult with a lawyer about this deal if you proceed.
Agree the OP should consider reporting the agents to the board of realtors, she should also leave them feedback at Zillow Go to the top of the page to agent finder, add zip code and agent name, leave feedback.
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Originally Posted by hooligan
Bingo. That's where I'd land, too. Or I'd assume (payoff) the lease, but subtract that amount from my offer, which would essentially be the same thing.
I've never wanted any property bad enough to pay $100K+ over asking price. YMMV.
Agree, I would never over pay on a home for $100k more. It's insane! OP's agent shouldn't have let them offer that much, they most likely did not stop them because it increases the house price which equals more commission for them. That's probably why OP's agent was more than happy to submit their offer of $100k over asking, so the agent gets more commission.
The solar panel installer went out of business. The seller pays a debt collector. We don't know if they're behind on their payments or if they took over the account when the company closed.
You're so right that there most likely is a lien on the house, especially since the OP did call the collection agency. If the collection agency is smart, they immediately started the ball rolling for the lien to be paid at closing.
Agree Maddie, I forgot to mention that in my last reply. how can the solar panel money/payment not be considered payment for goods/merchandise? The OP would be buying the solar panels from the seller. In no way would whatever payment be a gift. The OP needs to have a receipt for the solar panels in case the seller or whoever says she doesn't own them because technically she has no purchase receipt.
The OP should have the seller write that it covers how many panels that are on the house along with whatever equipment there is like the box I have in my basement. The seller then signs it .
The seller was giving the OP $5,000 for closing costs or whatever. OP is giving the seller back that money to go towards the solar. I would make sure I got a receipt for that $5,000 payment for the solar so no one screws over the OP.
When we lease solar panels, we're selling some of the energy we made back to the solar or power company.
I don't know if you know this, but our houses are not 100% solar (mine isn't anyway), where if we had a power outage, our home electric and solar would not stay on. We lose power too. I was very disappointed the first time the power went out after leasing solar.
If your house closing doesn't end up crashing, I suggest you find out what the system can and can't do for you if the power were to go out and if you would lose it like we do. I forgot to mention it yesterday.
I've never had my solar serviced in the 5+ years we've had it. It may even be closer to 10. I don't know specifics because my hub dealt with it. I'm going to be asking him if we can access it with an app. I'd like to be able to look to see if it does need servicing which was mentioned in one of the posted articles about solar.
I say the same thing, the OP should have offered $25k to start. I can't believe their agent didn't advise them against the $100k over.
It would depend on various specifics if I'd take it over or not. If they had the same quality panels that I have on my house and that they can show me it saves a lot of money, especially in the summer, then I'd consider doing it.
After we bought this house, our first summer electric bill that we got after we started using the AC was $800. We did not go crazy with the AC either with keeping it pretty cool both day and night. Our house was newly built. We don't have an established tree in the front of it so the sun beats down on the house.
As soon as we got that 1st AC electric bill we started upping the temperature of the thermostat. Unfortunately we were only able to get it down to $600. I believe the one after that was about $400. The solar has made our bill go down to about $100, sometimes less in the summer.
Maybe the seller will pay off the solar and allow the OP to keep it.
If he does not pay it off, I honestly don't think the collection agency would go after the OP, they'd go after the seller for the money.
I can tell you for a fact that solar companies do not want the solar panels and system back because it's old technology plus would cost them money for the labor to remove it.
Agree the OP should consider reporting the agents to the board of realtors, she should also leave them feedback at Zillow Go to the top of the page to agent finder, add zip code and agent name, leave feedback.
Agree, I would never over pay on a home for $100k more. It's insane! OP's agent shouldn't have let them offer that much, they most likely did not stop them because it increases the house price which equals more commission for them. That's probably why OP's agent was more than happy to submit their offer of $100k over asking, so the agent gets more commission.
This is why no one will ever convince me that an RE agent who has a financial incentive that is in conflict with mine can be my fudiciary. I don't necessarily think it is about getting more commission. The agent knows a seller is more likely to accept a sale favorable to their financial best interests.
However, there are some markets where $100,000 over list is not uncommon so that will vary depending upon the desirability/inventory/price points of the market/home.
Last edited by Maddie104; 09-05-2021 at 11:31 AM..
First thing my agent (and friend) told me when we started searching was "never fall in love with a house". Sounded funny at first. He was right. Best advice I've ever been given. $100,000 over asking and already a bunch of concessions before even knowing about the solar issue? Lol You fell in love with a house.
I wouldn’t but if you’re even considering it, look up the solar company’s reviews online. We were considering a system like that before, but when we looked up the company online a lot of the customer experiences dealing with them were just horrendous.
It is excellent advice! But he won't go for it! They want us to pay that $8,000 of their debt.
These sellers are in total denial of the solar lease shams of the past decade. All they'd have to do is google it. I've made plenty of bad decisions in my life. Just own it and pay for it. I paid for mine. I'm not paying for his.
From what I'm reading it's actually bordering on being illegal what they are doing. I'm not sure though. Not that we'd sue. Just walk away. But from what I read with these leases, at closing they are treated completely separately from the sale of the house. No different than if I bought the house and took over the seller's car lease payments. Separate transactions.
So while a seller can ask the buyer if they want to take over the lease, the buyer can say no. And that should not affect the sale of the house and the accepted offer. Except with us it is affecting it! We are being made to feel like if we don't pay for this lease, the deal is off.
The lawsuits behind these leases is why I'm reading so many agents tell sellers to pay them off before selling or disclose it right up front before an offer is even made. They don't want any drama around these leases. And yet we somehow end up with both seller's and buyer's agent who are acting like it's their first day with this. I know more about solar leases than they do at this point.
ChrisCD, we were duped into making a higher offer because we were told of this sudden offer than came out of the woodwork. These invisible buyers were going to snatch up the house if we didn't give best and final offer. We got snowed on that part, I'll admit. I won't do that again on a house that's been sitting that long.
Run Forest, RUN!
The sellers lied by omission to you. Their RE agent just wants a commission, so they don't care what they say to you, as long as they "close the deal."
I'd rescind my original offer. Walk away. (No, RUN away.)
Unless the house is $8001, then forget it. They tried to peddle the place to a stupe. You wised up and now see the light of their ethics. Do you really want to do business with these types?
A poster above mentioned, "I wonder what else the sellers are hiding?" This is a good question, because they'll never tell you.
This being said it says "lease" which even if you don't know about solar leases you probably know what a lease is because it's a common term and knowing that you don't own a part of the house is enough of a question mark to start some further investigation. What did you think when you saw that the panels were leased? Did you think they were being removed before the sale? Did you think the owner was paying off the lease prior to closing? Did you just ignore the disclosure?
We first heard about the solar at the showing. But they glossed over it quickly. And of course I planned on asking about it. But at that time we are looking a house that needs a lot of updating, trying to take in if it's worth buying or not. The house is built in a canyon and the yard definitely needs some retention walls. So there are a million things to take in. Because I didn't know jack about solar leases, I put it on my mental list of things I will ask about.
The seller's agent glossed over the solar quickly. He said the panels are leased and we'd have to do create an account with them. But he mentioned the electric company several times so I honestly figured it was something with the electric company. He never once mentioned this was a 20 year lease with a company that was out of business and I'd be dealing with the collection agency. Never mentioned the huge balance still on the loan. Never mentioned that I'd have to apply and hope I'm accepted by the debt collector in order to assume the lease. So IMO, these are all lies by omission. If the truth isn't so bad, then why not tell the truth. Why not tell a little bit of the truth? He knew what he was doing by mentioning the lease quickly and moving on
The timeline goes like this- 8/16 showing and offer made - 8/17 offer accepted - 8/24 inspection- 8/25 we signed the disclosure.
We received the disclose a couple days before signing it. So I believe it was 8/23 we received it. But it was indeed AFTER our offer was accepted.
And even in the disclosure it only says solar lease. Again nothing about the company, the balance, applying for debt, etc. All of this came when I tried calling the company to do what I thought was setting up an account. Then I had to ask a million questions. So we only got this info after demanding answers. The contract, the balance, etc
So if by "entering a contract" you mean, when they accepted our offer? Then no we didn't receive the disclosure before that. Should we have? We bought our last house as is as a pre-forclosure. Before that was 20 years ago and I can't remember at what stage we got the disclosure form.
My issue isn't when we got the disclosure. It's how this was all handled. You can tell the seller's agent is trying to be slick. He could have lost several buyers over the summer. So now he's got to get creative. And these sellers are in total denial that they got hosed on their lease.
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I see listings all the time where the seller is asking the buyer to take over their solar lease. It's not the weird, a-typical thing you're making it out to be. So, yes, many buyers just call and setup an account and take over the lease.
It's very weird to expect someone to just take over your bad debt in the middle of escrow, 2 weeks away from closing. They knew we had to hash out this debt separate from the house sale. That is the legal way to do it. It says so explicitly in the contract the seller signed. So to ask us now about taking this on? Not a smart move on their part. Because I feel like they were trying to dupe us.
Look at it this way, the solar company put a notice filing on the house. In CA they called it a PUC. Not a lien but a "head's up". The solar debt collector said it will take 14 business days to remove this notice filing before they can sell the house. So the seller doomed his own closing date by introducing this stuff at this stage. We will have to bump the closing date even if we get this resolved tomorrow. We can't close until that notice filing is lifted. So their timing is the big problem here. I can't figure out why they'd want to handle it that way other than thinking we're too far to turn back. Wrong.
We first heard about the solar at the showing. But they glossed over it quickly. And of course I planned on asking about it. But at that time we are looking a house that needs a lot of updating, trying to take in if it's worth buying or not. The house is built in a canyon and the yard definitely needs some retention walls. So there are a million things to take in. Because I didn't know jack about solar leases, I put it on my mental list of things I will ask about.
The seller's agent glossed over the solar quickly. He said the panels are leased and we'd have to do create an account with them. But he mentioned the electric company several times so I honestly figured it was something with the electric company. He never once mentioned this was a 20 year lease with a company that was out of business and I'd be dealing with the collection agency. Never mentioned the huge balance still on the loan. Never mentioned that I'd have to apply and hope I'm accepted by the debt collector in order to assume the lease. So IMO, these are all lies by omission. If the truth isn't so bad, then why not tell the truth. Why not tell a little bit of the truth? He knew what he was doing by mentioning the lease quickly and moving on
The timeline goes like this- 8/16 showing and offer made - 8/17 offer accepted - 8/24 inspection- 8/25 we signed the disclosure.
We received the disclose a couple days before signing it. So I believe it was 8/23 we received it. But it was indeed AFTER our offer was accepted.
And even in the disclosure it only says solar lease. Again nothing about the company, the balance, applying for debt, etc. All of this came when I tried calling the company to do what I thought was setting up an account. Then I had to ask a million questions. So we only got this info after demanding answers. The contract, the balance, etc
So if by "entering a contract" you mean, when they accepted our offer? Then no we didn't receive the disclosure before that. Should we have? We bought our last house as is as a pre-forclosure. Before that was 20 years ago and I can't remember at what stage we got the disclosure form.
My issue isn't when we got the disclosure. It's how this was all handled. You can tell the seller's agent is trying to be slick. He could have lost several buyers over the summer. So now he's got to get creative. And these sellers are in total denial that they got hosed on their lease.
It's very weird to expect someone to just take over your bad debt in the middle of escrow, 2 weeks away from closing. They knew we had to hash out this debt separate from the house sale. That is the legal way to do it. It says so explicitly in the contract the seller signed. So to ask us now about taking this on? Not a smart move on their part. Because I feel like they were trying to dupe us.
Look at it this way, the solar company put a notice filing on the house. In CA they called it a PUC. Not a lien but a "head's up". The solar debt collector said it will take 14 business days to remove this notice filing before they can sell the house. So the seller doomed his own closing date by introducing this stuff at this stage. We will have to bump the closing date even if we get this resolved tomorrow. We can't close until that notice filing is lifted. So their timing is the big problem here. I can't figure out why they'd want to handle it that way other than thinking we're too far to turn back. Wrong.
Yeah the seller and his agent were trying to dupe you. I guess it's a good thing you called the collection company for them to put the PUC/lien on the house because it's giving you an out. I would take it if I was in your shoes, paying $100k over plus both of them trying to be slick about the solar. The seller should have been smart, paid it out of that $100k extra but instead he's greedy. I think they're all greedy because the agents are making more commission because of that $100k over. That's what it's all about, bringing in the buck$$$$
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