Solar Panels for Your Home?

Company's tout that solar panels will add great value to your home, but how much value do they add and are the rebates offered worthwhile?  Watch the video or read the transcript below to find out.

Greetings.  Do solar panels add value to a home in the Austin area?  Yes, but not as much as the solar companies lead you to believe.  They’ll tell you the value of your home increases by the sticker price of what it costs to install them.  But since you’ll get rebates and tax credits, you pay much less than sticker price.   Let’s say you spend $11,000 to add what the solar company says is $25,000 worth of panels.  A buyer isn’t going to pay $25,000 extra for your house when they could also put the same $25,000 worth of panels on for $11,000 since they also get the credits and rebates?  So, yes, solar panels definitely add value, but it depends how many you have, how old they are, the buyback you get for extra electric generation, and a variety of other factors.  Solar can be a great option, especially for high electric consumers, but just be sure you have a realistic set of numbers to analyze.  I’m Craig Smyser with 1835 Realty.