Going into dept for solar panels

[treerooted]

Ugh, I hate the idea of having dept! Right now all we have is mortgage payments.

Thing is there's a government program that ends this year that would get us a good return on selling to the system. So it's sort of now or never. But because we moved last year we have no savings so we have to take out a loan to pay for the panels and install etc.

I wouldn't take on dept except for the guaranteed income. It's an investment. It will take us a long time to pay it off, so it's sort of part of a retirement plan.

Am I crazy?

 

[NH Homesteader]

I figure if you're going to be in debt... That's a pretty good reason to do it!

 

[treerooted]

Haha, yes I suppose your right @NH Homesteader . I think it's more of a mental thing for me to get around. We've also been having trouble getting the financing, but should hopefully have it sorted out very soon.

I think it's also the "am I sure this is a good idea?". But an investment that really does pay for itself is a good way to go I think. Plus it's a bit like having a back-up generator which I really want! (Though it will be a little while before we buy a battery to be able to store). We're a little tight for money so this feels like a splurge. But you're right, I know it's a smart move for lots of reasons. I just hope there aren't unforeseen costs that put us in a stressful situation

 

[HeidiEmbrey]

Ugh, I hate the idea of having dept! Right now all we have is mortgage payments.

Thing is there's a government program that ends this year that would get us a good return on selling to the system. So it's sort of now or never. But because we moved last year we have no savings so we have to take out a loan to pay for the panels and install etc.

I wouldn't take on dept except for the guaranteed income. It's an investment. It will take us a long time to pay it off, so it's sort of part of a retirement plan.

Am I crazy?

It depends. What interest rate? Would you be doing it yourself? You know we have laws here in Florida that make it illegal to have a solar system that is not attached to the grid..and make it illegal to use your solar panels when the power goes out. And when my power monopoly here says they pay you for your power they mean they give you a credit to buy power from them they don't give you cash. These scam artists installing it now are all cons..These power corps are cons. And that federal rebate is only if you pay that much in taxes anyway they won't take it. If you don't pay that much you might not get anything back. Be careful. Really pisses me off what these corporations are doing to BLOCK people trying to get away from them. We are doing it ourselves, ordering the panels ourselves and if you do it this way you will not have to go into debt you can do it for so much less. ..after youre done with their financing at some of these places that install and finance? You can do it for 2000 yourself..youll pay 20000 or more for power you cant use when the grid is out if you get it from these scam artists that install and their deals with the power corps ..

 

[HeidiEmbrey]

make sure you CAN use it for a back up generator. Here in Florida because we are forced by law, every home MUST to be connected to the grid.. we can't use it for backup power unless you do it yourself.

 

[treerooted]

make sure you CAN use it for a back up generator. Here in Florida because we are forced by law, every home MUST to be connected to the grid.. we can't use it for backup power unless you do it yourself.

We're actually going to ask about this today!
I don't think there's anything illegal about using power directly from your source (wind,solar, generator etc), but I'm not sure on the logistics.

 

[treerooted]

It depends. What interest rate? Would you be doing it yourself? You know we have laws here in Florida that make it illegal to have a solar system that is not attached to the grid..and make it illegal to use your solar panels when the power goes out. And when my power monopoly here says they pay you for your power they mean they give you a credit to buy power from them they don't give you cash. These scam artists installing it now are all cons..These power corps are cons. And that federal rebate is only if you pay that much in taxes anyway they won't take it. If you don't pay that much you might not get anything back. Be careful. Really pisses me off what these corporations are doing to BLOCK people trying to get away from them. We are doing it ourselves, ordering the panels ourselves and if you do it this way you will not have to go into debt you can do it for so much less. ..after youre done with their financing at some of these places that install and finance? You can do it for 2000 yourself..youll pay 20000 or more for power you cant use when the grid is out if you get it from these scam artists that install and their deals with the power corps ..

We won't be doing it ourselves, we're just not comfortable with it. We found a contractor we like and he'll take us through the whole process, though there's some work we'll do ourselves to cut costs. We make more money by selling to the grid, that's why we're doing it at all, after this year the special rate program ends and it wouldn't be worth it for us to install. Once the loan is paid for that will be extra income for us. We get "cash" for the return. The panels belong to us.
As for financing we're going through a home equity line of credit so the interest rate will be as low as we could get for such a loan. No one around here does the install + financing option anyway.
That's too bad that the system isn't very friendly in Florida.

 

[NH Homesteader]

A guy we know nearly burned his house down trying to do it himself!

Here it works out to get power from grid in winter in exchange for giving to the grid the rest of the year. But we have cold, snowy and dark winters!

 

[treerooted]

A guy we know nearly burned his house down trying to do it himself!

Here it works out to get power from grid in winter in exchange for giving to the grid the rest of the year. But we have cold, snowy and dark winters!

Ya same here. But how it works is we sell everything, and buy back what we need. Because with these special rates we can sell for more then it costs to buy. So essentially we get checks from the utility and then we pay our bill as normal. With our open south facing roof slope we're hoping to get pretty good generation, but of course winter will be lean. But it will balance out. Summer days are long!

 

[treerooted]

A guy we know nearly burned his house down trying to do it himself!

Yes! That's why we prefer to go with the experts on this. And my dh is a very handy guy, who has no problem with electrical.