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Selling a house with solar

Owned is simple. Leased has three outcomes, and one of them needs handling before you list.

Three outcomes

What happens to the system when you sell the houseAn owned system conveys with the house. A leased system transfers if the buyer qualifies, and otherwise must be prepaid or bought out before closing.You sell the houseYou own it
It conveys with the house, like a furnace. Nothing to qualify for.
Buyer takes over the lease
They pass a credit check and sign a transfer at the same rate you had.
Buyer does not qualify
You prepay the remaining payments, or buy the system, before the sale closes.
An owned system conveys with the house and needs no permission from anyone. A third-party system needs the buyer to qualify — and a plan if they do not.

Before you list

  1. 01

    Find out which one you have

    Owned, leased, or a power purchase agreement. The paperwork says so in the first paragraph.

  2. 02

    Get the transfer requirements in writing

    Credit thresholds, notice periods and any fee. Notice periods can run to months, which is longer than a sale.

  3. 03

    Ask for the current buyout figure

    Usually fair market value set by an appraiser. Worth knowing early, not during attorney review.

  4. 04

    Tell your agent before the listing goes up

    A buyer's agent who discovers a 25-year agreement during due diligence will treat it as a problem. Disclosed up front it is just a detail.

Read next

What a battery actually doesSolar alone shuts off in an outage. A battery is what keeps something running — but not everything.How to check a solar proposalOne diagram, nine questions, and a calculator that works on anyone's quote — including ours.What happens after you signInstalled and switched on are different days. Here is the gap, and why it exists.
All 8 guides →

When you are ready to compare a real number

Zip and a bill gets you a range in about a minute. An advisor confirms it on the roof — and you should hold us to every question on these pages.

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