Add Solar Panels To Help Your House Sell Faster

http://www.solardave.com/index.php/how-to-sell-your-house-faster-by-adding-solar-panels-video/
I thought this was an interesting story of a person that put $15k worth of solar on their home just before selling it.

Melissa Thornton: So the same model that is down the street for sale – over $150k less – that has been on the market for 2 years still hasn’t sold. I was able to sell this in just over a month.

Comparables to some of the other houses that are on the market like this stucco one over here on the corner that is listed over $100k less than my house with 4 car garage more sq footage I was able to sell mine for more. So going green really paid off in the long run.

I worked with REC Solar they are headquartered out of California but they have an office here in Colorado and I paid $1,000 deposit for my system and then they actually took all of the assumption for the property underneath their umbrella. Then once the project was complete I wrote a check for the $15K.

I don’t pay a utility bill I actually got paid about $75 a month to live in this 5,300 sq ft house which was great. Then when it came to marketability I had different niches I was able to use. Green MLS as well as marketing the property in green magazines. And the house being energy star rated no green washing (?) and it got a lot of attention.

We implemented our energy audit and we did everything from warping our hot water heater to changing our lights to compact florescence to little things that made a really big impact like putting chalk inside your plate between the drywall and where the actually electrical box is. Blowing in coleus we really tighten the building envelope so then we made the final improvement of the 5.2 kilowatt solar system we where able to take advantage of the rebates that are offered by Exel Energy and this system normally cost $42K and as of January of next year when the incentives are gone we will actually out of market, I actually paid $15k for it.

SolarDave: How did the appraisal process go?

Melissa Thornton:The appraisal industry is under tight scruneny and has been for the past year and a half. So they won’t appraise it for an astronomical amount. The wat the appraisal industry works is they come in on behave of the leader and make sure their investment is legit if will and so on this property it came in a little over what out contract price was as it does in any market place so they (solar panels) do not add a significant dollar value for the green improvements yet, but that is something in 2008 and 2009 you will see change.