So I learned today that house appraisers are biased against solar (at least the one who came to my house). He absolutely won't include any extra value to the house for having solar despite covering 50-70% of our electric usage including EVs.
(Hint: he's bad at his job)
1/n
Appraiser asked how much I paid for solar & said "you'll never earn that back" & they would only last 20 yrs (they're literally warrantied for 30yrs).
He's spouting solar disinfo & is convinced most people won't want it, so it has no value (tell me you're MAGA without telling me you're MAGA).
2/n
Me: Free electricity has no value? With today's rates?
Him: ๐คทโโ๏ธ Not in PA.
PA is notoriously low-solar adoption and a heavy gas/coal state. But also some of the highest electric rates, so...?
A quick online search...
3/n
...turns out that actually PA is same as everywhere else, people pay more for solar homes.
"A study by the Pennsylvania Association of Realtorsยฎ found that Solar Panels Increase Property value in PA & sell for 3.73% more, adding an avg of $16,377 to their price"
4/n
https://www.parealtors.org/blog/study-shows-solar-panels-increase-home-value/
LOL...dude it's literally your job to know this...
This actually might be a GREAT test. See how much this guy appraises the house, knowing he's intentionally discounting the solar+battery system, then see how much it sells for to a person who actually values free electricity.
5/n
@susankayequinn sounds like your muni doesnt want the tax money ๐คทโโ๏ธ๐
"hey, the assessor put this value on it. not paying a dime more in taxes"
@susankayequinn ohhh okay ๐ aww
still seems pretty bad at his job as you pointed out ๐
@bweller brilliant alt way to check: letโs ask local govโts how much property taxes change for homes with a 2000-kWh array.
@susankayequinn an array is $10-25k so saying the house is worth another 20k would be my optimistic guess.
โHow much would a 2000kWh solar system impact valuation or property taxesโ. Called my county assessor. Third person I bounced to said theyโd call me back. ๐
@susankayequinn Something taht is done in Germany in order to counter such attitudes is, some public houses put live electricity counters in visible places so that their neighbours and visitors could see the numbers, get jealous, and want to install their own panels.
@susankayequinn I've put solar with loan onto three houses. During sale:
Them: Please subtract the solar debt from the sale price of the house.
Me: Fuck off and die.
Them: Okay, never mind.
At any rate, {25 - age}*{current $/kWh}*{kWh/year} is a good approximation, under the conservative assumption that energy costs scale with inflation.
@skewray oh interesting!
Yeah, I've been thinking of just printing out the electric usage and cost and correcting for current rates $/kWh
curious why you discount it for age? Do you really see that much of a dropoff in efficiency? I've had our panels for 4 years and can't tell a difference...
@skewray the "assumed" is the key part there -- all the installed systems are showing much longer lasting than the supposed "accelerated aging" tests have previously shown. Which makes sense, actually. There's only so much you can capture in the lab. And scrapping panels makes very little sense -- the decay in efficiency is long and slow. There are literally panels installed in the 80s (older tech too!) that are still operating at 80% original capacity.
That's why the warranties are longer now.
Zillow's 2025 study on homes with solar showing they sell for 4.1% more on average... yet this idea still hasn't permeated the thought process of people deciding if they can "afford" solar or when it will "pay back" -- people also assume energy rates are static, which they're definitely not.
https://www.zillow.com/research/solar-panels-house-sell-more-23798/
even solar panels from the 80s are still operating at 80% and those are much older tech... the panels being installed today are gonna last forever* and that's why warranties are longer now
*for values of forever = much longer than anyone currently is expecting
https://environmentamerica.org/center/updates/solar-panels-lasting-longer-than-previously-thought/
@sfoskett TX has all the sun and also all the corrupt energy corps who wanted to soak up all that sweet government money during the Biden-era subsidies (Inflation Reduction Act)
And yet my friend who lives in TX and wants rooftop solar had the worst restrictions from the local utilities that I'd seen in a while.
Solar for me (corps) but not for thee (citizens).
@susankayequinn @sfoskett we run solar here in Scotland and Pennsylvania has way more sun in the winter than Scotland does!
If I was still living in pa I would definitely pay more for solar on my house
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