We are frequently asked the question: does solar add value to my home? Or, if I put solar panels on will my home go up in value? The answer to both of those questions is yes. The first one comes into play in the context of an appraisal. After talking to several appraisers what they’re doing is generally giving about a $15,000 added value. I’ve also seen appraisals go as high as $30,000, but that’s for a really large system on a large home.
Besides appraised value, the other way solar can add value to your home is from a perceived value from a potential buyer. If you have solar on your home and you are putting your home on the market the easiest way to look at it is from the perspective of the potential buyer. You’re a buyer and you pull into a neighborhood and two homes are side by side. Home A is identical to Home B in layout, amenities, etc. The only difference is that Home A has solar on it. In California lets just say that Home B is paying $250/month for electricity. So that is $3000 more per year that Home B is paying over Home A that has zero electricity bill. Now let’s assume a new homeowner is buying a home, and in most cases intends to stay 10 plus years.
If they stay 10 years, they will save well over $50,000 in that timeframe. If they stay longer then obviously that savings will grow year after year. That being said, the obvious conclusion is that the new buyer could value solar on their new home as high as $50,000, but at a bare minimum they would value it well over an identical home without solar.
The overall consensus is that solar indeed does add value to a home, especially in California where electricity rates continue to rise.
If you have any additional questions, please feel free to reach out to me directly at tim@homeprosolutions.com