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Should you wash your solar panels?

incoherency.co.uk

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Re: Should you wash your solar panels?

#201

Post by baq »

pton_xd wrote: post #41
delusional wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly the same reason you should probably clean the rest of the house when you're selling it. Theoretically, the price of the house before cleaning should be equal to the value if the house after cleaning, minus whatever the cleaning costs. In reality, you'll get much less for your house without cleaning it, because human emotions.

> because human emotions. If I tour a house with pet urine stains all over the carpet, it's only logical to conclude that the owner is likely not maintaining the rest of the house to a very high standard.

That’s exactly how you get a good price though

Re: Should you wash your solar panels?

#202

Post by retired »

jawilson2 wrote: post #178
retired wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I spend €125 on an interior decorator and another €500 in furniture and decorations after to make my condo more cozy. And then another €300 for professional photos and drone shots. The photos looked like those fancy interior magazines. I will never know if it is because of my effort and investment but I’m certain that it attracted a lot of attention. People really want a move-in ready home that looks like the magazin…

> €500 in furniture I feel like this is 3/4 of a coffee table?

I purchased brand new furniture that looks pretty but quickly falls apart, looks horrible up close and isn’t comfortable. It’s basically decor pieces.

Amazon couch for $250:

https://www.amazon.com/Kingfun-Loveseat-Century-Upholstered-...

Re: Should you wash your solar panels?

#204

Post by gizmo686 »

flutas wrote: post #183
gizmo686 wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The "before closing" does a lot of work here. It sounds like the seller made the disclosure when they were legally required to. This is pretty common in large purchases. First the buyer and seller agree in principle, then they perform their due diligence. Sometimes sales fall through at that last step. If, hypothetically, the seller never disclosed the financing, then that would be an issue between the seller and the…

> At most, the buyer would need to allow the financer access to retrieve their property. The financer could then sue the seller for the buy-out cost and/or breach of contract. Nope, at least not typically. Typically in the US houses are sold as-is unless it's noted in the closing docs. Everything in or on the house when you close is yours. The seller would be the one fighting with the financing company, as (again unl…

Financer is probably not the correct word here. The common model around here is that an installer puts solar panels on your roof, and sells you the right to their electric output in exchange for a fixed fee (with a fixed annual increase). That is to say, the original homeowner never owned the solar panels, and so never had the right to sell it in the firstplace.

If the solar panels were financed with an unsecured loan, then the home buyer would unambigously own them. It is also possible for the lender to have a lien against the panels; which again would survive the home sale.

Re: Should you wash your solar panels?

#205

Post by brnt »

WalterBright wrote: post #114
delichon wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We had a contractor doing repairs before we sold our house. Without being asked he took an orbital sander to the wooden hand railings along the stairs to the front door and said "people really notice this". A family came for the tour and before walking in the father put his hand on the rail, looked up at the house, and said "this place seems well maintained". Then they bought the house after a small pleasant (for us)…

A real estate agent told me that a customer decides to buy/not buy a house as soon as they put their hand on the front door knob. If he decides to buy, he'll look at the rest of the house looking for a reason not to. I.e. putting in an expensive door knob is a good plan!

> A real estate agent told me

Whatever you wanted to hear to make them the most amount of money in the(ir) least amount of time.

They are the sellers agent.

You should not trust them a millimetre further than that.

(I bought my current house based on a spreadsheet analysis. Doorknobs are easy to replace, foundations, walls, electric, a lot harder.)

Re: Should you wash your solar panels?

#207

Post by adonovan »

gizmo686 wrote: post #141
nopurpose wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd expect solicitors to find liabilities like that. How did it end?

The "before closing" does a lot of work here. It sounds like the seller made the disclosure when they were legally required to. This is pretty common in large purchases. First the buyer and seller agree in principle, then they perform their due diligence. Sometimes sales fall through at that last step. If, hypothetically, the seller never disclosed the financing, then that would be an issue between the seller and the…

At least here in Brooklyn a significant minority (a third?) are purchased outright, as that gives the best long term return if you can afford the initial investment, and it simplifies a later house sale (see thread above). I think some of the tax incentives only apply in that case too.

Re: Should you wash your solar panels?

#208

Post by ssl-3 »

asdff wrote: post #165
dlubarov wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To add a few more: it's similarly easy to swap cabinet handles, vent covers, outlet wall plates. Fresh caulk is nice too, even if it's a bit sloppy, still beats stained or cracked caulk.

I hate when sellers do this. Replace all the finishes and hardware with the cheapest possible hardware from the store just because it is new. You end up paying for a top dollar house (because now you can argue its worth more than comps that didn't get this treatment) with bottom dollar components. What would be better is not doing anything and letting the new owner install what makes sense to them, instead of having…

I hate it, too. And obviously, sellers are motivated to seek to maximize the sale price, while buyers are motivated to minimize it.

But if these hacks do increase the sale price: When (if) you find a suitable place that has not had the cheap+easy hardware refresh, then it will tend to sell for a lower price than one that has.

And that's good for buyers like you, and me.

Re: Should you wash your solar panels?

#209

Post by malfist »

noir_lord wrote: post #197
manmal wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Panels should do 30 years, easy. Inverters will usually fail after 15y, and with batteries it’s unknown what the current gen will do - 15y, maybe 20? Definitely get LFP.

I’m waiting to see what the sodium packs look like before we do Solar PV (it’s on the list but not near the top so no urgency yet).

Sodium batteries are more grid scale I believe. They require seriously high temps to operate and thats best shared in massive banks

Re: Should you wash your solar panels?

#210

Post by wodenokoto »

micromacrofoot wrote: post #176
wodenokoto wrote: post #6

> why would you clean them when you're about to sell the house? So they look good and the potential buyer sees something that looks to be in good condition and working well.

Actually in some places panels devalue a house because some people consider them an eyesore

And to those people, clean panels devalue the property more than dirty?
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