Fannie, Freddie Kill Again - PACE Program Scares Them
This is indeed unfortunate. Fannie and Freddie, the evil twins of social engineering excess, have reached from the crypt to destroy a really useful program - PACE, which allows property owners to pay for the cost of energy improvements to their homes or businesses through an additional charge on their property tax. Yes, Fannie and Freddie kill again - PACE program scares them!! Read the story, Fannie, Freddie Kill PACE Program, by clicking the link.
Most people never heard of this program, because it was not well publicized, and only available in seven states.
How it worked was pretty simple. If you wanted, say, photo-electric panels on your roof [solar panels that make electricity] the power company paid for them and put a lien on the property which was paid through a surcharge on the property tax - in essence, a betterment.
What this meant was if the payback time on your solar panels was ten years, and you sold the house in five, you lost nothing!! The new owner, who continues to get the benefit of the betterment, pays for their share of it. Obviously, once you get beyond the betterment payments the electricity generated is just free to whoever owns the house at that time, and probably would increase its value.
Fannie and Freddie, who specialize in guarantees on mortgages of people who can't afford them (per the social direction set by Dodd and Frank) are concerned that homeowners may 'over-improve' their homes with energy efficiency improvements.
I suspect the real problem here is that this was not a Federal Program, but rather arose from the states - specifically from California. There was nothing there for Dodd, Frank and their fellow redistributionists - and if they can't 'wet their beaks', forget about it.
It's unfortunate that the very people who brought us this economic distress we're in feel it imperative to stop homeowners from declaring their energy independence (well, partial independence) because they are afraid people might get in over their heads. They should have thought of this before - maybe TEN YEARS AGO. I'd like to see the stats on no-doc/liar loan defaults versus energy efficiency loan defaults. I suspect long term payback projects might not be to the taste of flippers and speculators.
Here on Cape Cod we have a lot of environmentalists, many of them with the means to pay for these improvements themselves. The PACE progarm was for those, like myself, who have a nice, south facing roof, a modest home and limited means. For us to install devices with extended payback periods, especially when we probably will not be here that long, doesn't make economic sense. Not to mention the fact that we could never afford to spend $10,000, even if it would save us $150+ a month on our electric bill.
But a house like ours (a little 1,000 sf ranch in South Yarmouth) could easily be pretty much electricity independent, and probably a net electricty creator, a green, clean energy machine!! There are 900 houses within a half mile radius - at least half have sufficient southern exposure and could achieve somewhere near the same thing. In the Mid Cape area there are at least 2500 houses that could benefit from this program.
The Town of Yarmouth is putting solar panels everywhere it can - now, of course, they don't pay property taxes, but the Town is making a sensible investment. The same sensible investment by the local citizenry, paid for by the power company, billed by the Town, makes really good sense.
But the jokers and clowns at Fannie and Freddie are just incompetent political hacks. Don't bother them with good sense - they have social goals to meet.
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For all your Cape Cod Real Estate needs, call or text Steve at 508.241.3547
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On Steve Gregory's web site [Mom's House on the Cape] you'll find Cape Cod Resources for Aging, Assisted Living, Elder Law, Estate Planning and Real Estate. On his Facebook Page you'll find current information on assisted living, elder law, real estate etc., plus Mom's Recipe Box and Dad's Tool Box. Check it out.
TAGS: fannie,freddie,pace,energy efficiency,cape cod,yarmouth,south yarmouth
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