Local Baton Rouge Home Appraiser, Bill Cobb, has begun a study of home resales where solar panels were own and installed at the time of sale.
Do BATON ROUGE Home buyers pay extra for homes with solar panels installed at the time of sale? And, does the presence of these panels help a home sell faster? I'm not discussing solar panel value in the Midwest or in California but rather local to Greater Baton Rouge where these panels aren't as common and lag in acceptance. There’s been 9 local resales within GBRMLS and I just emailed the listing and selling agents my questions about these sales, if the panels added any extra value and/or helped their listings sell faster. I’ll let you know their feedback at a recent future date.
The Appraisal Institute completed a study of 22,000 home sales where solar panels were installed and found the average buyer was willing to pay $15,000 extra. See article. And, they're also trying to sell a webinar on the topic titled, Selling Into The Sun. These were owned panels, not leased and homes may have been resales or new homes with panels.
HOWEVER, initial feedback so far from local Agents is that panels DID NOT add much of any extra value to the final home sales price but did help the home sell faster. This is exactly the case with those expensive $8,000 to $15,000 backup generator when I polled Agents as well.
In my opinion and experience in dealing with mortgage underwriters, and in Louisiana itself not the Midwest, just like an IG Pool, Metal Building, Detached Recreation Room, Outdoor Kitchen, or any major expensive extra not attached to the home, we as Appraisers must still prove with sales data buyers are willing to pay extra for solar panels and I’m not just giving $5,000, $10,000 or $15,000 for solar panels just because the Appraisal Institute says I can. It’s just not reality here yet.
Again, I will update locals in Baton Rouge of my findings.
In my opinion and experience in dealing with mortgage underwriters, and in Louisiana itself not the Midwest, just like an IG Pool, Metal Building, Detached Recreation Room, Outdoor Kitchen, or any major expensive extra not attached to the home, we as Appraisers must still prove with sales data buyers are willing to pay extra for solar panels and I’m not just giving $5,000, $10,000 or $15,000 for solar panels just because the Appraisal Institute says I can. It’s just not reality here yet.
Again, I will update locals in Baton Rouge of my findings.
If you have any feedback on this topic, please let me know.
Bill Cobb, Greater Baton Rouge's Home Appraiser
Accurate Valuations Group, LLC
Phone: 225-293-1500
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