If you are an investment property owner looking to increase the profitability of your property or cut your overall expenses solar may be the answer you are looking for. Many investors are installing solar panels with the solar incentives in Massachusetts and Rhode Island that decrease the overall price and start immediate savings in their energy prices. 

Once solar panels are installed, they are a lifetime revenue source on your rooftop. As a solar company, we believe its useful for homeowners to know all of the benefits they could experience if their rental property is a good fit for solar, so we took the time to cover the advantages that made our customers go solar in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.  

Benefits Of Solar Panels On Rental Property

Pass On Excess Energy Production To Other Properties Including Your Personal Home

• Rental property owners can take advantage of solar panels at one rental property  to create savings at another property. If you own multiple investment properties, installing solar panels on one property can benefit multiple properties as any excess energy production can be sent to another home in the same grid.* This also applies to your personal home or business that does not have solar panels. This allows landlords to double up on the savings from one solar panel installation and maximize the value on the investment.

Justify Charging More For Monthly Rent

• To continue from the previous benefit, if electricity costs are completely eliminated from investment properties and there is only a loan payment then you can roll that expense into rent. Instead of your tenants setting up an account with their local provider and paying another bill each month, they pay a higher rent which covers the cost of the loan on the solar panels. This increase in rent will endup being less than they would have paid in electricity bills over the course of a year saving them money and giving them piece of mind during the summer months when they are running their air conditioners. Instead of the tenants paying fluctuating electricity bills, landlords can charge their tenants one fixed price this has made apartments more attractive to rent. 

Increase The Value Of Your Property

• Most renovations only offer a marginal increase in the property value that take time to get back in monthly rent or when you eventually sell the home. Solar panels save you money the day they start producing and once they are paid off you benefit from free electricity. This increases the value of your property by removing an expense for future owners. With rental properties being a long-term investment, the solar panels are paid in full before the property is sold so there is should be no payments for the new owner to take over. Additionally, every month after the solar system is paid off, the owner benefits from free electricity. When the property is sold on average homes with solar panels have sold 9% higher, according to Zillow. System that is completely paid off and increasing thousands of cash flow. Solar will increase your cash flow which will increase the value of your property.

Create Savings Or Completely Eliminate Electric Bills

• Installing solar panels at your rental property will offset the price of electricity by replacing your monthly electric bill with a monthly loan payment that is less than your current energy costs. This replacement allows landlords to lock in a monthly price that will not fluctuate like a electricity bill does seasonally or after rate and delivery charge changes. Meanwhile, the energy production from their solar panels greatly reduce or completely eliminates their electricity costs
  • • We understand that most landlords only pay for their meter so it may not apply for you but if you are paying for the building’s electricity solar locks in guaranteed savings. 

Decrease Your Property’s Carbon Footprint

• Solar panels are one of the most effective was to substantially reduce your carbon footprint. While most green practices require a change in your current lifestyle, solar panels allow homeowners to live a more sustainable life without any change in their current day to day. With solar panels, a home is cutting its reliance on fossil fuels and powering their home with clean energy from the sun. This switch to renewable energy also comes with federal and state solar incentives that offset the total cost of the solar installation. 

Adding solar to your home is like having a new tenant sign a 25-year lease and paying you every month to live on your roof. Between federal rebates and state solar incentives, landlords are benefiting from reduced upfront costs to switch to solar, able to save money each month in operating costs and increasing the value of their investment. 

Drawbacks Of Solar Panels For Rental Properties

There are some potential hold-ups for installing solar on your rental property: 

• Upfront cost – Pricing of solar installations vary on production needed but are a significant financial investment 
• Meeting Structural Requirements – Many rental properties are older homes which may not meet the structural requirements needed for solar
• Electrical Upgrades – Older properties also may have outdated electrical boards that need to be replaced and can increase your overall installation cost

If you are curious about if solar panels make sense for your rental property give us a call at (508)-567-0647 or start your free quote. 

 

* There are local limitations that apply to transferring excess power within the same grid. In Massachusetts the two properties must be within the same geographic area. As an example, an Eversource customer living in Dartmouth cannot send power to their Eversource property in Boston. In Rhode Island, you can only send power to other meters on the same property. You cannot send to another property throughout the state unless the same name is on both bills.

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Should I Get Solar Panels?: A Quick Guide To Buying Solar Panels For Your Home

Benefits of Purchasing Solar Panels

• Monthly Savings On Your Electricity Bills 
• The biggest motivator for homeowners to switch to solar is seeing an immediate savings in their next monthly electricity bill once they are installed. Across the country electricity prices continue to rise at historic rates. This is why solar in Massachusetts has become so popular. As of Feburary 2022, Massachusetts has the 4th highest electricity rates in the country. Rhode Island solar panels are also popular as they have the 5th highest electricity rates. Homeowners looking for ways to save money have found solar panels are an efficient solution that creates long-term savings. Instead of paying the local electricity company for your energy supply you are supplying your own energy from your roof or ground mount solar panels. Your solar panel installation will create enough energy to cover your monthly electricity usage so you no longer need to pay your energy provider for their energy. This means the constantly increasing electricity bill you have will now be delivered with ‘No Payment Due’ and in some cases adding credits to your account for overproduction! 
• Lifetime Of Financial and Environmental Savings 
• With solar panels those monthly savings turn into lifetime savings and a meaningful contribution to helping the environment. By creating your own energy through purchasing solar panels, you avoid paying rising electricity rates that change with the price of natural gas. In most cases, you pay a locked-in rate or loan fee for the lifetime of your solar panels. In 2022, the average price of electricity rose 7.5% from 2021, which meant more expensive electricity bills. With solar in Massachusetts, everytime the price increase that is additional savings for your household since your price stays the same. Once your solar panels are paid off, your electricity is completely free. Over the 25 year lifetime of solar panels that could equal $60,000 in savings. The additional benefit to buying solar panels is the reduction of CO2 emissions since you no longer rely on natural gas. One solar panel can offset have the same CO2 offset as planting 10 mature trees. For the average home that produces 7,000 Watts of solar power, this is the same as planting 180 trees a year. For this reason solar panels is the most significant way to decrease your carbon footprint without disrupting your current way of life. 
• Option To Lease Solar Panels or Purchase Solar Panels 
• How much money you will save on your solar panels depends on your choice to lease or buy solar panels. If you lease your solar panels then you will not have any upfront cost. Instead of paying a large sum upfront, you get panels on your roof and a locked in monthly payment. This monthly payment will be less than your current electricity bill. However, leasing solar panels can open the door for increased payments in the future if your lease agreement forces you to pay for increases in electiricty rates as the price of energy increases. 
• When you purchase solar panels there is an upfront cost which is usually paid for with a loan or cash. However, the total cost of solar will be offset by solar incentives. There are both federal solar tax credits and Massachusetts solar incentives available. These programs will decrease the total cost of solar panels and increase your savings each month and over the lifetime of your solar panels. When leasing solar panels, homeowners do not qualify for these incentives or the ability to create credits which adds up to a lot of added money over the lifetime of your solar panel installation. 
• How Much Do Solar Panels Cost? 
• Every home solar panel installation is unique. There are a lot of factors that go into determining how much solar panels will cost you. The key factors are how much energy you use, how many panels your home can support, whether you lease vs buy solar panels and what solar incentives you qualify for. The only way to know the price you will pay to install solar panels will be to get a solar quote. At Isaksen Solar, we quote solar for your home at your consultation free of charge. 
• Truth About Solar Panels
• We understand buying solar panels can be a major decision for homeowners. That is why the most important part of installing solar panels should be to find the best solar companies in MA and RI. A search of “solar companies near me” is a good starting point. The goal for every homeowner should be to find a solar company they trust. Whether its MA solar or RI solar panels, where to buy solar panels is an important question to answer. At Isaksen Solar, we aim to make the home solar panels process as simple as possible and answer all your questions.