Author Topic: Help me fix up my "fixer upper" house  (Read 10695 times)

ctuser1

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1741
Re: Help me fix up my "fixer upper" house
« Reply #100 on: November 17, 2020, 08:47:25 AM »
So your loan payments are $100 and you reduced your electricity bill by $107 over the prior year.  Plus you will get the tax credit this year, correct?  I think that's going to be some nice returns.

Yeah, it is doing just slightly better than breaking even right now. I am hoping things should improve significantly from this, however. The solar was not even operational for the full billing period + fall and winters are generally a lot less sunny out here than the summers. CT gets about 200 sunny days a year, and most of them are in summer. This month we sure got a lot of overcast days (it is overcast right now, as I type, for example). The system still sent out 360kWH to the grid. I am hoping it should send out a lot more during summer, enough for me to bank some of that to use for the next winter.

How much did you end up paying out the door with the extra netting (which I totally forgot about when we were pricing our system and I will have to call Tesla back. 

There was no extra charge from Tesla for this. Tesla has finalized the loan documentation, and my first installment payment is scheduled for this month - so nothing should change now.

I am not even sure if the installer ran the pest-abatement skirt through Tesla formally. It may just be that he had the material in the truck so he just put it in there. I offered them a crate of beer, but they declined citing some company policy and such.


We ended up with a 14.96 system to be under our county's penalty for generation, and had to put panels on our lower roofs.  We are in the middle of a refi, so we're only going to get the 22% rebate because I cannot see the solar being done by YE given how long yours took.  We do have all the permits lined up though. We are supposed to close on the refi this week, but UGH has that been annoying compared to all other refis we have ever done

I think you should get 2020 tax credit (=26%) as long as you sign the contract this year. At least that is what everyone tells me - so please double check your assumption on this.
If you are doing a refi on your home, you will likely have a lower interest rate than any PV loan you can get. So perhaps you can just buy cash and pay using a cash out refi??




couponvan

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 8670
  • Location: VA
    • My journal
Re: Help me fix up my "fixer upper" house
« Reply #101 on: November 17, 2020, 09:46:36 AM »
We effectively took cash out when we purchased the house last year by only putting 20% down. We have the remainder in a house payoff fund that we are contributing to on the side.  The solar we plan to buy out the loan using that after we get the tax rebate in.  My understanding is the system has to be installed for it to be deducted. (I'm an accountant, but NOT a tax accountant!)

ctuser1

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1741
Re: Help me fix up my "fixer upper" house
« Reply #102 on: November 17, 2020, 10:13:29 AM »
We effectively took cash out when we purchased the house last year by only putting 20% down. We have the remainder in a house payoff fund that we are contributing to on the side.  The solar we plan to buy out the loan using that after we get the tax rebate in.  My understanding is the system has to be installed for it to be deducted. (I'm an accountant, but NOT a tax accountant!)

You are right, I had the wrong idea.

https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2020/01/f70/Guide%20to%20Federal%20Tax%20Credit%20for%20Residential%20Solar%20PV.pdf
Quote
Can I claim the credit, assuming I meet all requirements, if …

…I bought solar panels but have not installed them yet?

No. The tax credit is only for systems that were “placed in service” during the year, meaning they are installed and producing electricity for the homeowner.

So you will get the 22% credit instead of 26% if the installation happens in 2021.

couponvan

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 8670
  • Location: VA
    • My journal
Re: Help me fix up my "fixer upper" house
« Reply #103 on: November 17, 2020, 10:22:29 AM »
We effectively took cash out when we purchased the house last year by only putting 20% down. We have the remainder in a house payoff fund that we are contributing to on the side.  The solar we plan to buy out the loan using that after we get the tax rebate in.  My understanding is the system has to be installed for it to be deducted. (I'm an accountant, but NOT a tax accountant!)

You are right, I had the wrong idea.

https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2020/01/f70/Guide%20to%20Federal%20Tax%20Credit%20for%20Residential%20Solar%20PV.pdf
Quote
Can I claim the credit, assuming I meet all requirements, if …

…I bought solar panels but have not installed them yet?

No. The tax credit is only for systems that were “placed in service” during the year, meaning they are installed and producing electricity for the homeowner.

So you will get the 22% credit instead of 26% if the installation happens in 2021.
AND....have to wait the full year for the benefit. Yeah. Not ideal, but probably what is going to happen.  I'd rather pay 4% on $30,000 one time than 1.125% on $500,000 for the next 30 years. Refi takes precedence over solar.  It'd be nice if they squeaked us in, but it's probably not going to happen.

ctuser1

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1741
Re: Help me fix up my "fixer upper" house
« Reply #104 on: January 31, 2021, 10:21:15 AM »
Random updates since it has been a few months.

@couponvan, I believe the 26% tax credit got extended by a couple of more years. So you are in luck.
https://rules.house.gov/sites/democrats.rules.house.gov/files/BILLS-116HR133SA-RCP-116-68.pdf -> page 2448, section 148

@nereo, I intended to, but eventually copped out on your suggestion of DIY attic hatch because a very enticingly convenient alternative came along.

I had basically given up on the idea of insulation, and suddenly chanced upon a solution. I had a contractor (from one of the inner city *hoods of a nearby big city) over to give me some estimates for some unrelated stuff, and he turned out to be a really good salesman - not the hard-selling a*seholes kind, but the ones that listen, understand and suggest solutions.

My issue was that I can't fill up the attic with insulation, because then I will lose storage space. Doing under the roof-board insulation was useless because the attic space is not within the heat-envelope of the house and bringing it within the heat envelope is not feasible because you have the bathroom vents opening in the attic and you want it to be well-vented (which it is), and you want it that way to avoid any moisture build up.

This new guy suggested that he'll just leave a 3ft X  20ft space open for me in the middle of the attic to use as storage space, and put "R30 cross batt fiberglass insulation" everywhere else.

So he did that + the attic hatch for a net OOP cost of $95 for me. Rest of the cost ($3.1k) was allegedly funded by the insulation rebate from the CT state: https://www.energizect.com/your-home/rebates-and-incentives.

This was done right before the cold spell. I am hoping I will see the difference in the gas bill next month.

couponvan

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 8670
  • Location: VA
    • My journal
Re: Help me fix up my "fixer upper" house
« Reply #105 on: February 01, 2021, 08:08:20 AM »
That sounds like an awesome and affordable solution! Win!