Re buying solar panels/not leasing

You should talk to this guy who's in your neck of the woods. With the incentives available to you, either leasing or purchase can work out financially. Do you have the cash to front the purchase and wait for the incentives? If so, is what is that money earning currently for you? Over the long term, you will likely save more money by purchasing and will end up owning the system for certain after 20 years but leasing has the advantage of not requiring the upfront payment - you're ahead of the game from the get-go - and any repairs and maintenance are the lessor's responsibility not yours.

There is a lot of discussion on this forum about leasing vs. purchase. Which is right for you depends on your individual financial situation and how you view the tradeoffs in each approach.

Ian gave you an excellent analysis of the situation - much depends on your financial situation and outlook. Some of us prefer only to but while others prefer the lease route.

Here in Turkey where we have no incentives and duty added none make economic sense unfortunately.

Keep in mind - the very best cheap power available is through conservation. Sealing the home and other steps can save many kW much cheaper than any panel on the roof.

Re buying solar panels/not leasing

I can come up with the money,4 years is not long to wait to replace the money banks a paying near 0% ,so its not a big lose (intress not going up that much in the next 4 years)after 4 years saving about $1800.00 a year times ( 10 year savings $ 18,000.00) 20 years $ 36,000.00 plus? Sales rep claims co. Will maintain for 20 years? To me it sounds to good to be true?

There are sincere, strong opinions on this forum relating to all sides of the buy vs. lease issue. I'd suggest reading threads here, doing your own research and forming your own opinions. We don't all agree and you'll see a lot of thought that went into most opinions found here - most all of it from folks with no financial interest in what they say and perhaps a good example that there are usually at least 2 sides to a story. I'd add that both leasing and buying can have some long term commitments that may be unknown or not considered by the prospective owner and perhaps not brought up by the seller. Also a solar commitment either way may not be entirely about money. Study, read, learn, think long term, ask questions and keep asking until you understand the answers. Be deliberate. Don't be rushed. Also, as Russ suggested, nothing is as cost effective as conservation before solar. Do that first. It's not as sexy as solar and lacks the "me too" factor, but solar can almost never compare to conservation for cost effectiveness . Buy or lease ? Either way, it can very well be a long term commitment worthy of some careful, objective thought about what your goals are and where you want to be in 5/10/15/20 yrs.

Caveat Emptor.

By the way: Doing nothing is also an option.

The reason leasing can compete at all with purchase is that the lessor gets an additional benefit of accelerated depreciation that is not available to the homeowner. And yes, the lessor maintains the system for 20 years although to be honest, these systems are generally very reliable with the only near certain expense being a string inverter sometime in the second decade.

If you have the purchase money available and it's getting little or no return, then purchase is your best option. The various parts have good warranties but as the owner, you'll be responsible for getting any warranty work done. BTW, sometimes you can arrange a "prepaid" lease that will be cheaper than outright purchase, include the maintenance but have no monthly payments and you don't own the system at the end of the 20 year period - although it's possible that the system would be abandoned by the lessor at that point. Lots to consider.

You are on Staten Island. It may be worth your while to liook into a Sunpower financing option. Interest rates are low you can go with a no money down or a downpayment that suits your needs and comfort zone.
You may be a but upside down for a bit but at the end of 12 years you own the system, there is no escalator clause on the payments and no hinderance to selling your house as with a lease should you decide to sell.

Sounds like an interesting option and presented by a guy in the business and the know but no skin in this game.

can someone give a link to the threads on the forum about leasing or buying i cant seem to find them

Correct I have no skin in that game.
I say this only because in Massachussets the sunpower financing is rapidly taking over as the no money down option of choice as far as market share goes. Sunpower is increasing market share and Solar City is losing market share at a very large rate.

I'd respectfully suggest they are available for the looking.

they may be available but i cant seem yo find them so a link or a little more info.would will realy help

Sorry for the confusion. I was referring to the threads. I'm not sure links to specific thread topics that are that specific exist. A few minutes of rooting around will likely produce the desired result. Very informative as well.

Here's a thread. Here's another.

The pros and cons of purchase are reasonably clear: you own the system outright forever but are responsible for maintenance and getting warranty claim satisfaction. You also have to come up with a big chunk of money either by taking out of savings and/or some kind of financing. If you have the money in a bank account paying nothing that's one thing but if for example, your source is to tap retirement funds then that's probably a bad idea. Apparently companies (see naptown's comments on Sunpower) are developing methods of financing specifically for solar purchase which could be looked at too. Also if you use a chunk of your own money to make the purchase you aren't saddled with monthly payments but you are if you finance.

Monthly leasing with little or nothing down has the advantage of no big upfront payments but you are saddled with monthly payments for 20 years and at the end of that time you still don't own the system. If you sell the house before the 20 years are up, you either have to have the new owner take over the payments or you buy out the lease at fair market value. That may cause prospective home buyers to balk. An interesting lease question is what happens at the end of 20 years - will the lessor actually remove the system if you say you don't want it anymore (usually the lease has some clause saying you can have the system removed at no cost to you)? Or will they abandon it as not worth the cost of removal? At this point no one knows for sure what will happen. Maybe you'll be glad they take the old thing off because your roof needs replacement and you can get a new system with warranty for a good price. Or maybe you'll desperately want the system kept in place because your utility requires a new install to pay a grid access fee of $100/mo! Don't laugh that nearly happened here in Arizona last year.

A prepaid lease is less common these days and shares pros and cons of both purchase and monthly leasing.

thank you i have a lot to read and learn