Buying a home can be a roller-coaster experience. For one unlucky homeowner dealing with a seller using solar panel loan fees in bad faith, the ordeal probably made them want to hurl.
The Redditor shared their frustrating story to the r/RealEstate subreddit.
They explained that they and their husband went under contract on a house with loaned panels. In the deal, they would get the panels for $200 per month until the loan was paid off and pay a $900 transfer fee.
That's when the seller tried the ol' bait-and-switch. Their title company revealed that they expected the buyers to pay a $12,000 transfer fee. That was a fee that the sellers had declined to pay after two years.
While that would've been OK had they stayed indefinitely, the contract dictated it must be paid before the loan was transferred. The OP refused to pay the fee after their agent agreed it wasn't their responsibility. That's where the trouble began.
It's unfortunate the OP had to go through the ensuing drama. Solar panels are a great way for homeowners to save money on energy costs, and they help them to lower their contribution to planet-heating pollution produced by dirty energy.
If you're starting from scratch, EnergySage's free tools can help you compare quotes, get estimates, and connect to trusted installers.
Unfortunately for the OP, they weren't and had to deal with an unscrupulous seller. They left the OP "shocked and devastated" by using the transfer fee as a pretense to cancel the sale entirely, potentially leaving the buyers out thousands of dollars in fees and purchases. The Reddit community was having none of it.
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One wrote: "Seller can't do that. Their agent knows this. Call them out, and call an attorney."
Thankfully, the OP did just that. A lawyer backed them up, and the seller started scrambling. First, they tried to get them to split the transfer fee 50-50. After the OP refused, they finally relented and agreed to pay the whole amount themselves. The final update was that the closing was still on schedule.
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They're not efficient enough ⚡ That sets them up to eventually own the panels and provides a potentially happy ending.
The process certainly could've been smoother had the OP had the chance to land solar panels themselves with the help of a resource like EnergySage. With its help, the average buyer can save up to $10,000 on solar purchases and installations. The company's mapping tool can help chart out the average cost of a system, as well as score all the incentives on hand.
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Homeowners can add to the financial wins by using their panels to power energy-efficient appliances, such as heat pumps, with another assist from EnergySage.
For the OP, commenters were firmly on their side.
"Seller pays the fee out of proceeds at closing," one wrote. "Problem solved."
"Sounds like you have delusional sellers," another suggested.
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