Solar Power - Shingles/Panels? Who's got what?

As I mentioned in the other thread, the wife and I are moving up to a bigger house. I'm already dreading the utility bills since the house is a monster at about 4k square feet (well...monster compared to the little house we're in now).

The only thing about this house that has me biting my nails is the heating expenses. Since it's well out in the countryside, almost all heating & cooking comes from propane The house has a 1k gallon underground tank, and the owners told me they are under contract to have it filled monthly. So 10 months out of the year, they pay $380/month. Is it just me or is that crazy high? The electricity is about $200/month.

We're getting ready to go after financing on the property starting tomorrow since we officially put it under contract Friday. Has anyone rolled in additional improvements, like solar panels, or maybe some improvements (like say furniture or appliances our granite countertops) into the actual mortgage financing. Let's say we got the house for $100k, and wanted to add $10k worth of solar panels. Will banks loan you the $110k, and just make you put $5.5k down?

Lastly, I'm not looking to create a giant solar array on my new house...nor do I want to have it look like an eyesore because it's a pretty nice neighborhood. So I have the back of my roof, and maybe the back of a detached 2 car garages roof I could use. Here's a few shots (hey, gotta show off a bit....it's definitely our dream home! I think the boys are really, really going to love growing up there )

 

Which way is south?

 

Nice place. :up: Probably won't need too much JB weld. Congrats!

 

If you are already biting your nails......oh man. Just really make sure you want to do this. I've seen too many friends end up miserable over too much house. Don't mean to sound like a jerk but its some serious shit.

 

You put a contract on a house w/o having the financing lined up?? Seems backward...

 

Beat me to it.

 

100%. I have a very small house, but as such I have an extremely small mortgage. Combined with my big shop, I'm happy here. It gives me peace that I don't have to stress about making the bills. But then again, I mostly live alone so that's a definite factor.

It's a beautiful house for sure, but if you're asking about financing counter tops... I don't know man.

 

Which one gets the power commander and which one the jb weld?

 

Jesus, that's easy. Horse gets the PCIII and the cart gets JB welded after Lever bins it.

 

If you're ok with financing those counter tops for the next 30 years at your mortgage interest rate.

 

Back of roof points southwest...here's a bird's eye view from directly south:



...and yes....we got our financing preapproved through quicken loans before we made the offer so we could send the preapproval letter w/ the offer. Just going to talk to a few banks/mortgage brokers to see who has the best deal.

The countertops were probably a bad example since I don't really want to replace them. With the cost of solar though, I thought maybe rolling those costs into the mortgage would be a good idea. Financially speaking, we'll be fine...i ran multiple best/expected/worst case scenarios, and we can go a few years before having to worry about getting into any type of trouble. It's definitely time to move on up...tired of having the great room also double as the baby room/dining room/well...you get the point lol.

 

Any chance for a ground source heat pump?

 

Subtle Brag Thread.

 

Or with that pond, a water source heat pump.

 

Geothermal? In NC? I've never heard of anyone using geo...

 

Remember, Solar takes 20 ~ 30 years for you to recoup your investment.

Right now, it's too inefficient IMHO.

Gorgeous house. Just think with your brain and not your heart before you fully commit. Can you swing it? and not just today but in a few years? What if you lose you job/ you business takes a downturn/ godzillia decides to take a shit all over NC.

 

And that's if you have no problems with the system. The efficiency of the system degrades increasingly from day 1.

 

Panels, you can get get cheaper than gopher shit. I get emails from the liquidators selling them for pennies on the dollar. New and by the eaches, skid or container loads.

That's just the start of the cash outlay.

 

Girlfriend just put a geothermal heating, cooling and water heater booster in her new construction. It's pretty slick.