If you’ve been shopping around for a solar panel system, you’ve probably heard at least one company advertise ‘free solar panels’ – that they will install a solar energy system on your roof for free. But, much as with anything, remember that there is no such thing as a free lunch (or a free solar panel).
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Like any major investment, installing a solar system is a big decision! But, as the cost of solar continues to decline, this decision is becoming easier and easier: for most people, going solar now represents a smart long-term investment with substantial savings. However, before installing a solar panel system, you’ll want to make sure that you can take advantage of these benefits by first considering a few major factors. In this article, we’ll help you decide if solar panels are worth it for you.
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Want to finance your solar panel installation? Cash purchases and solar leases (or PPAs) aren’t your only options. If you don’t have–or aren’t willing to spend–the capital for a cash purchase but want to maximize the financial benefits of a solar energy system, the solar loan offers the best of both worlds.
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So you know you want to finance your solar panel system, but one big question remains: should you lease your system from a company, or own your system and finance it with a solar loan? The answer here depends on a few factors, including your preferences, needs, and financial goals.
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Solar loans are a very popular way to pay for a new solar or solar plus storage system, since they are a great way to take advantage of the benefits of solar ownership–from tax incentives to increased home value–without requiring you to have the cash on hand to pay for the full system up front. What’s more, many solar-specific loans offer low, fixed interest rates and flexible payment terms, helping you to find the monthly payment that’s right for you. However, a low interest rate (or APR) comes with a caveat: a low APR often means a high cost to borrow money. That cost or fee to borrow money is passed on to your installer, or even built into the overall cost of the project, making a tradeoff between the lowest monthly payment (i.e., low APR) and the lowest project cost (i.e., lowest cost to borrow money).
Recently, Sungage Financial, one of the most popular solar loan providers on EnergySage, launched a zero fee solar loan to keep your solar project costs as low as possible. Here’s what that means for solar shoppers like you.
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If you just purchased your first home, first of all, congratulations! Buying a home is no small feat and immediately planning your home’s upgrades may feel overwhelming–but we’re here to help! When it comes to solar, we think it’s a great upgrade for first-time homebuyers because solar saves you money in the long run and increases your home value. We’ve laid out some key questions to answer when making the decision to go solar as a first-time homebuyer.
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Tesla’s recently announced solar rental program was met with high hopes, as a program with the potential to make solar more accessible to more homeowners. With a sense of how the program works, the question becomes: how do the savings from renting solar panels form Tesla compare to the savings from owning or leasing solar panels?
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There are many different types of solar loan products that you can use to finance the installation of a solar panel system. But despite the plethora of options, you can generally bucket all these loans into two broad categories: secured solar loans and unsecured solar loans.
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Solar loans are the fastest growing method of financing a solar panel installation. Across the country, the majority of new solar installations are purchased with either a cash purchase or through a solar loan. Sungage Financial, based in Boston, Massachusetts, is a popular financier in the residential solar industry. If you’re comparing solar quotes from a few different solar installers, you may have received a loan option from Sungage. Here’s what you need to know about Sungage and their products.
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There are many $0-down financing options available for going solar, including both ownership (i.e. solar loan) or third-party-owned (i.e. leases) solutions. Many homeowners looking for an easy, low-cost, maintenance-free way to install a solar panel system move forward with a power purchase agreement (PPA). In this article, we’ll talk about what solar PPAs are and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of this financing solution.
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