Selling a home with solar in Florida: owned, leased or subscription

Selling a home with panels in Florida comes down to one question: who owns them? If they are yours, they add to the appraisal and the price, with a premium Zillow measured at 4.1%. If a third party owns them (lease or PPA), Fannie Mae treats them as someone else’s personal property: they add nothing to the appraisal, and the contract has to pass to the buyer or be paid off. A loan with a lien gets settled at closing. A subscription transfers.

Who owns the panels, and why does that decide everything?

Because the buyer, their lender and the appraiser look at nothing else. There are four cases, each with a different exit.

How much do owned panels add to the price?

Around 4% according to Zillow. Its 2019 study found homes with solar systems sold for 4.1% more than comparable homes without solar nationally, with Orlando near that same 4%. A later SolarReviews analysis of 2025 Zillow data reports a 6.9% premium. These are market averages, not a rule: the appraiser on your sale looks at recent comparables in your area, and in a neighborhood where nobody has solar, the premium can be smaller.

What is concrete in Florida: Statute 196.182 exempts the value a renewable energy system adds from property tax. The buyer inherits that exemption; it is a selling point many agents do not know.

How do the appraisal and the buyer’s lender treat it?

By Fannie Mae’s rules, which nearly every lender follows. Its guide B2-3-04 says three things that matter:

1. Owned panels can be included in the appraised value, with comparables to support it.
2. Leased or PPA panels are the third party’s personal property: they are excluded from the appraisal, and the lender reviews the contract to confirm it does not jeopardize the mortgage.
3. A solar loan with a lien on the property has to be resolved so the buyer’s mortgage sits in first position.

Practical translation: leased panels can make the home appraise the same as the neighbor’s without solar, while the buyer takes on a 15-20 year monthly payment. That does not block the sale, but it changes the negotiation.

Heads up: the sales line “the lease transfers, no problem” leaves out that the buyer has to qualify with the leasing company and accept the remaining payments, escalator included. Solar.com reports a 2.9% annual escalator is common; a buyer who reads the payment table and sees the payment rising every year for 18 more years may ask for a discount on the house, or walk. Know the buyout price before you list; it is your plan B.

What happens with each contract type at sale?

Owned. The panels go with the house like the roof or the AC. Hand the buyer the original contract, the warranties with serial numbers, the closed permit, the interconnection agreement and the monitoring login.

Active loan. If the loan carries a lien (UCC or second mortgage), title does not transfer clean until it is paid. The norm is to settle the balance at closing from the sale proceeds. Some loans allow the buyer to assume; ask the lender well ahead.

Lease or PPA. Two paths: transfer (the buyer applies, qualifies and signs) or buyout (you pay the remaining value per the contract’s table and the panels become yours, at which point they do count in the appraisal). Request the buyout letter from the company before listing.

Subscription. Our partner’s solar subscription is transferable to the buyer, leaves no lien on the property and has a short term (3 or 5 years). If the buyer does not want to continue it, removal is included at the end of the term. It is the simplest case after owned panels; we describe it in solar subscription: how it works.

What documents should I prepare before listing?

A folder the agent can hand the buyer on day one. What is missing from this list is what delays closings.

• Purchase contract, loan, lease, PPA or subscription agreement, in full.
• Payoff or buyout letter, dated, from the relevant entity.
• Closed county permit with final inspection passed.
• Interconnection agreement and PTO from the utility.
• Panel and inverter warranties with serial numbers, and the installer’s workmanship warranty (if it still exists).
• Last 12 months of monitoring production and 12 electric bills: proof the system works and how much it saves.
• Monitoring login to transfer to the buyer.

If the installer closed and you are missing any of this, our guide on solar panels not producing: what to do explains how to recover documents and access.

When it does NOT make sense

• Signing a 20-25 year lease if you plan to sell within a few years: you inherit a hard negotiation and no appraisal value.
• Buying out the lease right before selling without comparing: if the buyout price exceeds what the system adds in value, you are losing money to simplify the closing.
• Selling without 12 months of production data: without it, the buyer discounts the system as if it did not work.
• Promising the buyer a “zero bill”: the utility’s minimum charge still exists, and a false promise in a sale becomes a legal problem later.

What to check before you decide

• Identify your case: owned, loan with lien, lease/PPA or subscription, and get the payoff or buyout price in writing.
• Assemble the document folder before listing, not when the buyer asks.
• Ask your agent to use solar comparables if any exist, and to mention the property tax exemption.
• Confirm with your utility the procedure to move net metering to the new account holder.
• If a third party owns the system, ask the company how long transfer takes and what the buyer must meet.