[Pablo2079]

I'm selling a house in the greater Seattle area. While living there, I installed a 21 panel (4.4 kwh) PV system and a high efficiency solar water heater (evacuated tube etc).. paired with a tankless water heater. All sorts of other upgrades to the home in the way of efficiency, but it seems that the realtors are strictly looking for new countertops/cabinets and other stuff like that.

Realtors are basically saying that the solar adds little to no value. Shocking to me.... Some have even suggested that I should remove it to make the home "look better". I think it looks cool personally. Am I insane here? I see studies that state that these homes sell faster and for significantly higher prices. I'm considering contacting Electric Vehicle Owner groups and other High Tech groups in the area that would probably be more the target buyer group.

What are your thoughts? The real estate apps don't seem to have solar as a searchable feature... however I do see a lot of "favorite" action on Redfin and Zillow. The house is actually listed below the "Zestimate".

[Subjectivist]

I'm selling a house in the greater Seattle area. While living there, I installed a 21 panel (4.4 kwh) PV system and a high efficiency solar water heater (evacuated tube etc).. paired with a tankless water heater. All sorts of other upgrades to the home in the way of efficiency, but it seems that the realtors are strictly looking for new countertops/cabinets and other stuff like that.

Realtors are basically saying that the solar adds little to no value. Shocking to me.... Some have even suggested that I should remove it to make the home "look better". I think it looks cool personally. Am I insane here? I see studies that state that these homes sell faster and for significantly higher prices. I'm considering contacting Electric Vehicle Owner groups and other High Tech groups in the area that would probably be more the target buyer group.

What are your thoughts? The real estate apps don't seem to have solar as a searchable feature... however I do see a lot of "favorite" action on Redfin and Zillow. The house is actually listed below the "Zestimate".

Sounds like you need a better realtor. The secret to any sales job is to find something special about whatever you are selling and emphasize that feature to prospective buyers. Someone only interested in counter tops is too lazy to be a good sales person.

[Pablo2079]

Thanks... yeah, I'm getting that feeling that I went with the wrong realtor. I went ahead and posted the listing on a Greenhouse type site to see if I could bring it some exposure. Under 2 weeks on the market, they want me to drop the price significantly. uggh

[Tanada]

Thanks... yeah, I'm getting that feeling that I went with the wrong realtor. I went ahead and posted the listing on a Greenhouse type site to see if I could bring it some exposure. Under 2 weeks on the market, they want me to drop the price significantly. uggh

Remember you don't have to follow there vice and at least around here you can cancel your contract with them, wait 30 days and relist with a different company. Before you contract with another company I would do a walk through with them and emphasize what you think are the selling points, if they are oblivious keep looking for a better seller.

[Outcast_Searcher]

Thanks... yeah, I'm getting that feeling that I went with the wrong realtor. I went ahead and posted the listing on a Greenhouse type site to see if I could bring it some exposure. Under 2 weeks on the market, they want me to drop the price significantly. uggh

What Tanada said.

Plus, don't let them push you around. The realtor would like to sell your house by doing as little work as possible. The easiest way to do that is to get you to drop the price. Just for an example, let's say you drop the price 10%. Now the realtor gets 90% of the fee (assuming your contract is for a percentage of the sales price). However, if you've dropped the price a lot, now the realtor may hardly have to do any work.

Obviously there needs to be some balance, but the realtor should be willing to earn their fee and sell the house for roughly what it is actually worth, if possible.

[KaiserJeep]

I can tell you that in this area, having solar PV gets approximately a 10% bump to your residence price, absent other factors. Having a dry swimming pool and a dead front lawn (in my case, because of a prolonged California drought) is easily worth -10%.

[Pablo2079]

Thanks to all for your input. I just thought there was more inherent value in it (especially with the Washington State production credits giving cash back each year for production on top lower utility bills). I reached out to a local Electric Car group to see if they would alert their members to it.

We'll see... fingers crossed.. but yes, the realtors are pushing hard to lower the price.