rek.jr's Advice

Like I said, my initial question was why are these systems not listed along with central vacuum systems, attics, wine cellars, air conditioning  etc on the Zillow site? Following your line of thought, I think that water frontage, waterfront ownership and rights vary drastically from state to state. In Oregon most frontage is public, at least from the high water mark on navigable water ways but still has added value in assessing property values.  The law is quite different than California or Ohio yet waterfront is a check off point on Zillow that is not regional. Even if you do not own a system (or water frontage) outright, as you mention,  it has intrinsic value as most leased PV Electrical systems go with the property and the value in terms of reduced electrical costs are past on to a new owner. My thought is if the system is if paying fifty cents on the dollar spent on electricity the system ought to be worth, for example, at least 25 cents (or some other value) on the dollar. There should be an appraised value, perhaps varying,  whether or not he system is owned or under a long term lease. In my case the system was installed under a feed- in-tariff  program similar to those in Europe where the the utility purchases unused power at a rate substantially higher (approximately .48 per kW) than the residential rate (approximately .08 per kW) paid by consumers. I should have a better understanding of this very soon as I am going to have the home commercially appraised within the next month.

Thanks everyone for the replies. I still find it interesting there is no place between attic and waterfront to add these features. Like Pamela says, maybe they will add them in 10 or 20 years! Maybe there may not be enough comparable features on other homes but I am sure there is a general equation that can be worked out in regards to value; similar to generalizations for efficiency based on the homes latitude and location. For example, if the system has 25 years of expected life andis expected to reduce the annual electricity costs of the home by 50% then there should be value added for at least a portion of these savings. This speaks nothing about carbon footprints and other tangible benefits.I understand that, like a swimming pool, some people may not care to have a PV electric system but there ought to be a general rule of thumb as to whether there is added value to the home. After all, using my analogy, unlike a swimming pool, the system requires virtually not maintenance and actually pays the owner back in electrical kWs and money through unused Kws sold back to the utility. If the ascetics arehandled and the system is not considered "unsightly" there should be added value.

Why is there no option at Zillow other than adding a descriptor for solar electric or, for that matter, solar HW systems. I recently installed a grid tied 6.0 kW electric system at my home, initial cost before credits $48,000. There seems no way to show this as an amenity and benefit nor does there seem to be a course to get this addition reflected in the homes value.