Funny Memes That Will Get You Through Tax Season, Photo Credit: https://www.ranker.com/list/tax-season-memes/nathandavidson

Tax Season is upon us – the countdown has begun! While it’s not nearly as exciting as Christmas season and determining naughty and nice certainly seems if not inappropriate, perhaps just logistically improbable.

Don’t let this be you (see meme)! All joking aside, I sincerely hope you don’t have a ruff year this tax season, and to help I’ve added a little information below. Please check out the links but also consult your tax advisor with any specific questions!

Of course, one thing that I think is fair to say, is that the earlier you file, the better. What’s not to love about money in your pocket? Or, in at least not delaying the inevitable, should you owe money in taxes at the end of the year.

Either way, there is one thing worth taking a look at each year – and that’s the Solar Federal Investment Tax Credit (https://www.seia.org/initiatives/solar-investment-tax-credit-itc).

Solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC) Stepdown, Photo Credit: https://www.seia.org/initiatives/solar-investment-tax-credit-itc

Of course, the earlier to file the better. What’s not to love about money in your pocket? Or, in at least not delaying the inevitable, should you owe money in taxes at the end of the year. However, there is one thing worth taking a look at each year – and that’s the Solar Federal Investment Tax Credit (https://www.seia.org/initiatives/solar-investment-tax-credit-itc).

According to the link above, from trusted Industry Experts, SEIA.org – the Federal ITC is 26% in 2022, and rolling down [currently] to 22% next year; take a look for yourself: https://www.seia.org/initiatives/solar-investment-tax-credit-itc

Don’t even get me started on column 3 – the projected Solar ITC in 2024. Residential Solar will have a 0% Federal Tax Credit in just two years?!!

Of course not! However, it’s up to us [insert Solar Industry and/or Energy Customers/Consumers, alike] to ask for an increase in the Federal and State Solar Investment Tax Credits, and maybe more importantly, Tax Incentives.

Please note that I do not have my CPA license, and cannot and will not provide any tax advice, however I will say that 26% appears to be > 22% and certainly > 0% of the total cost of the purchase and installation of a solar system.

That’s all I’ll say for now, except one more thing – Senate and Representatives capable of advocating FOR renewable energy, which would greatly benefit the state they’re in…

COLORADO

• https://leg.colorado.gov/legislators

NEW MEXICO

• https://www.nmlegis.gov/members/Legislator_List?T=R

TEXAS

• https://www.txdirectory.com/online/txhouse/
• https://senate.texas.gov/members.php

There are also local incentives, but those will more likely come from either your utility provider or the jurisdiction you live in. Of course, these can change quite often – at least annually, and possibly per season – so be sure to check out the following DSIRE link, as well as any local resources you’re aware of:

• DSIRE: https://suntexllc.com/database-of-state-incentives-for-renewables-efficiency-dsire/
• Example local incentive page, Austin Energy: https://austinenergy.com/ae/green-power/solar-solutions/for-your-home/solar-photovoltaic-rebates-incentives/

I hope this post helps you navigate Tax Season, or at least know the right questions to ask your CPA and/or online Tax Support network. If you like the idea of installing solar panels on your home, but don’t think you’ll be ready for at least a couple more years, please do call your local reps and ask for their support in renewables.

Renewable technology has evolved to be cheaper than ever before – and we need to deploy them if we’re going to leave the world in better shape than we found it. So if you’re not ready to “go solar” today, no sweat – please check us out in a couple of years, and be sure to call you State/City reps in the meantime to increase Federal/State/Local Tax Incentives in your area!

While most Americans likely cringe at the idea initially, financing a home improvement project can be exciting. You’ve saved up your extra cents and assuming you haven’t lost all sense during the design phase, you’re ready to make changes to your home. It’s possible you’ve been dreaming of your perfect abode your whole life – admiring features of those you’ve visited for celebrations and holidays, or mansions you saw on MTV cribs in the 90’s (https://www.mtv.com/shows/mtv-cribs) – but however you decide to remodel your home, it will take more than just a sharp eye.

As we review financing options this week, there’s one option that’s always available, and often leads to better deals overall: paying by cash or check. The beauty of this option is that if you can afford it, you pay off your home upgrades quicker, without paying any interest on the purchase, and if you decide to go solar, you own the panels outright immediately. Buying solar is similar to buying a car, so if you finance the purchase, you can drive the car, take it wherever you want, paint it, or change the rims – however you’re still paying off the loan after you drive away from the dealership.

Solar panels operate in the same way, in that once you purchase and install them you’re able to start producing energy and exporting it to the grid immediately (or at least upon Permission to Operate, or PTO), however it will likely take you time to pay off the full loan amount. If you buy a car with cash however, you’re not stuck with interest payments that increase the loan amount – you simply get to drive away in a brand new car, making insurance payments and filling it up with gas and oil whenever needed.

Solar panels don’t require gas or insurance, however you might need service on them in the future if squirrels decide to chew through the wiring, for example.

Getting back to the question at hand however (how to finance your home improvement project if you don’t want to go with a finance company), unless you’re planning to win the lottery or becoming a millionaire soon with a get-rich-quick scheme, it’s important to know how to save money, and over the years I’ve learned a few good tricks for how to do just that:

• The envelope technique: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-7846813/Envelope-help-save-extra-5-050-end-2020.html
• The 30-day rule: https://www.livemint.com/money/personal-finance/want-to-control-your-spending-try-the-30-day-rule-11623856832156.html
• The 50-30-20 rule: https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/finance/how-to-budget

One important thing to consider however, is that your home improvement purchases, including solar panels, vary greatly from a car purchase because you also want to think about increasing the equity of the home. Ideally, your home doesn’t depreciate in value over time, as a car would. So it’s even more important to make smart investments that will protect your investment when possible.

For example, new gutters may not look as nice as a new kitchen, however they will protect your foundation, particularly if you live in an area with a lot of rainfall (check out our previous blog on gutters, here: https://suntexllc.com/hate-rainy-days-in-texas-gotta-have-gutters/ and here: https://suntexllc.com/just-like-that-gutters-are-up/). Another example of a home-improvement equity investment is new windows or insulation – both can reduce your energy costs leading to energy savings year-round, but also protect your home from weather damage since they could keep your home drier and warmer in the winter months (and cooler in the summer).

If you still have enough left over to re-do your kitchen or bath, do it by all means! However if like most middle-class Americans you have to prioritize one project over the other, make sure your investment will protect your home, and bring you joy as well (since at the end of the day, this is really the most important factor in a home improvement project!). If you’ve saved up to do repairs or home improvements, you’ve already put in the hard work to get here, so it’s time to embrace your inner Donna (from Parks and Rec, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSjM5B3QNlw), and Treat Yo’ Self!

What home improvements have you been dreaming of, and what are your financing recommendations? Post your suggestions in the comments below, and be sure to check out the prior blogs from this week for more ideas!

In a previous blog post I talked a little bit about the benefits of Sunlight Financial, a company that has grown significantly in just a few short years from being an idea, to being a publicly traded fortune-500 company (check it out here: https://suntexllc.com/big-news-from-our-own-back-yard/). However this week we’ll dig a little deeper and really explore what sets Sunlight Financial apart as a solar, and home improvement lender.

For starters, Sunlight Financial was founded in 2014 by insiders of the solar financing industry: Neil Auerbach and Wilson Chang (https://www.hudsonsustainable.com/sunlight-financial). According to Hudsonsustainable.com, “As the pioneer of solar PPA financing while leading Goldman Sachs’ renewable energy business over 15 years ago, Neil understood firsthand the complexity associated with leases and PPAs, particularly as applied to single family homes rather than large utility scale systems. Neil and Wilson envisioned that a simpler consumer loan, secured by the solar system, would be a far superior means of facilitating mass adoption of residential solar in the US, helping consumers to switch to solar to save money and reduce carbon emissions” (https://www.hudsonsustainable.com/sunlight-financial).

This means that when you work with Sunlight Financial, you’re working with some of the founding fathers of the solar loan programs we see today. They’re well-versed in the subject, and know what they’re talking about when it comes to these types of financial packages, because they’ve got decades of industry experience!

Similar to GoodLeap (who we explored in yesterday’s blog post, here: https://suntexllc.com/loanpal-goodleap-and-everything-in-between/), Sunlight Financial is also publicly traded. This means that all those same benefits we discussed before – surpassing market barriers and finance-market scrutiny – apply to Sunlight Financial as well.

Additionally, Sunlight Financial was one of the first solar loan companies to include other types of home improvement projects as well, which shows their flexibility, as well as their general understanding of the market. Not to mention, and perhaps most importantly to our customer base, Sunlight Financial has made strides in the industry in assisting non-native English speakers – check out more information on that, here: https://www.solarpowerworldonline.com/2021/03/sunlight-financial-now-offering-residential-solar-loans-in-spanish/.

One key difference from Sunlight Financial is that while they have one of the easiest processes for both customers and installers to follow when installing and financing solar and other home improvement projects, they do have slightly higher requirements for acquiring said loan. For example, they’re looking for home owners with at least a 650 credit score before moving forward, so if you’re not quite there yet, this may not be the loan program for you. That said, if your credit score is 650 or above, they’re an excellent option and provide some really nice incentives, in addition to their easy-to-follow recipe for financing your home improvement project.

Because they’ve been doing this for a while, their method is like clock-work, and they have a very simple user-interface to help you out as well as you go through the process of installing your project – but don’t take my word for it, check out what Yahoo News had to say about them: https://www.yahoo.com/now/sunlight-financial-enhances-financing-solutions-123000896.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAABpURMX2rURPJIOylgbJe6XI_8jKVXGkq6pr5ztIfAFis4Lufdll9GaHWdr34gPlVU8zrvyI5qhGSW3zk4XNaMLlcMKss4uuyDpQYaHfux4sDCGBQzYExvXmth4zecr8ppTRFSDvKHssmcx2cHN2SJ9tcCenI6f7CI0IU-kVqent.

Is Sunlight Financial right for you? Call us today and find out!

One of the beautiful things about financing your solar project with a solar lender, versus a more traditional bank loan, is that they’re completely familiar with the process! You’re not answering too many questions from the onset about what this project is, how it will work, how long it will take, or the potential benefits to your home equity, because all of that is already baked into your solar loan. Well, thankfully there are plenty of options to choose from within that specific financial market, and each has their own competitive advantage over the other, based on your specific need.

Today’s post will focus on the company formerly known as LoanPal, GoodLeap. Before we get into the details however, let’s explore this brand change a little more, so those of us familiar with the original name can start to familiarize ourselves with the new one. According to Bloomberg’s article published back in June, “Loanpal, one of America’s biggest solar-loan providers, has renamed itself GoodLeap as it expands further into the broader market for sustainable home upgrades” (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-06-02/solar-financier-loanpal-eyes-home-greening-market-with-new-name).

This seems fairly straightforward, and is actually on-point with several other solar loan providers who have made the same move in recent years. What this means, is that instead of looking for options to finance your solar project exclusively and then seeking other means of financing for smart home upgrades and other home improvement projects – such as geothermal heating and energy-saving window upgrades – you’re now able to bundle these projects together and tackle them all at once, with the exact same loan!

Now, what separates GoodLeap loans from the pack? Well, perhaps most importantly, these loans allow for a slightly lower credit score – just 600 to be precise. Of course, the higher credit score the better, however GoodLeap has taken the helm of helping home-owners with slightly below-par credit scores go solar (and finance other home improvement projects), even without perfect credit. It’s always important to note however that this could impact your interest rate, so be sure to pay close attention to that number when reviewing your home improvement financing options.

Another notable difference in GoodLeap, which is becoming more prevalent in the marketplace as other home improvement financiers look to diversify their funding, is that they are now public! Check out the following articles to learn more about this: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/goodleap-closes-800-million-investment-round-led-by-msd-partners-along-with-bdt-capital-partners-and-davidson-kempner-301398970.html and https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-04-08/solar-financier-loanpal-is-said-to-plan-ipo-as-soon-as-this-year?utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=socialflow-organic&utm_content=business&utm_medium=social&cmpid=socialflow-twitter-business. What does this mean for you? Well, it means you’re likely looking at a very strong partner, with a strong bottom line as well – meaning that you can trust your loan will likely not be lost or forgotten, should the bull market on solar change in the near future. Publicly traded companies are heavily regulated as well, so you’re dealing with a company that has faced heavy scrutiny and still out-performs competitors year over year.

What home improvement loan options are available to you? Find out today by giving us a call at the number at the top of this page! We’re happy to help you learn more about your financing options and which home improvement projects will save you money and energy costs. Call us today!

If you’re interested in renewable energy buying a home with a solar energy system in place can also be a good thing. However, home buyers should know a few important details about the solar panels prior to purchasing a home with solar installed.

First, you should figure out whether the solar panels were purchased or leased. Even if the solar panels were purchased by the current homeowner, they may have been acquired with a loan.

As such, the seller is responsible for paying off any existing solar panel liens. Doing so means the new homeowner should receive full ownership of the panels at the time of closing. The editorial team at Money put different mortgage lenders to the test and laid out what they offer so you can start your home buying journey informed and ready to go.

Note: This article was written for SUNTEX by Raul writers from Money.com. Please reach out directly to SUNTEX if you have any questions regarding this article, or the blog post content.

When you’re looking into financing a solar, or any home improvement project – whether you go with an experienced solar financial partner like Loan Pal/GoodLeap or DIVIDEND, or a HELOC loan from your trusted bank, or as a gift from your rich Uncle – it’s important to feel confident in that institution so you know your investment is protected.

There are lots of options to choose from, but to help you with this decision, SUNTEX has partnered with a few of the best companies in the industry, including: LoanPal – now known as GoodLeap – Sunlight Financial, and Sunnova. This week, we’ll explore these options (and more) in a little greater detail.