Solar and Its Impact on a Real Estate Transaction

“There is a real gap in our education, and it is not about solar technology. It’s that almost nobody has been taught how to actually represent a buyer or seller when there are solar panels on the roof,” explains Christina Mathieson Segura, a speaker at this year’s Triple Play Realtor® Convention and Trade Expo. 

Mathieson Segura began working in solar in 2010 and later became a licensed Realtor® and mortgage loan originator. 

“That’s when the real problem came into focus,” she recalls. “Homeowners who had gone solar were running into serious trouble when they went to sell, and nobody in the transaction – not the agent, not the lender, not the appraiser, not the title company – had been trained on what to do about it.” 

“What makes this session timely for Realtors® is that the federal residential solar tax credit ended for systems placed in service after Dec. 31, 2025, and the only remaining federal incentive runs through third-party ownership – leases and power purchase agreements. That changes what agents will be seeing on listings for the rest of the decade.” 

“My Triple Play session, ‘Solar and Its Impact on a Real Estate Transaction,’ covers how to tell the four ownership structures apart, how to document an owned system so it can actually be valued, what a UCC filing does to an appraisal and a mortgage, what happens when the installer no longer exists and how Pennsylvania’s net metering rules under 52 Pa. Code Chapter 75 differ from New York’s and New Jersey’s.” 

During her session, Mathieson Segura will teach Realtors® what they need to know about solar and its impact on a transaction, from understanding valuation to reading existing solar contracts.  

Her session will be held at Triple Play on Tuesday, Dec. 8, from 9 a.m. to noon. Register for Triple Play online.