Solar Sales Scams in Florida: What Homeowners Should Watch For

Solar panels are a real, valuable improvement in Florida, where sunshine is the state's most reliable resource. But the industry's commission structure has encouraged a wave of door-to-door and phone sales tactics that I see every week in Central Florida: pressure to sign the same day, claims that utilities are about to triple rates, and financing contracts buried in documents most homeowners never fully read.

The homeowners who lose money in these situations almost never lost it to the panels. They lost it to the financing terms and the speed of the signature.

Ask any solar representative for three things before you sign anything: the total financed cost including interest over the full loan term, the production guarantee in writing with the manufacturer's warranty spelled out, and permission to have your own attorney or accountant review the contract. If the representative resists any of those three, the deal is not built for you.

Also be wary of 'no payments for 18 months' offers, of leases that transfer to the next buyer at closing, and of any document that claims to change who owns the roof. And if a solar company tells you the deal will help you sell your home faster, ask me; I have seen financed systems complicate more than one closing.

When buyers ask about homes with existing solar, I help them read the lease or loan terms before they commit, because those obligations can transfer at closing and affect the home's true cost. When sellers ask whether to add solar before listing, I give them an honest answer about what the local market actually pays for it, which is rarely what the sales pitch promised.

Solar has a real place in Florida homes. A careful buyer gets the benefit; a rushed one gets the bill. I make sure my clients are the former.