A site about solar economics owes you the negative cases. Here's when the honest answer is "don't," or at least "not yet."
Your roof isn't ready — or isn't right
Panels outlive most roofs. If your roof has under ~10 years left, re-roofing after installation means paying $2,000–$5,000 to remove and re-mount the array — enough to erase years of savings. Do the roof first or skip. Same verdict for heavily shaded roofs and small or badly-oriented ones (north-facing in the US): production penalties of 30–50% stretch payback past the warranty horizon. Get a PVWatts estimate for your actual roof before believing anyone's production promise.
Your rates are low and your exports are worth little
Solar savings scale with what electricity costs you. At 11–13¢/kWh — common across the South, Mountain West, and parts of the Midwest — even a well-priced 2026 system without the expired federal credit can show 15+ year paybacks. Stack a weak export rate on top (net-billing states) and the project may never clear break-even inside warranty life. Run it in the Payback Calculator with your real rate; if payback exceeds ~15 years, the capital probably works harder elsewhere.
You're likely to move soon
Owned solar adds resale value, but typically not 100% of a young system's cost, and the premium depends on your market's solar literacy. Selling within ~5 years of installing usually means recovering only part of what you spent. A lease makes this worse — an assumable 25-year obligation is a negotiation liability, not an asset.
The financing is the only way it works
If the project pencils only with a dealer-fee-loaded loan and optimistic escalators, it doesn't pencil. And if a lease is the only affordable option, compare it honestly against doing nothing — with the leasing company now capturing the only remaining federal incentive, some 2026 lease offers are fine and others are 25-year rate locks that lose to the utility. The point of this site is the arithmetic, not the outcome: when the numbers say no, no is a perfectly good answer, and waiting — for better pricing, a re-roof, or restored incentives — is a position too.
Solar is one piece of a bigger household-finance picture. For decisions that touch your taxes, retirement timeline, or home equity, it can be worth talking to a financial advisor through a directory like AdvisorWorld — alongside primary sources such as DOE, DSIRE, and the IRS.