If you're lucky, there may be some hidden financing for installing solar cells (or a general "going green") with your government.

I think there's something like that in the Netherlands, so that's always worth looking into. They'll usually try to keep it hidden, though, to avoid too many people wanting in on that.
It's something like 50% of the purchase and installation and they'll pay you a few bucks for the first year to offset the start-up period.

But again, I'm not 100% sure since we rent and never had a need to look into that. Obviously that's only for people who buy.

Melfice makes a good point. Solar power could very well be financially sound if you don't pay the exorbitant fees the companies that manufacture them charge.

They aren't really so difficult to make. Depending on what method you use.

I'll let you try and convince me on MSN, TDK. I'm interested in that 'Ehhhh but startup costs and shit...' kinda way.

Actually, I meant that we rent our house.
Not that we'd rent our solar cells. But yes, that IS a good point.

Re solar cells- I dont really know how you would make them yourselfs without access to a lab- seems a bit dodgey to me.
Defineatly avoid doped silicon based "1st generation" type cells.
The best on the market at the moment would are probably Cu-In but ideally I would actually wait a couple of years. Graetzel dye based cells and organic polymer cells which are the most promising cost-wise home based cells will be coming onto the market proper (I think you can get them but its difficult(.

I could have just said "I'm basically clueless".
 

Remind me to rep you tomorrow for that. I'm basically clueless and you sound like you know what you're talking about.

Some guys in my office work on solar cells. Though all my learning on them comes from overhearing their discussions so maybe I'm totally wrong.

Okay so, I hope nobody minds me resurrecting this thread; third viewing through the house happened yesterday, and I've got a lot of stuff to comment on/share.

First up, PICTURES! [Mostly pictures of trouble areas in the house or things I was concerned with.]

They have 15+ people living in this house. 15+ people in a seven bedroom house. [yes, seven bedrooms. oh my lord.]

In order from my walkthrough:

They have their cars parked on the grass. Total number of different cars I've seen: 7.

http://img818.imageshack.us/img818/6531/dscf0703.th.jpg

Front shot of the house. Driveway is too high, place is unkempt, but that's a small issue to fix.

http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/1849/dscf0704lz.th.jpg

Doesn't look like the wood shingles were ever waterproofed. Not especially critical; probably a spring fix-it project. I'm planning on putting solar panels on this, and the raised roof section front anyway. I might just seek out some nice looking ones and use them for style.

http://img109.imageshack.us/img109/8...cf0705v.th.jpg

Garage floor. Raised Driveway + houseful of people that don't understand why dumping cement could possibly be a bad idea = this ugliness.

http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/5...cf0706e.th.jpg

This is a pretty lawn.

http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/2051/dscf0707x.th.jpg

See that blue box? We had thought it was a compost. Turns out, no, this family just stole 2 clothing donation bins for no real explainable reason.

http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/1...cf0708h.th.jpg

Side of house, showing the metal liner. Those with really sharp eyes might note some brick seperation here. Dollar signs in my head seein' that. Cheap repair but great for bargaining and knocking the price down.

http://img804.imageshack.us/img804/276/dscf0709.th.jpg

Another closeup of the garage floor, to show how ugly it is. Note that because of the raised floor and crappy installation, the garage doors do not shut all the way. security issue. Going to rip up the driveway and lower it.

http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/7522/dscf0712m.th.jpg

Self installed garage doors, lookie there everyone. [No photos of inside the garage- and be greatful, it was stacked to the roof. They had a mezzonine inside that they weren't using for anything but bags and bags of clothing, and the left side of the garage was stacked so high you couldn't see the door into the house.]

http://img607.imageshack.us/img607/4...cf0713x.th.jpg

Bedroom 1. This is a lot bigger then the photo lets on- there's a partially completed ensuite bathroom. I'm probably going to finish it, and give that room to a specific roommate I have in mind, for slightly more on the rent. It's also the biggest upstairs room.

http://img855.imageshack.us/img855/3...cf0714s.th.jpg

Middle upstairs bedroom. So nice, well lit. small-ish, but it's got room for all the necessities. The young woman has a queen sized bed, and it fills up the room... a lot.

http://img651.imageshack.us/img651/2...cf0715y.th.jpg

Single sized bed, in what turns out to be the 'average' bedroom size. There is one more bedroom upstairs but the door was locked at time of photo taking- subsequent visits show it to be the moms bedroom, which is, not kidding, the cleanest room in the house. it felt like an entire different building stepping into her room, and it's the only room I removed my shoes to enter.

http://img802.imageshack.us/img802/5461/dscf0716.th.jpg

Living Room, middle floor. It has big french doors onto the Porch. Walls need painting in this room. Not much else to say about it. It's a comfortable sitting room.

http://img607.imageshack.us/img607/8089/dscf0717.th.jpg

Back Porch, underneath. Snapped some photos of some wood rot that had me concerned- spoke to carpenter. I've got another 6 years or so on this back porch before I need to worry tooo much, so I have time to accumulate a hedge fund.

http://img824.imageshack.us/img824/2...cf0718n.th.jpg

This is a poorly installed window with visible insulation. Nothing I can't fix up.

http://img718.imageshack.us/img718/9...cf0719d.th.jpg


Not shown: Self installed door at back of house that leads into garage & Pantry; Pantry; Kitchen; Dining Room; Bedroom on Stairwell; Bedroom downstairs; heater room; Downstairs living room [probably going to turn that into the main entertainment center]; the three bathrooms.

Big concern/red flag for me was all the mold issues in the house- this family if 15+ had no idea what they were living with. I've got a couple breather masks and some drywall guys that are going to carve it out, remove the insulation, and install new on all those spots.



Shower, I'm looking for input- the tiles are covered/lined with mold from nobody wiping them down. They have a standing shower with tile wall and floor. Should I tear out and install a prefab Shower Stall, or just clean like crazy and institute a house rule of 'wipe it down or there will be hell to pay?'

Kitchen needs the cabinets repainted, but they're not awful. Need to have the vinyl paint stripped off them for certain, and a couple of doors need new handles. I may just strip the vinyl paint and use a wood finish on them, and leave it be.



I have plenty of roommates lined up, but are there any Canadians that might want to look into checking out a place in outskirts of Toronto, on public transit? :P It's about a 45 minute trip from here to Union Station, which I'll use as my reference point for 'Downtown Toronto'.

Also, in case I can only secure 6 roommates, I'll leave an open door invitation to anyone who finds themselves needing a place to crash.

We've put in an offer at 249K / 30K Down. I'm expecting it to be refused. We'll do a bidwar until we hit 300K and then I walk.

We'll likely get it- this family has their eyes on a set of apartments across town, that has more room. There is 0 space for these people, and they will basically be renting the whole building just to stay together. [The eldest daughter was talkative, to my real estate agent's delight.]

I'm confident on getting the funding when I need it.

A concern for me would be the garage door. Not just for security, but since it does close all the way you could get rodents in there pretty easily, and if you Driveway's slopped (I can't quite tell from the picture) you could have issues with it flooding when it rains.

Sounds like you taking a lot of precautions and doing your research well with appraisers and carpenters. Good luck, I hope it goes well.