GreenSage E-zine 08/2008

Wells Fargo Offers Solar Home Program in California

Builders can pass California's solar rebate directly to buyers at closing to use with their down payment or as an interest-rate buy down.

Wells Fargo Home Mortgage is one of the first mortgage lenders in California to market a new construction solar home program. Wells Fargo will let home builders pass the state's solar rebate directly to buyers at loan closing to use with their down payment or as a permanent interest-rate buy down to lower monthly payments. In the past, builders would simply reduce the price of a house by the amount of the state rebate offered by the California Energy Commission's New Solar Home Partnership and other utility solar rebate programs.

The solar home program is available on conforming and non-conforming loans for single-family, primary residences, including detached homes and condominiums. The amount of the rebate is tied to the size of the solar energy system built into the new home. As part of its million solar roofs initiative, California announced a target that 50 percent of all new houses built in the state over the next decade will be solar homes. The increasing cost of power and environmental concerns are driving consumer demand for environmentally friendly products. Homeowners in California have been known to save up to 60 percent on their utility bills in a new, energy-efficient solar home.(1)

"Our new solar home offering is part of our larger strategy to support business opportunities that help address climate change, increase energy and resource efficiency and spur a transition toward a sustainable energy economy," said Mary Wenzel, Wells Fargo head of Environmental Affairs. "Through our investments and products, we are proud to support an increasing number of customers who want to take advantage of clean, renewable energy and California's goal to have one million solar roofs in the state by 2018."

"Wells Fargo lives by its corporate pledge to support green development and energy-efficient loan products," said Stuart Tyrie, national program manager for Wells Fargo's National Builder Division. "Our solar home program adds to this environmental commitment. California, which is already the nation's top state for solar homes, has mandated builders offer solar as an option by 2011. Wells Fargo is underscoring its ongoing environmental commitment with a loan program that benefits buyers who purchase new homes with solar units."

Wells Fargo Home Mortgage is the nation's No. 1 retail mortgage lender and servicer of home mortgages. As a division of Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., it has a local presence in more than 2,400 mortgage stores and bank branches, plus the capabilities to serve the home financing needs of customers nationwide through its call centers, Internet presence and wholesale lending operations. Wells Fargo Home Mortgage services loans for more than eight million servicing customers.

(1) Based on information provided by Go Solar California website.