Solar financing

I have no solid numbers for this, just vague assumptions based on looking at REC Solars page about Solar financing and what I've talked with my mortgage guy about in the past. So...this is my preliminary financing plan....

The 8kW REC system is going to cost me about $26,000 (probably a bit less, I'm not sure how much the monitor I want costs yet). I can get about $23,000 out of a home equity loan because I haven't owned the house long and because the housing market is tanked so bad at the moment. So I'm going to get the largest home equity loan I can get, then finance about $150/month worth of additional loan. That should be enough extra money to finish doing a few other things around the house like putting in a sidewalk and stairs, finishing the electrical, dealing with the walnut tree, etc.

So that's my current plan, now to see if I can make that work. Then I'll be in a tight financial situation for about 9 months and then I should be ok again. It'll mean I'm back to paying for my house for 30 years, and it might mean that I have to take a non-fixed loan which I really dislike, but all of that is fixable in the future as long as I'm clever and attentive. I intend to be both of those. heh.

If that all works, I'm quite a ways down my list of things to do for the house. In fact, I'd be down to doing almost luxury sorts of things. Solar hot water heater (if I can even do that with PV on the house), hot tub, furniture, audio/video update...really pretty much just luxury items. Oh...and getting an electric heating/cooling system for the house...hopefully a heat exchanger/dehydrator for cooling and type 2 radiant heat for heating. Oh yeah! And more insulation and weather proofing of the whole house...but I don't think that'll be very expensive, more just work intensive.

I need to find a good general contractor/handyman kind of person. Well...really I should just learn how to do all this stuff myself. But for me to feel comfortable doing that I'd want someone competent to teach me, and that doesn't seem to be an option unless I start flying my dad out here every few months for a couple of years.