Episode Questions and Answers
Who is Cody Osterhout?
Cody Osterhout is the founder and CEO of Midas Wealth, a Utah company that specializes in solar tax credit transfers and partner-flip tax equity structures for residential solar homeowners. Cody Osterhout has spent seven years inside the solar industry, has been a CEO for approximately eight years, and is a military veteran whose discipline shapes the Midas Wealth operating model.
What is Midas Wealth?
Midas Wealth is Cody Osterhout's Utah-based company that helps residential solar homeowners recover the cash value of federal solar tax credits they cannot use on their own. Midas Wealth sets up a commercial energy LLC around the homeowner's solar system, transfers the tax credit and depreciation to a high-liability commercial taxpayer, and pays the homeowner cash the following tax year. Visit midaswealth.com.
Why does the solar tax credit not work for most homeowners?
Cody Osterhout explains that the federal solar tax credit only pays out as fast as the homeowner has tax liability to absorb it. A $30,000 credit owed to a homeowner who only pays $1,000 a year in federal income tax can take 30 years to fully realize. Cody Osterhout estimates more than 99% of residential solar buyers never fully realize the credit on their own.
What is a solar loan balloon payment?
Most residential solar loans assume the homeowner will receive their full 30% federal tax credit and apply it back to the loan principal within roughly 18 months. If the homeowner does not, which Cody Osterhout says happens to the vast majority of borrowers, the loan re-amortizes and the monthly payment effectively doubles. Midas Wealth was built to interrupt that cycle.
How does the Midas Wealth tax equity transfer work?
Cody Osterhout uses a structure called a tax equity transfer, also known as a partner flip. Midas Wealth partners with the homeowner, forms a commercial energy LLC around the solar system at no cost to the homeowner, and transfers both the tax credit and five years of depreciation up to a high-liability commercial taxpayer. The homeowner receives roughly 25% of system cost in cash the next tax year and files a K-1 for five years.
What happens if a homeowner sells their house?
Cody Osterhout addresses this directly. The system and the home are treated as two separate things. If the home sells, Midas Wealth can either bring the new homeowner into the LLC or keep the existing homeowner as the LLC member regardless of where they live. The homeowner's only ongoing requirement is filing a K-1 for the remainder of the five-year window.
Where is Utah Business Spotlight filmed?
Utah Business Spotlight is filmed in Draper, UT 84020. The show is produced by The INCubator AI Marketing Agency and hosted by Peter Anthony.
Episode Transcript
00:00 A Big Promise Meets Fine Print
Cody Osterhout opens with the line that frames the entire episode, Midas Wealth takes the solar tax credits the homeowner cannot use, sends them up to a commercial taxpayer who has too much liability, and pays the homeowner 25% of system cost in cash the next tax year. For something the homeowner could never have realized on their own.
00:50 What Midas Wealth Actually Solves
Peter Anthony introduces Cody Osterhout and Midas Wealth. Cody Osterhout describes the company's mission in plain terms, help people. Specifically, help solar homeowners who got pushed into a sale and were left with the bag once the white-glove experience ended.
01:28 Where Solar Deals Start Breaking Down
Cody Osterhout walks through the breakdown. Some homeowners worked with honest reps. Most did not. Either way the homeowner is the one carrying the long-term liability, and Midas Wealth was built to guide them through the nuances most sales reps either skipped or never understood themselves.
02:40 The Balloon Payment Homeowners Forget
Peter Anthony admits he bought solar in the last five years and never thought about what came after the install. Cody Osterhout names the trap, the loan carries a balloon payment that re-amortizes around 18 months in. The monthly payment effectively doubles. Most homeowners forget the balloon is even there until it triggers.
03:17 Why the Tax Credit Does Not Work for Everyone
Cody Osterhout breaks down the mechanics. The federal solar tax credit is a piggy bank, but the speed at which the homeowner can withdraw is determined by their actual tax liability. Pay $1,000 a year in federal tax against a $30,000 credit and it takes 30 years to realize. The loan assumed it would be year one. It is not.
04:05 When a Good Incentive Turns Predatory
Peter Anthony reframes the bigger problem. An incentive that was designed well became predatory because the financing structure assumed every homeowner could realize the credit immediately. Cody Osterhout agrees, that gap is exactly why the residential solar industry is now under federal pressure.
04:34 The IRS and CPA Knowledge Gap
Cody Osterhout shares the moment that confirmed how broken the system is. He walked into the Ogden IRS building six months ago to explain his transfer product. When he mentioned the ITC, the income tax credit, the response was 'what's that?' The IRS itself did not know the credit by name. CPAs receive minimal solar tax credit training. Midas Wealth specialized to fill that gap.
05:41 Why Most Homeowners Never Realize the Credit
Cody Osterhout drops the number, more than 99% of residential solar buyers do not have the tax liability to fully realize the credit. Peter Anthony parallels it to the SUV deduction trap, you can only deduct what you actually owe in tax. If the liability is not there, the expenditure is real but the deduction is not.
07:12 Energy Independence vs Real Liability
Peter Anthony tells his own story. He bought into the energy-independence narrative, did not do the due diligence, took on a 30-year loan, then sat across from his accountant who told him there was no liability left to absorb the credit. The promised $30,000 government check never showed up. Cody Osterhout confirms the situation is not unusual, many homeowners are in even worse positions, with systems that have not even been turned on.
09:00 The Midas Wealth Commercial Structure
Cody Osterhout explains the pivot, Midas Wealth converts the consumer interaction into a commercial interaction. With the One Big Beautiful Bill eliminating the residential 25D credit, even homeowners with liability are now blocked. Partnering with Midas Wealth opens the commercial pathway that is still active.
11:03 How Homeowners Recover Cash Value
Cody Osterhout walks through the deliverable. Midas Wealth forms a small commercial energy LLC around the homeowner's solar system, takes the credits the homeowner cannot use, sends them up to a commercial taxpayer with the liability to absorb them, and pays the homeowner roughly 25% of system cost in cash the next tax year. The homeowner pays nothing to form the LLC. Midas Wealth handles taxes, filings, and structure. The homeowner files a K-1 for five years.
14:19 Turning Tax Credits Into a Scalable Asset
Peter Anthony unpacks the asset class Midas Wealth is creating, bundles of K-1-reporting commercial LLCs that get wrapped like mortgages and sold as a single large tax credit to a high-liability commercial taxpayer. Cody Osterhout confirms the structure is a tax equity transfer, also called a partner flip, and explains why Midas Wealth can pay so much more than the 90 to 95 cents on the dollar most other operators pay.
17:56 What Happens If the House Gets Sold
Cody Osterhout answers the most common question, what happens if the homeowner sells the house inside the five-year K-1 window. Midas Wealth treats the home and the system as two separate assets. The new homeowner can be added to the LLC, or the original homeowner can stay in the LLC regardless of where they live. The K-1 is the only ongoing requirement.
20:02 Why Cody Pushes Ownership Over Leases
Cody Osterhout makes the bigger market argument. Third-party ownership models, PPAs and leases, are not good for homeowners. Real energy independence requires real ownership. A loaned solar system does not add equity to a home. A paid-off owned system might, depending on the agent. But the path to actual independence runs through ownership, not lease.
22:51 Military Discipline and the Entrepreneur Mindset
Cody Osterhout shares the operating principle behind Midas Wealth. His military background taught him to never quit. The starting point and the end point are clear. People talk themselves off the singular track that gets them there. Cody Osterhout's advice to entrepreneurs is simple, don't stop walking. For the speed-obsessed, fail faster.
28:40 Loving the Work You Chose
Cody Osterhout closes on the philosophy that ties Midas Wealth together. You have to love what you do, even when it is the hardest thing. If you do not, give yourself the grace to exit and forgive yourself. Peter Anthony adds his addendum, the why is in the work, not in the pursuit. Nobody grows up dreaming about solar tax credit transfers. Nobody grows up dreaming about laying tar roofs. The noble pursuit is the narrative you build around the opportunity in front of you. Find Cody Osterhout at midaswealth.com.
