Home The roof, the roof, the roof is on...

[Elmorton]

well...not on fire, but I''m nervous that there might be issues. Anyone know about roofs?

Going into the inspection, we were told that the roof on the house that we''re considering has 5-7 years of life left in it, which we were okay with. We had our house inspection on Saturday, and our inspector said the following about the roof:

"The valleys are worn."
"Any roofer would tell you that you need a new roof" to which we replied, "Right, but a roofer also has to be in business...are you telling us we need a new roof or just that a roofer would say we need a new one?" and he smiled and shrugged. Not really helpful.

There was a leak in the attic around the chimney (which is no longer in use - it used to hook up to the coal heater) because the chimney was pretty deteriorated and not capped. The inspector also told us that the flashing must be worn out, and that the roof around the flashing should be replaced. He said that there was tar up around there already, which was obviously not working.

The garage was leaking badly on one side - "needs a new roof."

Our inspector was awesome, but he also erred on the side of precaution like crazy in several instances (he didn''t like that our gas fireplace had a 3 in pipe for exhaust and said it was inoperable, which everyone I know who knows heating has said is crazy since our furnace, which has much more exhaust than a fireplace, uses a 3 in pipe standard).

K...so the seller (a house flipper) was pretty cool. He said he''d fix the chimney immediately. But, he said that there are 5-7 years left on the roof. He had a crew out there painting the garage today, and they are also roofers. The head guy told us that yes, while the valleys don''t look so hot, they''re fine for another 5-7 years. I asked how he planned to fix the flashing, (since it''s under the shingles), and he said that he''d replace the flashing and re-tuck it and then tar the (crud) out of the area around the chimney - which is exactly what the inspector said we shouldn''t do. As for the garage, he said he''d re-roof the half that was having problems.

So my question is a multi-parter:

1) Should we be demanding a new roof for both the house and the garage or we walk? We love the house and but we feel like we can safely assume that the seller is not going to put new roofs on.

2) Should we just go with the flow with the repairs and trust that the seller and his crew member know what they''re talking about (since we don''t)?

3) Should we get a second (well, third) opinion and where should we find a person that will do that for a minimal cost?

4) Should we just try to get monetary seller concessions in addition to the repairs?

5)...or?

Thanks in advance for any insight you can provide!

 

[somethingshiny]

What I was told to do for a VERY similar circumstance is to get a "roof man" to give you a paper that says how many years the roof still has. In our situation, the roof man said it needed completely replaced, but he gave us the reasons why. The main reason was you shouldn''t have more than "x" layers of shingles on the roof at which time EVERYTHING needs stripped and a complete new roof needs put on. Many times people will just reshingle over the existing shingles. This is fine for a while but then causes more wear and tear on everything underneath it.

Since you already had your home inspection, he will forward that info to your lender. THEY will decide if his estimate of "5-7 yrs" is adequate. And, HIS name is on the line for this, so he''ll most likely be honest about it.

Another thing that was suggested to us when we were considering buying (and obviously would not have an additional $10000 for a roof) It was to put in an offer for $10000 (or whatever the roof or repair would cost) over the selling price with contingency that the seller would put on a roof before closing (since a loan couldn''t be approved with the state of the roof). We decided to not buy the house BECAUSE of the roof, though.

Good Luck!!!!

 

[fleur-de-lis]

Is the garage a separate building from the house?

Elmorton, the only person telling you that your roof has 5 to 7 years on it is the opposing party in this transaction and the opposing party''s workers, whose pay becomes easier if the flipper sells the house to you.

The roof currently is leaking significantly in two areas: by the chimney and in the garage. Any unattended leak leads to rot within walls, mold, and degradation of wood and drywall. It has not sprung multiple leaks in 5 to 7 years, it is leaking NOW, while you still have the power of walking away.

The only independent person who has looked at it said you''ll need a new roof.




Buy the house at the current price if you can afford a new roof in cash within the next 2-3 years and are too afraid to address the issue now. If you won''t have the $30,000 (what a new roof cost a family member of mine recently, but you should know what the roof on your sized house in your area will cost) lying around, then NOW is the time to address it because a house with a roof that''s about to go is not worth the same as a house with a roof with 30 years to go on it. OF COURSE the seller is going to resist; if he''s found a buyer who''s either too timid or too in love with the house to fight based on this issue, he gets to pocket the 30,000 he DIDN''T have to put into a new roof. (Oh, and BTW, not all roofers are going to tell you you need a new roof ASAP. If a roofer tells a homeowner they need a new roof for 30K but would do a patch for 5K yet they''re only delaying the inevitable by a couple of years, the roofer will get 35K, not 30K when the inevitable comes to pass. A roofer who does a patch job is likely to have a "repeat customer", and they know it. I''d trust a roofer with a 30 year family business and a good BBB rating over a flipper whose transaction is over with you as soon as he gets his money ANY TIME.)

So my question is a multi-parter:

1) Should we be demanding a new roof for both the house and the garage or we walk? We love the house and but we feel like we can safely assume that the seller is not going to put new roofs on.

2) Should we just go with the flow with the repairs and trust that the seller and his crew member know what they''re talking about (since we don''t)?

3) Should we get a second (well, third) opinion and where should we find a person that will do that for a minimal cost?

4) Should we just try to get monetary seller concessions in addition to the repairs?

5)...or?

To answer:
1) Depends
2) NO WAY
3) Yes
4) Depends on the answer for #3.

If you''re looking for feedback, I''d personally do the following:
A. First, call a roofer and get his independent opinion, AND, MORE IMPORTANTLY, quotes. You need to know the financial risk you bear with your decision.

B. Second, decide how you''ll handle what is likely to come. Will a roof be 10,000 or 30,000? In how many years will you have to spend that if you get a good patch today? Do you have the cash in hand to pay for it, or are your finances so tight that that sort of outlay could only be afforded if it is folded into a mortgage and spread out over 30 years? Will buying this house make you so cash-poor for a while that you won''t be able to handle it, and therefore it NEEDS to be fixed and the price of a new roof "rolled into" the mortgage? Will a reduction in price for the roof allow you to have cash on hand for the eventual roof replacing, or are you financing so much of the home that a concession will still make you cash-poor but with a slightly lesser monthly payment?

C. Based on your answers in B, what you need to do should become self-evident. I hope this outside analysis helps!

f-d-l

 

[Elmorton]

Shiny and FDL, thanks so much for weighing in!

It''s a small house - at the most, the roof would cost 6k, a conservative estimate is 4,500. The garage is separate, and the estimate we had for that is 2k. The seller agreed today to re-roof the garage, and after we asked for a concession of half the cost of the roof, he was very quiet and said he was already selling at a loss and absolutely couldn''t budge, but said that instead of black-jacking around the chimney, he will replace the flashing and replace the area around the chimney with new shingles. We left things in the air after that and said we needed to think, so we have neither accepted nor declined at this point.

But, I think we''re going to go for it. I''ve sent the inspection report (with roof photos) to several people in the know, and we''ve gotten a green light from them. Even if we had to replace the roof ourselves, I think we''d still be getting a good price on the home.

Again, thanks so much for helping me with my first time home buying woes!