Sequim roofing repairs are often needed when buying a home, but buyers face a potential dilemma on this issue. Once you and the seller are done negotiating the price, and you have a firm contract (mutual acceptance), you’ll want to hire a home inspector during your due diligence period. What if the roof needs to be replaced at a cost of $14,000? Who will pay for that–you as the buyer or the seller?
A home inspector cannot tell you if the roof needs repair. His liability insurance carrier prohibits him from making specific recommendations or drawing ultimate conclusions about things like roofing, the foundation, the heating system, and so on. So if he thinks the roof might need repair or replacement, he will recommend you bring in a roofing contractor to tell you.
Sequim Roofing Inspections
Here’s the challenge. There are roofing contractors who will tell you the roof needs to be totally replaced even if the roof has many years left. They make their living replacing roofs, not giving free advise. But this kind of advice can literally kill your real estate transaction, because if you as a buyer present an estimate for a Sequim roofing job in the amount of $18,000 to the seller and ask him to reduce the price or give you a credit, the seller is likely to freak. In this market the seller may have already reduced his price a couple of times over the past year, and then he agreed to a further reduction in the negotiations with you, so he already feels he is below what he is entitled to. He may be wrong, of course, but the point is he is not going to buy you a new roof at this late stage in the negotiations. But what if the roof really did not need to be replaced?
Sequim Roofing Solutions
An honest professional opinion on a Sequim roofing job is absolutely critical to the successful negotiation of your purchase. If the roof really has 10 years of life left, you don’t need to get into a knock-down-and-drag-out fight with the seller and risk losing the home. If the roof has 5 years left, perhaps you just replace it in 5 years, because you already negotiated a very good price on the home. I’ve personally interviewed a number of Sequim roofing contractors and I know their work. When I act as a buyer’s agent, I help my clients work through any Sequim roofing issues, and when appropriate, we can negotiate a partial reduction in the price. But that is a delicate issue with a seller, and it takes some negotiating finesse to resolve serious Sequim roofing issues.
Last Updated on September 6, 2019 by Chuck Marunde
