How a Damaged Roof can Affect a Real Estate Transaction

So, you’re selling your home! First of all, congratulations! Hopefully, you are moving onto something better for you and your family, whatever that may be. Second, have you checked out your roof lately and do you know the condition it’s in? 

This may not be something you’ve even thought about - most homeowners don’t. Maybe you haven’t suspected any roof damage because you don’t have a visible leak or haven’t seen any obvious problems, but this doesn’t mean something won’t show up during the home inspection. To make sure you don’t run into any issues during your home selling transaction, you may consider getting a quick inspection of your roof on your own. Why is FH Water Restoration suggesting this? Because if roof damage does come up during the transaction, it could seriously derail your home selling plans. 

Here’s how a damaged roof can affect a real estate transaction in the Denver/Colorado Springs areas (or really anywhere):

Lower Offering Price

Just because the inspector has found issues with your roof, doesn’t mean everyone will want to walk away from the sale. Some buyers may love the house so much that they are willing to deal with the roof damage. An option buyers have is to lower the offering price based on how much it will take to get the roof repaired. The best way for the buyer to determine the cost or repair is to have a licensed roofing contractor, such as FH Water Restoration, assess the property and provide a quote. Once the buyer knows the cost, they can deduct it from what they offer to buy the property for. 

Negotiated Terms

Another way to proceed with the real estate transaction is to negotiate the terms between the buyer and seller. The buyer can ask the seller to pay for the roof work before escrow closes or that the repair money be placed in escrow so the buyer has the money necessary to have the roof repaired after closing.

Buyer Can Walk Away

Depending on the extent of the roof damage, the condition of the roof, and the cost of the repair, the seller runs the risk of having the buyer walk away altogether. This isn’t really surprising for a few reasons. Number one, roof damage can be very expensive to repair and a headache to have to deal with. Number two, the real estate market in Denver and Colorado Springs is hot right now meaning, there are plenty of options out there. 

Increased Offering Price

Although this doesn’t happen often, it is still an option should roof damage be found during inspection. If the seller doesn’t agree to repair the roof, but as a buyer you really want the home, you can increase the offer price and add the cost of the repair to your mortgage. Keep in mind, this only works if the house appraised for less than current market value.

A damaged roof doesn’t sound like fun, especially during a real estate transaction, right? As you can see, much of the power of the decision to move forward with the real estate transaction is on the buyer. They have to ask themselves if they’re willing to deal with the roof damage on their own, if they expect you to take care of it prior to escrow, or if it’s easiest to just walk away altogether. 

For the seller, this means it is super important to make sure the roof on your Denver or Colorado Springs home/commercial space is in great condition before listing it. To do this on your Denver or Colorado Springs property, you should call FH Water Restoration! Our team of roofing experts will be happy to provide an inspection of your roof and point out ANY potential issues that could come up during inspection. If issues are found, the FH Water Restoration team will also provide a plan for repair and what we can do to help.