Selling your home: replace your roof?

Most roofs need to get replaced after 20 to 30 years, so if your home is approaching that age, you’ll need to start considering getting it replaced. But what do you do if you are selling the home? You may not want to put all the cost into getting it replaced if you can let someone else do it instead. Here are a few things to consider when trying to decide whether or not to replace your roof while selling your home.

Do you own your home outright, and can you afford the cost?

According to Realtor.com, this can be a big factor. Most people who still have a big mortgage on their home won’t also be able to afford paying to get their roof fixed. Some people may get a home equity loan to make the change, but if you can’t afford it, you might as well forget about it because you won’t be doing it anyway. Potentially insurance can cover part of the bill if you file a claim, but many times, filing a claim won’t help much because it can increase home insurance payments on your new home and you may have a high enough deductible that you aren’t getting much help anyway.

How good is the marketing? Will this be negative?

The market is a huge determining factor. If the market is good and you are pretty sure you’re going to get multiple offers, you may consider just leaving your roof as-is. However, in a tough market, getting your house sold may be very difficult, and you may need to do everything you can to make your house more appealing. In a buyer’s market, a buyer may completely overlook your house if they see the roof needs to get replaced. In a seller’s market, they can usually forget about the roof if they love the house and decide to replace it themselves.

Home improvement news brought to you by bartonroof.com

Source: realtor.com/advice/home-improvement/should-i-replace-the-roof-before-i-sell-2/