Found roof leaking during inspection, what can I do? (for sale, credit)

[td2456]

Hi,

For the house I want to buy, the inspector found some suspicious spots. Then on a raining day, both agents and me went to take a look in the attic. The connection between vent pipes and roof had severe leaking. The seller has agreed to fix it.

My question is, how can I know if the seller gets the job done well? Should I request the seller to provide written document from a roof professional? Can I ask the seller to provide warranty for roof leaking, like one year?

Thanks,

Tony

[Sergio M]

Absolutely. Ask that the work be done by a professional roofing outfit. Also make sure that they are licensed ( registered with state ) as a home improvement contractor. ( get lic. # ) Roof warranties are tough to uphold, because, it could start leaking somewhere else. The roofing outfit should warranty the repair. As for the seller warrantying the roof? That should really be a negotiating factor when negotiating sales price. Ask to get an estimate on replacing the roof ( if need be ) and go from there. Just my 2 cents.

[Roselvr]

In addition to what Sergio said, how old is the roof?

The thing is that the house is probably priced knowing it needs a roof so be prepared for them to not give too much.

Did they disclose the leaking roof? If not, did it look like new damage?

[td2456]

The roof is 14 years old and has not been replaced before.

The seller disclosure did not mention roof leaking.

Please give advice. Thanks a lot.

[BobKovacs]

The roof may be near the end of its useful life, depending on what type of shingles were used originally. It sounds like we're talking about a 14 year-old house, in which case the cheapest shingles possible were likely used (unless this was a custom home), and they're probably close to ready for a re-roof.

If you have a roofer make repairs to the vent boots, he'll warrant that the his repair won't leak, but he's not going to warrant the rest of the roof. If you can't get the owner to re-roof the house prior to sale, or provide a concession to cover the cost, I'd make sure I budgeted some $$ for a re-roof within the next few years. If the shingles are all laying flat, you can install another layer over the top of the existing shingles- if they've started to curl, you may need to tear them off prior to the new installation.

[Roselvr]

Originally Posted by td2456

The roof is 14 years old and has not been replaced before.

The seller disclosure did not mention roof leaking.

Please give advice. Thanks a lot.

How was your offer, were you close to asking or did you low ball?
Depending on how close to asking you offered & was accepted, that would dictate what I did.

This is a brutal market, we just sold & bought. Did you share your list with the sellers yet? Depending on what part of NJ, you may only have a certain amount of days to give your demands. Ask your agent. If this is the case and you haven't given them your list yet, you want to let them know the inspector did find leaks and that you need to get roofers out to estimate the cost.

My suggestion, get 3 estimates. The estimates I would get would be to fix the leaking roof, plus to add new shingles, then you will have a pro's opinion whether it could be repaired or needs the roof.

The last time we had the house for sale back in 99, we also had a questionable roof (visually) but it did not leak. We offered half of the cost of a roof, buyer wasn't happy with that and walked. We ended up getting another 5 years out of it.

Good luck

[td2456]

The house is already under contract, since we could not have the inspection unless it was under contract.

Do you think we still have some room to bargain? Thanks.

[CuCullin]

Originally Posted by td2456

The house is already under contract, since we could not have the inspection unless it was under contract.

Do you think we still have some room to bargain? Thanks.

Absolutely!

Negotiating is never over before the inspection; there should be a clause in your contract stating that your offer is pending a satisfactory inspection - what makes it satisfactory is up to you.

[Roselvr]

Originally Posted by td2456

The house is already under contract, since we could not have the inspection unless it was under contract.

Do you think we still have some room to bargain? Thanks.

Please call your agent and discuss with him what you found so that he can do what is needed to give you time to get estimates. As I said, from there you find out if it can be patched or needs to be reroofed. From there you decide what you want to do, whether it is get a credit so that you can make repairs / get the roof done or negotiate for the owner to have it done.

Personally, I would rather negotiate credit so that I can have my own guy fix it so that I know it is done to my satisfaction.

As I mentioned before, some towns / counties (not sure which) give a buyer 5 days to have the inspection and make it known what they want taken care of. This was the case for us, but since our buyers agent is from a different area had no clue. By day 6 my agent called to see what was going on, they then threw a list at us, none of it safety related. Needless to say we're a bit ticked that they waited so long but are trying to work with them.

Since you know there are leaks, get the ball rolling so that it doesn't look like you are dragging your feet. How long ago did you get the inspection done?