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A house that needs a new roof, has an old AC, ... looks like a fixer upper to me. Unless it is a dynamite location, the selling price will likely reflect that.
I’m in Florida so I get the heat aspect, but doesn’t the heat pump just run the heat in winter? It’s barely worth turning it on some years. If the air conditioner itself was bad, REPLACE! But I don’t think that’s the case here.
From a buyer’s perspective, it can be harder to get insurance when a roof is at the end of its life. We dealt with this when buying our house and we eventually got dropped from our insurance since we never replaced the roof, and now our premium is higher. That’s not your problem as a seller per se, but if they flat out can’t get insurance, that’s a problem for everyone. Especially if it doesn’t end up selling next year and the roof continues to age.
Those quotes for the heat pump seem high to me but I guess with the other HVAC repairs it makes more sense. Our unit was sized wrong for our house so I would probably ensure that’s not an issue here as well. It will do no good replacing any of it if it’s not right.
I sort of tend to side with those who said fix it and do the home warranty.
The quotes: I got three quotes. Don't forget that the a/c was NOT installed correctly, so that the return air (there is only one...should be more) is for a 3 ton unit, while I have a 4 ton unit. Also, the master bedroom on other end of the house does not cool properly....because there is no return on that end of the house and/or improper duct connections on the way to the supply vent to that room. So the quotes include one thing or another to correct these things.
I MIGHT be able to cut the $7,600 quote down by forgetting about the master bedroom, and just having the main return enlarged (it's required). That would cut maybe $500? If that.
One quote: $10,000 (yikes! Way out of wack. I said thanks & opened the door for him to leave).
2nd quote: $7,580 with NO corrections involved; $8,600 w/several corrections to totally resolve original installation issues.
3rd quote: $7,600 incl. some corrections to resolve original installation issues.
4th quote: A one-man a/c guy, installing a bottom end unit (like temp-star or something) - no corrections to original installations. This is a down and dirty quote, by someone who isn't the best a/c guy around. About $6,500.
I'd probably go w/3rd quote. Large, reputable a/c company.
ROOF: Nothing I can do about that. Yes, I ran across that issue when I was buying. Some cos. around here pro-rate roofs, so for an old roof, buyer wouldn't get much coverage on it because it's likely to need replacement soon. VA buyers can't buy it, since VA requires 8 years left on roof. It would cost about $18,000 to re-roof, which I can't afford in addn to the loss on the price of house.
As for me, I got insurance on this house w/ 4 years left on roof (Liberty Mutual), not pro-rated. Full roof coverage. Allstate and State Farm are the worst about this, I think, and they write the most local policies. This is a hurricane area.
As you say, it is what it is. Hopefully, someone will make an offer, and I can see if I can afford to take the loss.
A house that needs a new roof, has an old AC, ... looks like a fixer upper to me. Unless it is a dynamite location, the selling price will likely reflect that.
I consider a fixer upper to be an old house that needs almost total cosmetic refurbishing, outdated interior, falling apart.
This is a french style architecture house, with professionally painted light taupe walls (some weird colors in what were kid bedrooms), custom made kitchen cabinets, 18 years old, custom neutral granite counter tops (and a lot of counter space), snack bar, over-tall windows throughout (double pane), custom built small pantry and entert. center (solid oak - cost years ago was $9,000 - I got the invoice in the paperwork), whirlpool tub w/separate shower & 2 sinks in master (all in excellent shape), super large 2nd bath w/2 sinks and walk-in linen closet), etc.
All doors and walls are in excellent shape (few nail holes, even), fireplace w/mantel in perfect shape. A half acres lot, back yard fully fenced (though fence isn't in great shape)...but many of the lots here have no fence.
It's a pretty house with tall ceilings, tray ceilings, etc. It's also the smallest house in the subdivision, so this house is the cheapest way to get into this nice subdivision.
So it's not what I would call a fixer upper. Many sellers tend to sell with aging roofs & a/c systems, which irked me a lot when I was house hunting. I saw NO houses where the seller had sprung for a new a/co unit in the year before selling. So if I have a new a/c unit and 2 years left on the roof, I'll have more to offer than many houses in the area, I guess you could say.
But there's nothing I can do about the roof. I had two guys look at it after the hail, but the roof was fine. One guy was in construction, and the other was a roofing co. employee.
I don't think I'll be able to sell it, anyway. There's just not a lot of real estate activity in the area at this time. I have figured out the loss I can take when I sell it (real estate commission + loss on price of house).
Sounds like a pretty nice house aside from AC and roof, even more the reason to replace rather than patch. My impression was the roof estimate was really high. Was that a complete new rook or overlay?
I would just put it out there and let the buyers make up their minds. I’ve seen some real crap holes sell for asking price. Just because one person walks away doesn’t mean they all walk away. If someone wants to negotiate the price a bit sure negotiate. I wouldn’t go dumping 25k in a house unless you add at least 5k on top of that 25,000
Sounds like a pretty nice house aside from AC and roof, even more the reason to replace rather than patch. My impression was the roof estimate was really high. Was that a complete new rook or overlay?
Complete new roof.
How I estimated cost to replace roof is that I asked my neighbor who was getting a new roof (THEIRS had to replaced after the hail storm, which irks me because I did not). They said the cost was about $17,000 (assuming they're telling the truth). Their house is larger than mine, but the roof they chose isn't as nice and an odd shade of gray (I'm thinking this was a "special"). They also used one of those out of town roofing cos., which is not wise to use for the long term.
The houses in this subdivision have architectural shingles. Very high pitched roofs, so a lot of roof area for the sf the roof covers. Garages are under the roof lines. So I figured it'd cost me about $18,000, or maybe a range of $15k - $20k.
Cost depends on area you live in, type of shingles, how much roof area there is (not just sf of house). I suppose I could call my ins. co. and ask them.
You can't get a mortgage on a house that can't be insured and no insurance company will write a policy on a twenty year old roof.
You might as well replace the roof and HVAC. I would also go with the Trane.
You never know what tomorrow brings and you could end up living in this house for a long time.
I got an ins. policy on a house with a 17 yr old roof, and then I changed ins. cos. last years and got a policy on a house with an 18 yr old roof (w/full roof coverage). Liberty Mutual. (I have 25yr architectural shingles, I think is what the inspector told me.)
But you're right...Allstate and State Farm in our area won't give full roof coverage for an old roof. They will either prorate the coverage on the roof (which gives almost no coverage on it), or they will exclude roof coverage entirely.
Architectural roofs have 25yr+ lifespan. So an 18 year old roof should have 7 years life left, but it could have much less or even more, depending.
Regular roofs have, what...a 15 yr lifespan?
So it depends on the roof. When I replaced my roof in Dallas years ago, I replaced it with an impact resistant long-life roof....with a 50+ year lifespan.
How I estimated cost to replace roof is that I asked my neighbor who was getting a new roof (THEIRS had to replaced after the hail storm, which irks me because I did not). They said the cost was about $17,000 (assuming they're telling the truth). Their house is larger than mine, but the roof they chose isn't as nice and an odd shade of gray (I'm thinking this was a "special"). They also used one of those out of town roofing cos., which is not wise to use for the long term.
The houses in this subdivision have architectural shingles. Very high pitched roofs, so a lot of roof area for the sf the roof covers. Garages are under the roof lines. So I figured it'd cost me about $18,000, or maybe a range of $15k - $20k.
Cost depends on area you live in, type of shingles, how much roof area there is (not just sf of house). I suppose I could call my ins. co. and ask them.
If you're not eligible for a claim, skip the insurance company. Get quotes. It's amazing how much lower the quotes can be when you can shop around, request cash discounts, and be patient about when the job is done. When there has been a weather event and insurance is involved and you are under pressure to get it done now, contractors are feeling greedy not hungry.
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