Does Your Home Need a New Roof When You Sell?

Selling your home is a serious decision. To get the most profit on your investment, your home should be sound and appealing to buyers.

The existing roof on your home is either a benefit to selling your home quickly or a potential fallback, depending on its current condition. Should you put a new roof on your home before you sell? Use this guide to help you, along with the assistance of your roofing specialist.

Type of Roof

The material your roof is largely determines whether the structure is replaceable based on aesthetics. For example, a copper, slate tile, or wood shingle or shake roof is decorative and long-lasting in design, making your roof a positive selling point to potential buyers. Unless your decorative roof is a few decades old or is in need of repairs, you don’t need to replace your roof to sell your home.

An asphalt roof (common among many homeowners due to ease of installation and costs) provides less visual appeal to buyers and has the added downside of not lasting as long as other roofing materials.

Your asphalt roof will benefit from re-roofing, which places a new layer of shingles over older ones to give your roof a modern, fresh look for buyers. Your roofer will give you an estimate for this relatively inexpensive roofing upgrade.

Cost/ROI

Another factor to consider with your roof is cost. How much will roofing cost and how much of your investment in roofing will be returned to you when you sell your home? In general, expect to get back over 50% of your roofing investment for a basic upgrade (larger upgrades have a smaller return).

Failure to replace your roof results in a lower asking price for your home since as-is sales result in positive outcomes for buyers, not sellers. Compare the benefits of replacing your roof along with the costs for an upgrade (repairs or replacement can cost as low as $5,000) to determine if roof replacement is right for your home selling needs.

Condition

No homeowner wants to worry about a failing roof, so buyers will turn away from your home if the roof is in obvious need of repairs. Depending on the style of roofing you have currently, your home’s roof should last a few decades to nearly half a century. According to the National Association of Realtors, asphalt shingled roofs last up to 20 years with regular care, while metal and other more durable roofing solutions have double that lifespan and longer.

The age and condition of your current roof determine whether you need repairs or replacement to sell your home quickly. In many cases, repairing missing shingles or loose or bent panels, tightening fasteners, or replacing gutter systems are the only upgrades needed to make a home’s exterior sound for potential buyers.

Competition

Check other home listings in your area to see what types of roofs your competition has. Homes boasting new or recently upgraded roofs, modern roofing styles, or ornate custom roofing are a sign that you need to replace your own home’s roofing to match the quality of local real estate.

On the other hand, if homes nearby feature basic roofing styles, your home benefits from a new roof (especially an aesthetically appealing design, such as wood shakes or slate) by standing out from competition positively.

Even if your roof is sound, replacing or upgrading the structure is often in your best interest for selling your property. Since you have many roofing solutions to meet your budget and curb appeal desires, speak to a roofing specialist to discover your options. Never attempt to repair or replace your roof on your own.

The right roof will give your home optimum resell value. Call us at SUNVEK for all your roofing needs today.