Should I Replace My Roof or Sell “As-Is”?

Has the roof that hangs on top of your home seen better days? If it has, you might want to seriously consider replacing it if you’re planning on selling your house sometime soon.

Selling a house that needs a new roof is going to be difficult to do in many instances. You can make it simpler to sell your home by investing in a new roof for it.

However, you might also want to choose not to replace your roof and to sell it “as-is” instead. This is the approach that some people take when they don’t have the money to stick a new roof on their house prior to selling it.

The answer to the question, “Can you sell a home with a bad roof?”, is “yes.” But that doesn’t mean that it’s going to be the best option for you. Check out the pros and cons of replacing your roof versus not replacing your roof before selling your home below.

The Pros of Replacing Your Roof Before Selling Your Home

The roof that sits on your home is arguably the most important part of it. It protects your home from the elements, ensures that you’re able to heat and cool your home properly, and sets the tone for your home’s curb appeal.

With this in mind, selling a house that needs a new roof isn’t going to be easy by any stretch of the imagination. If you have an older roof on your home that doesn’t look nice and perform in the way it should, it’s likely going to bring the value of your home down.

By sticking a new roof on your home, you’ll make sure that it’s able to provide your home with the protection that it needs. Those who are thinking about buying your home will really appreciate this when they’re walking through your house.

Putting a new roof on your home will also make it more energy-efficient than it is right now. Whoever moves into your home won’t have to be worried about paying a small fortune to heat and cool the house.

And maybe most importantly of all, installing a new roof on your home is going to automatically improve the curb appeal of your house. You’ll be amazed by how much better it looks with a new roof in place.

Oh, and as if that wasn’t enough, we should also reinforce the fact that, when you replace your roof before selling your home, you’ll be able to command higher offers for it. Roof replacement is one of the home improvement projects that provides homeowners with an excellent return on investment.

The Cons of Replacing Your Roof Before Selling Your Home

After hearing about all the pros of replacing your roof prior to selling your home, you might be sold on the idea of doing it. You might not think twice about calling up this roofing company in Jacksonville and asking them to install a new roof for you.

But before you get too far ahead of yourself, you should also consider the cons of replacing your roof before selling your house. There are going to be at least a few of them that could shift your attention back to not replacing your roof and selling your home as-is.

The first one that we need to mention is that replacing your roof is obviously going to cost a pretty penny. A big part of the reason why roof replacement will add so much value to your home is that you’re going to pay a lot for it. You can expect to pay a few thousand dollars at minimum, if not a whole lot more for a larger roof.

A roof replacement job is also going to be a big project that you’ll need to take on. It’s going to add a lot of stress to your life when you have a million and one other things going on. From finding a roofing company to having your new roof installed, it’s going to be a time-consuming process from start to finish.

For all these reasons, you might find that you’re better off not replacing an old roof in spite of all the advantages that will come along with it.

The Pros of Selling Your Home “As-Is” Without Replacing Your Roof

If your home has an old roof on it, you might cringe at the thought of trying to sell it as-is. How in the world are you going to be able to convince someone to buy your house when they see the roof that’s on it?

This is a valid question and one that you should ask yourself when selling a house that needs a new roof. But one thing that you should know is that there are plenty of people out there who are interested in buying a house with an old roof and fixing it up.

There is a huge market for those who choose to sell their homes as-is. You might not think that you’ll be able to find interested buyers for your home based on the condition of it. But you’ll find that the opposite is usually true.

There are some buyers who look around specifically for homes that need new roofs put on them. They’ll happily go about buying a house that needs a new roof for a slightly reduced price so that they can choose the roof that they want rather than having to live with the one you pick out.

The Cons of Selling Your Home “As-Is” Without Replacing Your Roof

As we just explained, there are a whole bunch of benefits that you’ll get when you sell a house as-is without replacing the roof on it. You could end up generating a lot of interest in your home from all the fixer-uppers that want to buy it and bring it back to life.

But of course, there are also some cons that you’re going to have to live with when you sell your home as-is as opposed to replacing your roof. You should take them into consideration when you’re weighing your options as far as roof replacement is concerned.

One of the biggest cons of selling a home as-is is that you’re pretty much guaranteed to get less than what’s it worth for it. You’re going to struggle to find someone to pay you exactly what you want when they see the kind of condition that it’s in.

Depending on where you live, you might also struggle to find interested buyers for your as-is home. You’re going to have to market it in the direction of those who make a living buying homes and fixing them up in most cases.

Additionally, selling your home as-is without putting a new roof on it might give people the impression that you didn’t take care of other aspects of your home. They could be hesitant to even check it out after seeing the shape your roof is in.

Selling a home as-is is always a little risky for those getting rid of a house. You might have a terrible experience when selling a home because of its condition.

How Should You Handle Selling a House That Needs a New Roof?

Now that you know the pros and cons of both replacing a roof on a home before selling it and selling a house that needs a new roof as-is, it’s time for you to decide which side of the fence you fall on. To do this, you should ask yourself a series of questions and let your answers dictate what you do next.

Here are the questions that you should attempt to answer prior to making a decision one way or the other:

• Can you afford to replace the roof on your home right now?
• How much extra value will installing a new roof on your home add to it?
• Do you have the time to devote to roof replacement?
• Are you in a hurry to move out of your home soon?

By answering these questions, you should be able to gauge whether you want to replace your roof or leave it as-is when selling your home. You should feel good about your decision in the end and know that you made the right choice.

Call on the Right Company to Help You Replace Your Roof

If you decide that you are, in fact, going to replace your roof, you should make sure you call on the right company to help you. You want an experienced company on your side with roofers who will do a great job.

If you don’t contact the right company, it could come back to bite you later on. You could very well pay a bunch of money for a roof that doesn’t add anywhere near as much value to your home as you thought it would. You’ll regret not selling a house that needs a new roof as-is.

Want to read up on more roof-related tips and tricks? Check out our blog to find articles that will help you maintain your home’s roof.