Why You Should Replace Your Roof Before Selling Your Home

Written by James Elliot Posted On Wednesday, 20 September 2023 00:00

Are you thinking about putting your home on the market for sale? It doesn't matter if you've been living there for 50 years or five. You want to do everything you can to get the most from your initial investment. Find out why a residential roof replacement is one thing to consider to help get the most out of your house that's for sale.

New roof installation will help with the selling of your home for several reasons. You can increase the asking price, prevent potential buyers from trying to bargain with you, sell your home faster by improving the overall appearance, and avoid negotiation issues with lending companies.

Increase Your Asking Price After a Roof Replacement

You might have a price point in mind for your home based on what you paid for it, the work you've done already, and what it's worth to you. That number can be increased significantly if you add a roof replacement to the work you do before you put a for sale sign out in front of your property.

Even though you're going to be spending the money initially on what a complete residential roof replacement costs, you will get all of that back. You can even add on extra because you took the time to have it completed. As soon as you mention "new roof" on the features your home has in the realtor sales listing, people will automatically be more attracted to it. It's one of the top factors that potential home buyers look at when deciding what house they want to settle on as their permanent residence. 

If you have ever looked at buying a new home yourself, you know that when you see houses that have roofs that are ten years or older, you aren't going to be willing to pay top dollar. Anyone that has done their research knows that the age of the roof has a huge impact on the price a seller can put on their property. A new roof allows you to keep the price point a bit higher so you can get the most out of your investment. 

Save Time on Dealing With Roof Repair Negotiations from Buyers

It's human nature to try and get something for less than the asking price, especially when it comes time to purchase a new home. It's not just a couple of hundred dollars that buyers bid below what they see listed either. 

They will often look for features of the home like the age of the roof and try to take thousands off the asking price.  You put the value on your home, taking into consideration the age of the roof, but that's not how outsiders view it. A new roof installation is a big job and a significant investment. Buyers know when they are looking at buying a home with a roof that is ten years or older, they have some work ahead of them. That additional effort they will have to put in allows for a bit of wiggle room. You put the value on your home, taking into consideration the age of the roof, but that's not how outsiders view it.

Taking the time and spending the money to put a brand new roof on your home for sale is going to save a lot of time and headache.  The people looking at your home won't be able to use the age of the roof as a reason for you to lower what you want when the sale is final. If you're in a hurry to get your home sold as quickly as possible, asphalt roof installation will shave a decent amount of time off the whole process.

Speed Up the Sale Process with a Beautiful New Roof

There isn't much need to look at your roof on a routine basis and inspecting it for damages only happens a couple of times a year. However, when people are considering the purchase of their dream home, the roof is one of the first features that gets investigated. Nobody wants to move in and discover that there are holes or leaks in what they thought was their ideal forever home.

If a person sees an older roof, they are more likely to skip over the house as an option. People don't want to have to put major improvements into a home they're just moving into. For most, new homeowners want to be able to pull the moving truck up, unload their things, and sit and enjoy everything they just committed to with the purchase of a house.

With a brand new residential roof installation in your area, the people that are simply driving by are going to see that you took the time to have the work done. They will slow down and want to take a closer look because you've taken care of the exterior. Inquiring minds will want to see the interior. The more that people are stopping to explore your property, the quicker you're going to get the final offer settled.

Keep Lending Companies Satisfied with Adequate Roof Repairs

You might not care about the age of your roof when you have your house up for sale. You're ultimately not going to be living there anymore, so why worry about it. You may even get lucky and find a DIY buyer that has no issue with doing their own roof repairs. That all sounds great until you get to the point in the home buying process when the bank or mortgage company comes to do their own inspection of the property.  This is especially true in colder climates where often hail damage has a huge impact on roof degradation. For example, this last winter, there were record numbers of roof repairs in Fort Collins, CO due to consistent hail storms and the damage thereafter. 

When they see that residential roof repairs are required, they might refuse to approve the loan entirely. They also can request the necessary fixes be made before they will move forward with borrowing any money. They want to make sure as lenders their money is protected. A roof that's caving in or older than ten years is a risk as far as they see it. All it's going to do is slow down the time it takes to get the sale finalized if you don't take care of the roof repairs or replacements ahead of time.

Instead of trying to sell your home as-is, consider the plethora of benefits that come along with doing a complete roof replacement or at least the necessary roof repairs before putting your "For Sale" sign out front. You're chances of getting more money increase. You won't waste time dealing with negotiations from the buyers or requirements from the lending company. All in all, everything will go much more quickly because of the updated and gorgeous appearance a new roof gives your property.


James Elliot and his team of expert roofing contractors at Fort Collins Roofing Company have been helping homeowners through the consistent hail damage plaguing the area for over 4 years. His expertise is in their streamlined process of helping homeowners through insurance claims processes so that they can get a new roof as soon as they need it.

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