How To Check The Roof When Buying A Home

2 years ago

A home’s roof is its most important feature. After all, the roof is what keeps you safe from harsh weather conditions and provides warmth and comfort for your household. When you’re purchasing a house, getting a roof inspection is a vital step you need to take. But not everyone knows how to check a roof before putting an offer in on a house. If you want to know the truth about a roof before you buy that house, keep reading to learn more about how to check a roof when buying a home.

What do Roof Inspectors Look For?

When purchasing a home, it’s always a smart idea to hire a professional to inspect the roof rather than relying on your own knowledge. Professional roof inspectors are able to take a close look at a home’s roof and provide a thorough inspection that gives you a detailed idea of the roof’s condition.

When a roof inspector comes to evaluate a roof, they’re generally looking for any leaks, damage, growth of moss or mildew, damage to shingles, wear and tear, debris damage, irregularities, and more.

Roof Inspection vs. Free Estimate

You may be wondering what the difference between a roof inspection and a free estimate is. Roof inspections require a small investment and come with a full documented report, photos, and roof drawing. Since you a paying for the inspector’s time you will (should) get an honest assessment of the roof’s condition, what repairs or replacement is required, and the remaining life expectancy of the existing roof. When a homeowner is selling their home or a buyer is looking to purchase one, either party may ask for a roof inspection.

. On the other hand, contractors providing “free estimates” often tweak repair proposals to their advantage just to get the work and cover costs of the “free” estimate. Free estimates are a hook all contractors use to get a salesman in front of you and may not provide the honest assessment you need to make the best decision in buying your new home. Saving a few bucks up front may cost you thousands of dollars within two or three years.

How do You Inspect a Roof Before Buying a House?

If you want to do your own preliminary inspection of a roof when you’re touring a house to potentially purchase, keep an eye out for the following things that could signal there are some problems with the roof:

Missing or damaged shingles
Broken tiles
Mold or mildew growth at wood overhangsWater stains
Granules from shingles on the ground
Blocked gutters

Can You Ask a Seller to Replace a Roof?

Buying a home is a negotiation, which means you can always ask a seller to replace a roof if it’s something you’re interested in. If you are going to take this route, you’ll want to make sure you have a roof inspection, done by a professional, to certify the roof’s poor condition. If the seller refuses to replace the roof and sell you the home at the same price, you may also consider splitting the cost of a new roof with a seller or asking to buy the home for a lower price so that you can replace the roof yourself.

Get A Professional Roof Inspection

To put it simply, if you’re going to buy or sell a home, you’re going to want a roof inspection done by a team of professionals. At Roofstar Arizona, we understand that real estate deals work on tight schedules, which is why we prioritize inspections. Call our office today to set up a roof inspection at a time that works for you. We’ll tell you the truth about your roof.

If you are looking for honesty and integrity, look no further. I just had Roofstar repair my roof and they did a great job. We had another company re-do our roof 6 years ago and we were not expecting to have issues. I had a few roofing companies come out and give us estimates on fixing what the other company did wrong. All of the other companies said we had to re-do our whole roof, quoting around $12,000. Roofstar was recommended by my brother who is an insurance agent. He said he has used Roofstar for the past 15 years and said Jeff the owner was the nicest and most honest person he has worked with. He recommends all of his clients to Roofstar.

Bill came out and looked at the roof and said we had a unique issue with the roof. He said he didn’t want to miss quote us and wanted to talk to Jeff (the owner) to get his opinion. The quote came in, but I had a question on how something was going to be fixed. Jeff (the owner) came out to my house and spent at least an hour looking at what need to be done. Tell me, what other company’s owner would come out personally and look at a roof??? Especially in the hot Arizona summer??? Not only did Jeff come out, he figured out that we only needed to repair 50% of the roof and saved us over half of what all the other companies were going to charge. Seriously, who does that these days??? Most companies try to over sell so they can make a larger profit, Jeff didn’t do that!

The crew was great, on time and very professional. They did a great job and made sure they cleaned up after they left each day.

It’s sad that we had to have our roof re-done after only 6 years, but now I feel safe knowing the job was done right.

Thanks to Jeff and Bill for the professionalism and the high level of integrity!

I will recommend Roofstar to all of my friends.

Tino G.

Gilbert, AZ

From start until finish, Roofstar Arizona was the perfect choice for our house. We were given a very clear and thorough quote for the work our 30+ year old roof needed; we could’ve choose to ‘band-aid’ key areas and spend less, or we could spend the money and fix it right. We had saved and knew we’d have to spend a good amount of money for the work, but Roofstar was professional enough to offer choices. We had a slight miscommunication with regard to instruction with the on-site supervisor, and though we were able to easily clear things up, Roofstars’ owner Jeff drove himself to our home just to make sure our minds were at ease. Excellent touch. The workers were courteous and very thorough with the work. They stuck to the time needed to complete (we had good weather), and our home has a new roof, ready for the next 30 years. It looks great, and we have the confidence knowing the job was done right. Great work, guys. Highly recommend this company.

….03/2020–an update–we’ve had a few rainy days since the roof work–and everything is in fantastic order. These guys did a great job for us, and I know they will for you, too.

Dan Y.

Very impressed with Jeff’s response to my concern over a rain caused leak in our ceiling.

Jeff arrived promptly in the a.m. for an evaluation, congenial, confident – integrity fully present. The same characteristics I respected, wanted and needed and had happily experienced the moment I met him. After observing the
rather slight damage to the ceiling we went to the roof where he promptly flattened himself atop the shingles and like a practiced detective began to assess shingles and flashing, etc, in order to create a likely scenario that might have generated a leak. His minute attention to detail was impressive.

Having isolated the potential problem he proceeded to caulk here and there. He also took the time to address other concerns that I had regarding roofing issues going forward.

All in all Jeff delivered the kind of prompt, competent service all homeowners seek, are entitled to, and hope for in a tradesman.

Thank you, Jeff for living the kind of values that make owning a home worth the while.

Bob H.

Phoenix, AZ

I have a new roof today thanks to Roofstar. From the estimate with Chris with understanding the process. Able to talk to all top brass with the care and interest in sharing the process through the team that showed up and did The work. Always willing to answer my questions I am thrilled with the results. Thanks Jeff, Jose, Juan, and Chris. I would highly recommend your team. Your onsite workers were fabulous. Make it a great day.

Nancy H.

I have had several neighbors ask about your company and have given favorable recommendations to this point. Your team was very professional and I think to this point did a great job! I am in sales as well and just to let you know Mike was very professional in his meeting with me and his presentation and follow up made the difference between other companies.

Steve Y.

Scottsdale, AZ

I just wanted to personally thank both you (Jeff) and Mike for your help on this house. I appreciate that you took the time to schedule the repairs, confirm, and that your workers showed up on time and did a fantastic job! My husband is a general contractor, so we really appreciate it when a company stands by their word and delivers a great product. We will be adding you to our Recommended Vendor List and will put the word out there as much as we can for referrals! Thanks again for your help!

Kristie W.

Mesa, AZ

This is the second time I’ve used Roofstar for roof repairs. Jeff and Roofstar has been honest and fair with their prices compared to other companies however the big difference to me was with the customer service. Jeff Knudson, the owner, came out to our house personally to explain to me what the problem and the options were. Not everything was “urgent” or “required” to be repaired; some items were necessary and some were “nice to have” in order to prevent future repairs. I appreciated the honesty and the option to select the level of repairs that I needed and fit into my budget. Outside of some delays early on during the quote process, the work was completed timely and per the quote provided, no hidden fees or changes to the original quote. I am very happy with the work performed by Roofstar and will recommend Roofstar to any friends and neighbors requiring roof work.

Brian

Gilbert, AZ

I want to extend my compliments to Santiago Sr & Jr. I really appreciated Santiago Sr’s sense of ’ownership’ with the job and recognize and am grateful for the effort that he and his son put into making sure the job was done well. They did excellent work! Thank you.

Louie B.

Scottsdale, AZ

This is a great company to work with. Worked with them twice over a 10-year period and both great experiences. The last experience involved a very difficult leak in a sun room/solarium and the owner, Jeff, came out and hunted down the leak and made sure that it was resolved. Cannot recommend them high enough. Thank you to Jeff and the Roofstar team.

Michael K.

Free Assessment for Homeowners

We can handle all kinds of residential roof repairs. Call us today to schedule an assessment with one of our Field Inspectors. We also assist with insurance claims. Learn more about Our Real Estate Services.

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