Real Estate News
How Much Value Does a New Roof Add?
If you're getting ready to sell your property, or if you know you're going to sell your home in the distant future, you'll be interested to know how much value a new roof could add to the building. This knowledge can help you determine whether it's better to patch deteriorating sections or replace the entire unit. It can also help you budget for your next roofing job with confidence.
Will a totally new roof boost the resale value of your home? And is it worth it to invest in a new roof if your older one isn't doing its job properly?
Roofs and Property Value
A roof is critical to the structure of any home. It plays an important role in shielding the property from many different types of damage. Accordingly, if the roof is in terrible condition or if a prospective buyer believes the roof is not going to perform adequately, it's going to have an impact on the valuation of the home and the offers it receives.
It's difficult to specifically quantify this, especially because different homeowners are going to have different priorities. But think about it this way: if you're preparing to offer $250,000 for a house and you discover you might need to shell out $10,000 for a new roof in the next couple of years, you might reduce your offer to $240,000 to compensate.
For this reason, having an old roof or a roof in bad condition is a detriment to your property value. But is that good justification for installing a new roof?
The best way to answer this question is to study the return on investment (ROI) for a typical new roof installation. Depending on the variables in play, you can recover approximately 63 percent of the costs of installing the roof. In other words, if you pay $10,000 for a new roof, you can expect to see the value of your home increase by $6,300.
Obviously, this is not a profitable exchange. In the above scenario, even if you end up selling the home right away, you'll still end up losing $3,700.
This scenario starts to look more attractive when you start to consider replacing your roof while you still have access to the property. If you're going to sell the property in a year or two, the new roof is going to save you a lot of headaches and give you peace of mind while you're still dwelling in the home.
When to Replace a Roof
If your roof is perfectly functional, replacing it probably won't boost the value of your property by more than the expense of installing the new roof. But if your roof is several years old, or if it's significantly damaged, it's worth talking to a roofing company about your options.
Most people consider replacing the roof when they encounter some or all of the following:
- Leaks and interior damage. Leaks and interior damage are a sure sign that your roof is beginning to fail. Moderately-sized water spots could be an indication of a single point of failure, but bigger leaks and more prevalent water spots are a sign that the entire roof may need to be replaced. Further, aggressive leaks have the potential to cause extensive and expensive damage to your home, so they need to be repaired as soon as possible.
- Missing or broken shingles. If you start noticing missing or broken shingles across the entire expanse of your roof, a total replacement may be in order.
- Flashing issues. In some cases, flashing can be individually replaced or repaired. But if much of your flashing is damaged and the rest of the roof has significant issues, a full roof replacement may be the superior option.
- Significant age. Depending on the materials used and the craftsmanship of the installation, roofs can last from 20 to 100 years. If your roof is several decades old and
it's starting to show signs of its age, you may consider replacing (and upgrading) it.
The Bottom Line
Installing a new roof is going to boost the value of your home, even if it doesn't boost it by quite as much as you paid for it. If you're still living at the property, replacing the roof may be a practical necessity if you want to avoid leaks and keep your home in good condition. It's also a good idea to proactively replace your roof if you plan on selling it in the next few years, and the current state of the roof is going to be unappealing to prospective buyers.
Otherwise, if you're looking for a simple and inexpensive fix, patching or repairing the roof may be a superior option as you prepare the house to be sold.
