selling with roof issues

[DelGirl]

What would you do if you were selling a property and you knew that it needed a new roof in the next year. Would you tell the agent? Would you offer to pay for it, depending on the buyer, cash, ftb, btl etc. Sell for higher and offer cash back. Or would you not say anything and negotiate after if it came up? Interested in people's opinions before I say what I'd do. Tia

I would either get it done or be upfront about it with the agent and buyer and reduce the price accordingly (unscrupulous agent may keep it from the buyer to get the sale). Otherwise the chances are that it will come up in the survey and and then the sale will fall through with a whole lot of additional stress.

it should come up in the survey anyway.

strictly speaking you don't have to say anything unless asked - if asked you must tell the truth. But what goes around comes around, as they say..

when houses for sale need work, it is usual to reduce the price and then the new owner gets it done.

Tell the agent and they can price it accordingly.

We viewed one house that had most of the roof replaced with corrugated metal sheeting

It was unbelievable

No one said anything - I had to ASK about it, having seen the property from the back first - agents didn't mention a thing and said they would have to 'ask what it was made of'.

The damp was visibly coming through the ceiling,

It's unethical to put people through the hassle and expense of a survey when it's going to show up something apalling.

But many houses DO need new roofs, and aren't appalling (not like that one anyway!) so it's up to you really. You'll probably get a lower offer because of it, if you don't mention it upfront as a reason why the house is cheaper than it should be.

Thanks, I have told 2 agents it needs a new roof but not one other. It hasn't been valued yet. I naturally want the best price I can get and am willing to pay for the work. I can't do it now for various reasons. Just not sure how to price accordingly. Depends on how big a mortgage or how much cash the purchasers have etc

Any thoughts?

I think you have two options, be honest and agents can value property accordingly explaining to viewers the reason for a lower price. Might put one or two off initially if they haven't had the chance to fall in love with it yet.

If you have the funds to pay for the roof, I'd be tempted to let the roof problem come up on survey and if raised, ask the purchasers to get say three estimates and say you'll deduct the average of these off the price. There are many houses out there that wouldn't have a perfect survey, so try not to worry.

I'd get some quotes done so that you can tell potential purchasers exactly how much it is likely to cost.

Price the house so if it comes up in the survey you can afford to negotiate down.

The dilemma is it may appeal to ftb who may not have the cash to do it, so then I could do a cash back. In that case i'd want to market at full value. If an investor i'd be more likely to sell at the lower price. That looks confusing written down. I guess i'd be better putting on at full market price and negotiate dropping the price or offering cash back.