Attic Fire - Downtown Houston 77004

[Samir Solanki]

Hello all real estate professionals. I'm looking to purchase an all brick duplex in Downtown Houston and just recently had an inspection done. The inspection found that the roof in the attic was black which means there was a previous fire. The seller wasn't aware of it (he doesn't live in the property). I'm not sure if that's true or not, but he knew I was getting an inspection done. The duplex is 2011 sft, 2 stories. The roof isn't very large and the inspector said it didn't seem to have structural issues. Tenants have lived there for many years without any problems. The seller was upset that he didn't know there had been a fire and he hadn't conducted an inspection when he bought it. He is giving an allowance of $6000 off the total sales price for this issue. The home was built in 1938 and his original asking price was $235K and now is down to $216K after negotiations and this fire issue. 

Some additonal info: The home is in prime downtown location and empty lots here are going for $150K and $175K for the same square footage. Just wondering what your thoughts are on this. Would this be a deal breaker? If I had to replace the roof, what price range should I expect to pay? Or perhaps I may just need some remediation work which I would think would be significantly cheaper. Interested to hear y'alls thoughts on this. Thank you in advance. 

[John Franklin]

Kitchen fires aren't uncommon and they’ll blacken the attic pretty good, even if the fire doesn’t get up there.

If it were me I’d want to know how long the existing roof can be expected to last.  

The current improvements are an interim use to the site. It will eventually be more profitable to raze the duplex and rebuild new, maybe in the next 5-10 years, so if I can get another 10 yrs out of existing roof, I wouldn't worry. But if you'll need a roof in less time than that, I'd factor that cost in to my ROI calculations, for the rental. So get the inspector to opine on remaining life of the roof.

Ultimately, this is more of a land play than a long term rental property.  But that’s a good thing!