Question on roof repair and code question

[Kel S]

Hi All,

It's been a bit since I've been here. Glad to be back. I have a question for you all. We are looking at a 3/1 that is 1070 sq ft and in a nice area. The house overall is in very nice shape and you can tell the previous owner did some updating (ie; new carpet throughout, painted walls, etc.,). However in the dining room you can see there was some leaking from the roof. The ceiling has a section that is about 3 ft x 3 ft that is sinking, soft and generally you can see that there has been water damage. On the roof outside they have it tarped. There is new carpet in the dining room and we don't think it's received any water there as it's nice and dry. However, my concern is how much this repair could cost. I'm thinking it's not just shingles, it's possibly the framing, etc., that needs replacing on that area of the roof. Has anyone experienced similiar and if so what was the outcome? Did a roof issue deter you from buying? In our case, we would need to hire someone to repair it as my husband doesn't have enough experience to do roof repair beyond just putting new shingles on.

My next question is a code issue. This house is a foreclosure, offered for cash only and we suspect the reason why is even though it's listed as a 3 bedroom, when we walked through it there is a 4th bedroom that is what I would consider the master as it's the largest. However, it looks like the previous owner built it by using part of the attached garage. When we went outside to open the garage door there is a wall in there that would be the back of the bedroom and the garage is no longer big enough to hold a car (well, maybe a Smart car LOL!), so instead it could be used as storage.

We aren't looking to flip this though and instead this would be a rental property. Will we have any issues having a bedroom that might not be up to code? Now granted, it's a very nice bedroom and if you didn't see the garage and how tiny it is, you'd never know that the bedroom wasn't always there. So as far as safety, etc., that isn't a concern. Just wondering what sort of ramifications there might be down the road buying a house that has a bedroom that they probably never got a permit for.

Kel