Is it better to put a lot down or to hold the cash?

[Stuart Bannon]

I've never actually posted in forum before, so my apologies if this is not the correct place. I'm having a friendly debate with my business partner and want to see how the bp forum will field the question:

We're doing seller financing on a house and have one more piece to lock down: the roof. The contractor gives it 5-10 years more till repairs (the roofer himself gives it 3-5 years). To replace the roof will cost $14,000. The seller will only repair the roof if he can roll it into our 30 year loan.

We have $30, 000 to invest as capital. One of us will house hack while renting the other two rooms for $600-$800 per month per room.

So we are debating these two options (i'll keep my stance a secret for now):

Option 1. Have the seller replace the roof and roll that cost into the loan. We would put $25,000 down on the $300,000 (saving $5,000 for repairs). 

Option 2. Put $25,000 down now (saving $5,000 for repairs) on a lower note of $284,000. Hold off on the roof, with the cashflow building back the capital we had.