Need Your Advice: First Home, Questionable Roof Inspection

[Stacey Marsh]

Hello BP Experts!

I could really use your advice. I am purchasing my first rental property near Huntsville, Alabama through a turnkey provider.  It's a 2001 home in a great school district with solid numbers.  Unfortunately the inspection report came back with a concerning details about the roof, including photos of the roof deck that definitely showed damage. I believe it's the original roof, so 16 years old. Here's what the inspector said:

Major Repair

"The shingles have heavy wear consisting of heavy loss of mineral surface granules resulting in areas with none left and heavy wear along the edges of the tabs. The shingles are brittle and cracking and splitting with some shingle tabs broken and missing. There is also heavy damage to the roof deck from past water leaks. Much of the decking will have to be replaced when the shingles are replaced.

There is no ventilation for the attic. This will cause rapid deterioration of the shingles. When the roof is replaced, install ventilation at the soffits and at the ridge." 

The provider sent a roofing specialist right away. His report came back with a conflicting response. Since I didn't hire him independently, I don't feel comfortable with the assessment. I'm no roof expert but the photos definitely looked like some roof deck damage so "the decking is solid" was surprising. His report:

"The roof is in good condition. We feel it has 10-12 years before needing to be replaced. The condition of the shingles is good as we did not find any deterioration of the shingles. The decking is solid also. I did a few repairs to damaged or loose shingles and repaired boot covers. There aren’t any active leaks inside the house to indicate issues with the roof."

Any advice on how to move forward?

[Chris Clothier]

Originally posted by @Stacey Marsh:

@JD Martin, thank you for the feedback.  Here are the images he provide that show the roof. 

Hi Stacey,

I know you've received excellent feedback and advice already and are moving forward with hiring an inspector, however, I wanted to give you one more piece of advice.

You might consider not hiring an inspector at all and simply moving on to a different company offering different opportunities.  In Huntsville or elsewhere, you will absolutely find better opportunities and better companies.

This is an example of something being marketed as Turnkey, and in my eyes, not being anywhere close to actually a Turnkey investment opportunity.  

As an investor, when you purchase a property passively (which, Turnkey is simply one form of passive investing), if you defer needed maintenance items to a later date, you will often spend between $2 and $4 over time for every dollar saved on the front end.  This property has not been properly renovated (if it has been renovated at all) and deferring roof maintenance and replacement will absolutely cost you more than the price of a roof replacement today.

The reason I find this so egregious, is that you are thousands of miles away and had you not had the property inspected in the first place, you may have closed on a property that is in need of immediate roof replacement.  The company you are buying from or your management company, would have been sending you bills constantly to replace and repair roof leaks on the property.  Roof leaks lead to water damage on ceilings.  Caved-in ceilings and leaks lead to paint repair, sheetrock repairs, flooring repairs, etc...

For a company to even have the gumption to tell you that the roof has 10-12 years left and that there is no rafter or decking damage after you have received those pictures means you cannot trust a single thing you have been told by them to this point or going forward.  

So, even if you hire a 3rd inspector, you have to ask yourself is that money well spent when you know the vendor you are working with cannot be trusted to make decisions that save you money as an investor and insure you have a quality experience.

I'm not in that market and Im not giving advice on who to work with, I am simply pointing out that you can and should expect better from a company.  A lot of people use the word turnkey to market their properties or services and you have to be very, very careful.  This is a great example of what, in my opinion, Turnkey passive investors need to avoid.