They are the same shingles. 

Just today I was working on a house that has it and it is the asphalt shingle type that looks like brick.

Ashphalt shingles,  vs.  

Wire moving against the roof can damage the shingles and it's a great way for lightening to be conducted to a building, it should have insulated stand offs attached to the building to hold the wire away from a roof line.

Roof - I don't care about as much.. in Philly we have flat roofs, so it's much cheaper to fix and/or replace (vs. shingles).Always pay more attention to your 'big ticket' items.  

I was considering Folsom/Shingle Springs Area, but I just feel lost at this point.

Although no leaks were spotted, he said that because my roof is at least 15 years old (not sure of the exact age), the asphalt shingles are rough (petrifying) and suffering heavy granular loss.

Jared,  Sounds like you may have Cedar shake (wood) shingles, yes? 

OK, I have some major updates regarding my investment with MI.I had an inspector go out and take a look at it during construction and he found MAJOR problems ranging from possible asbestos insulation being airborne, lead-based paint cracking, cracks in the foundation and crawl space, old knob and tube wiring, moisture and mold issues, roof shingles replacement, and loads of other issues.Rather than talking about them, I made a playlist of the inspection here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?

The current roof is composite shingles and is original, roughly 30 years old.