Flat Roofs & First Homes: What I Learned This Time

In the residential real estate world, we are always learning something new with each transaction. For this sale, I learned something new and had a previous belief reinforced.

First, the idea that a clean first-time homebuyer product is mostly unaffected by market fluctuations held true with this sale. It’s been well documented that there’s been a slowdown in the market over the past six months. However, the need for entry-level housing remains constant. We listed this home for $375K, had a bunch of activity, and sold the house in the first week. The home wasn’t perfect, but it was clean, move-in ready, and was the best option on the market at that price point.

Since first-time homebuyers have no reference point for past market fluctuations, it is always the best and worst market they’ve experienced—because it’s the only market they’ve experienced. The motivation for buying your first home often comes from a deep personal drive and personal timing, which usually outweighs any friction in the macro housing market.

Secondly, I learned something new. This home had a flat or low-pitched roof with rolled comp roofing. This is atypical for residential roofs and is more prone to leaks compared to pitched roofs. Flat roofs are more common in commercial buildings. Because of this, residential appraisers and inspectors are often very critical of flat roofs and usually call them out as needing repairs.

In our case, the appraiser mandated a two-year leak-free certification from a licensed residential roofer. A two-year roof cert is typically no issue. However, I learned that most residential roofers won’t touch a flat roof—let alone certify one—and most flat roof specialists only do commercial work and won’t touch a residential roof.

After calling 15+ roofers, I finally found a licensed residential roofer willing to work on a flat roof. They said the roof was at the end of its life and needed a coat of silicone adhesive to seal up failing areas in order for them to certify it for two years. The seller had this work done, we got the two-year roof cert and closed the deal.

Next time I sell a house with a flat roof that isn’t obviously brand new, I will hire this roofer to complete repairs and give us a two-year cert upfront to ensure a smooth escrow.