Roofs in south Louisiana
The roof is the problem, and it is the whole problem.
Most people arriving here have already had the conversation with a roofer and the conversation with an insurer, and neither one ended well. This page is about the money, and about what happens to the house if the money is not there.
Ways to pay for it
Five routes, before selling is one of them
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One
The claim, worked properly
If a storm did it, this is the first and largest source of money, and a denial is not the end of it. Getting the adjuster's line-item estimate and putting a contractor scope beside it is where most of the recovered money comes from.
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Two
Equity you already have
A home equity loan or line of credit against the value already in the house. This is the cheapest money available to most owners, and it needs both enough equity and enough credit to qualify, which is the part that stops people.
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Three
Roofer financing
Most established roofing companies offer payment plans through a lending partner. It is convenient, and you should read the interest rate rather than the monthly payment, because the monthly payment is what they will lead with.
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Four
A fortified roof grant
Louisiana has run a Department of Insurance program that helps pay for roofs built to the FORTIFIED standard, in funded rounds. When a round is open it is the best money on this list, and it closes fast.
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Five
A renovation loan, for the buyer
Not for you, but worth knowing: some buyers can finance the purchase and the roof together in one renovation loan. That buyer pool is small and patient, and reaching it is a listing strategy.
What a bad roof does to a listing
It removes most of your buyers
Put a house with a failed roof on the market and the showings still happen. The offers do not, and the reason is the same every time. The buyer's lender orders an appraisal, the appraiser writes it subject to the roof being replaced, and the loan will not fund until it is. The seller cannot pay for it, the buyer cannot pay for it before they own it, and everybody walks away annoyed thirty days in.
Underneath that is the insurance problem. A buyer has to bind a policy to close, and carriers in Louisiana have tightened what they will write on an older roof. When the voluntary market says no, the fallback is the state insurer of last resort, which is priced above the market on purpose, and the higher premium eats into what the buyer can borrow.
So the practical order is: get the roof funded if there is any route to it, because a sound roof puts the house back in front of everybody. If there is genuinely no route to it, then the question becomes which kind of sale, and the honest arithmetic on that is on one page.
Roof questions
The five that decide the outcome
Why does one roof stop a sale?
Because it stops two things at once. A lender will not fund a house whose roof fails the appraisal, and an insurer will not write a policy on it either. A buyer needs both to close. Almost every other repair in a house can be negotiated around. A failed roof cannot, which is why it behaves less like a repair item and more like a switch.
Will insurance pay for an old roof that is simply worn out?
No. Property insurance covers sudden damage from a covered event, not age. If wind or hail did it, that is a claim. If twenty-five years of Louisiana sun did it, that is maintenance, and the policy will say so. Where it gets confusing is a storm finishing off a roof that was already at the end of its life, and that is exactly the argument adjusters and contractors have.
What does a roof actually cost around Lafayette?
It depends on square footage, pitch, decking condition and material, and any number quoted on a website is a guess. Get three written estimates from licensed roofers with scope written out, and expect them to differ mostly on decking and underlayment rather than on shingles. No honest range can be published here, because pitch and decking move the number more than square footage does.
Is a fortified roof worth the extra cost?
Often, in this state. A roof built to the FORTIFIED standard is designed to hold up in high wind, and Louisiana insurers give premium credits for it. Louisiana has also run a grant program through the Department of Insurance to help homeowners pay for one, in funded rounds that open and close. Check whether a round is open before you sign a contract for a standard replacement.
If I sell as-is, am I giving away the roof twice?
That is the right question to ask. The as-is offer prices the roof in once. What you are comparing is that single discount against the total of paying for the roof, carrying the house while it is done, then paying commission and closing costs on the repaired sale. Sometimes the repaired sale still wins by a lot. Sometimes the arithmetic is much closer than it looks.
No obligation
Start with the roofer's estimate
Age of the roof, whether there is an open claim, and what the estimates came back at. That is enough to say which of the five routes is realistic.
Funding a roof
Programs and standards worth knowing
Every claim on this page can be checked against a public source. These are the ones it rests on.
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FORTIFIED roofs
The building standard behind Louisiana’s roof grants and insurer premium credits, published by the institute that wrote it.
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Insurance complaints
Company lookups, the consumer complaint process, and the state programs behind a stronger roof.
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Louisiana Citizens
The state insurer of last resort, priced above the voluntary market by statute, which is why it is a backstop rather than a plan.
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FEMA flood maps
The current flood zone for a specific address, from the source. Zones vary lot by lot and the maps are revised.
Related
Where to go next
The pages most people read after this one.
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Denied insurance claim
Working a short or denied storm claim before deciding anything about the house.
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Compare your options
Four paths for a house that has to move quickly, and what each costs in money and in weeks.
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Prep to sell
Which repairs pay for themselves in this market and which never do.
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Listing versus cash
The full arithmetic on one house, three ways, with the assumptions written down.