Don't just make house visits before you purchase a home. Make quality of life visits.

So you’ve found a house on an online real estate site that seems to check all the boxes. Could this be the one? You get a little excited, but how do you go from seeing a listing on a webpage to determining this home is the rightful you now and into the future? Most homebuyers zoom in on the house with laser focus. But beyond all the legalities and the financing, after all the paperwork, mortgages, and insurance is done, lawyers and appraisers have finished their jobs and bid farewell, you'll be left with a house in a yard in a neighborhood in a town. Each one of those things is as important to the puzzle as the other and must be researched and investigated separately and carefully. If any one of these pieces doesn’t work it may not be the right home for you and your family. No matter how high the high ceilings are or how beautiful the backyard is, external factors can ruin your quality of life. 

So how do you figure this out? How many times should you go see this house before putting a bid in? Should you make unscheduled visits without your realtor specifically to check out the neighbors and neighborhood? If so, when and what do you look for? Unfortunately, there's no perfect formula for what it will take for you to be 100% comfortable and confident in what will be one of the biggest decisions of your life. However, there's no reason you should consider the scheduled thirty-minute home visit accompanied by your realtor as the only time you explore all the things that come with purchasing that home. On the contrary; you should concentrate as much time and effort on this moment as you can. There shouldn’t be any stone unturned or surprises. While online home listing sites may be a good starting point you need to verify every single claim the seller makes in regard to the house: the neighbors, the neighborhood, the taxes, the schools, the utilities, and every other aspect that may affect your life while living there. Become a hardcore cynic. Don't put all your faith in anyone that will make money from you buying that property. Of course, you should consider their advice as part of the process. However, you're the one who has to live there. You don't want to be left saying, "why didn't they tell us about this problem?" because once you sign on the dotted line all the good things and bad things that come with that house are now yours. All the people helped you will have vanished into the night. If you think the seller or the seller's agent are going to tell you about the next-door neighbor who leaves his dogs outside to bark all night you're sadly mistaken. It would seriously devalue the house for the seller and, consequently, the agent's commission. Just because a seller says something doesn’t make it true. Just because the seller says it’s a quiet neighborhood you won't know until you hear it for yourself. 

So let's take a look at what you need to look out for, ways to confirm the truth, and why it's okay to be heartbroken but accepting of the reality of the house and ready to take a measured and reasonable approach to that reality. You may need two visits or five before you're ready to make an offer. That's up to you. The most important thing is you feel good and confident about your decision.

The Scheduled Visits

1. The Drive-by

2. Scheduled Visit #1

3. Scheduled Visit #2

4. Scheduled Visit #3

5. House Inspection

6. Final Walkthrough

 7. Quality Of Life Visits (External obsolescence)

1. The Drive-By

If you've seen a listing online your agent may ask you to drive by the house and take a look first to see if it's something you're actually interested in. Fair enough. The house online is the seller's commercial and is most likely accentuating the good points and downplaying the negative aspects. Maybe a little. Maybe a lot. It lives in a perfect little online bubble where it can be hard to get a feel of what's going on. A drive-by is the first real-life contact you have with the house and can be a deal-breaker or confirm some initial thoughts about what you liked about it. Maybe it's not the house you won’t like but the drive is too long. It could be anything. In the end it saves the agent the trouble of making an appointment to see the house and driving across town to be there, and the seller getting the house ready to show just to find out you weren't crazy about something you could have found out on your own. 

Tip: If the housing market is a seller's market you may have only days from the time that house is listed to the time it's sold so you may want to skip this drive-by step and schedule a visit as soon as you like something. By the time you get up there, decide whether you like it or not, and tell your agent to schedule a viewing it may be gone before you can even see it. Seeing something online and not liking it in person isn't bad, liking it and getting outbid is disappointing, but sitting on the sidelines because you didn’t act fast enough can cause exquisite psychic pain. 

2. Scheduled Visit #1

The official home visit is the one we all know about from TV shows or realtor ads. Everyone's smiling. Birds are chirping. It's all so easy. However, back in the real world, if you have a real estate agent and you're seriously out there looking to make a purchase you’ve experienced them firsthand. Once you've done the drive-by, your agent, the buyer's agent, makes an appointment to see the house on a specific date and time based on when the seller is showing the house. At that point, you usually have thirty minutes to an hour to go through the house. There are too many scenarios to go through but you can download our Home Buyer's Checklist to make sure you see everything you need to. Not want; need. Pull down that attic and go up and look. Get under that sink. Go into that crawl space. Is this house for real? If you think it might be you're going to spend a great deal of time and emotional energy over the next several months making it yours so don’t be shy. Bring a measuring tape, wear clothes you can get dirty and take lots and lots of pictures. The realtor or homeowner may tell you there's no need to because there are pictures online in listing but those are usually retouched, staged, or don’t include aspects that are important. Like the boiler, burner, and roof so don't depend on them alone. 

3. Scheduled Visit #2

Ok. You liked it. A lot. You have all your financial ducks in a row. You can afford the down payment and closing costs and know you can secure financing for the mortgage. But was one 30 minute viewing enough to decide it has everything you want and need to happily live there for the rest of your life?! You may have been measuring and too busy playing house detective to see if there was anything clearly wrong like an obviously cracked foundation. Every sense was on high alert looking for danger. Every room was a new experience. Could you really take it all in with clarity and get a feel for what it might be like to actually live there? Probably not, and that's totally reasonable and pretty much totally expected. That's why if the situation allows, you should always ask for a second visit at a bare minimum before you make an offer. Hopefully, you've done plenty of homework and gone to 25-30 open houses in preparation for knowing what you want and can expect for a house in this price range. ( Insert open house article link. ) Is this house comparable to what you think it should be worth? Have you seen houses for less so you can negotiate the price lower? Are you getting what seems like a great deal? Maybe there's a reason it’s a great deal, or maybe not. Maybe it's just a great deal. Now's the time to start thinking of an offer. 

4. Scheduled Visit #3

You've been to the house twice before. You can navigate it on your own. You want to check a few last things. It's time to just soak it all in. Ask your agent if it’s ok if you spend time in the house by yourself. Is it totally comfortable? Brass tax. Do you want to live here? If every pore in your body screams yes, it's go time. It's time to put in your offer and wait for a response. 

5. House Inspection

You get the response and the owners have accepted your offer! The excitement is kicking into overdrive but don't start packing those boxes just yet. This is far from a done deal. There can easily be any number of problems that are discovered in the inspection and you may need to withdraw your offer or try to renegotiate. The more you are emotionally prepared for this possibility the more likely you can keep your head if it comes down to it and effectively navigate through the problems with the seller. Don't let yourself be taken advantage of because you had your hopes up and now the house isn't what you thought. The seller and their agent could easily be counting on that to get you to do something that's not in your best interest. Like buy a house that has termites. Regardless of how it turns out, you'll be there when they do the inspection so it's an opportunity to spend another couple of hours there albeit walking around with an inspector pointing out every last detail both good and bad. Also, they should be pointing out the maintenance you'll need to take care of so note-taking is a quality idea. 

6. Final Walkthrough

Ok. This is it. If you sign off now these walls, floors and ceilings are yours. The purpose of this visit is to make sure the seller made any agreed-upon repairs and to check that no new issues have cropped up since the home inspection. This isn't a time to make new demands or try to renegotiate unless something has changed in the house since the inspection. The house should be empty so you can see if any damage was done while the sellers were moving out. It can be major to minor damage. From a scuff in the paint in the living room, a dropped box putting a dent in the hardwood floor to an 800-pound dresser tipping over and taking out an entire wall along with any electric or water pipes within. In other words, this is no time to coast through on cloud 9. Major problems can arise between the inspection and the seller moving out. Be vigilant. 

7. Quality of Life Visits

When you schedule visits you need to book them with the seller, so they not only know you're coming but can dictate the exact day and time they take place. They can make arrangements for everything to seem perfect. Homeowners are well known to go to their neighbors and ask them to turn their music down, put away nuisance pets, ask them to mow their lawn, clean their yard and even go so far as to offer to do it for them or pay someone else to professionally do it. These external factors deeply affect the valuations of their home. A clean, tidy, quiet neighborhood makes a house worth more. It's that simple. Just having a foreclosed house in an area can decrease the value of a home by 1.3% according to a Fannie Mae study, and a loud neighbor who has an untidy yard can decrease the value of a home by 5%-10%. There may not be a way for you to see the neighborhood before the owner put the house up for sale unless you're some sort of super sleuth or have a time machine. However, google street views can be a time machine of sorts. Google only changes the street view photos once a year in busy metropolitan areas and less in more rural areas. They can be the same for 2-10 years. Of course, the pictures can be so old they're not especially useful anymore but it's better than nothing. So if the owner can make arrangements to have things just so on the days of your visit what can you do to check out what the neighbors and neighborhood might really be like after you move in? You can drive over on days you're not expected at different times of the day. In the morning, midday and night. Both on weekdays and weekends. It's part of your due diligence because you want to find out if there's anything that could make living in this house less than ideal. Better to find out before you close on the house than as you’re unpacking the moving truck.  

Here's a list of some major things you should be looking out for but, obviously, it could be anything. Maybe your neighbor is an apiary and you're allergic to bees. The point is you know what you can live with and what you can't. These are just some of the more common examples:

• Find out what the streets are like at different times of the day. The street may be quiet and sleepy on the weekends and at 11a and 9:30p on weekdays but get busy during rush hour times of 6a-9a and 4p-7p. Maybe you're moving in with small children or just don't want to hear delivery trucks banging around down your road. This could be a serious concern.

• Do you work from home and the area gardeners go from house to house with lawnmowers and, the bane of suburbia, leaf blowers Mon-Fri so you'll get no peace? Ever?!

• Does every house around you have kids? Is your street the de facto home of stickball from sunup to sundown all summer and roller hockey all winter? This can be great if you have kids yourself. However, not so much if you don't.

• Speaking of which, is the house close to the local recreation area that has tennis and basketball courts, soccer and baseball fields? Are you ready for the cheering of crowds and the squeaking of tennis shoes as you sit on your front porch?  

• Is there a factory a couple of miles away that makes cinnamon buns Monday through Friday so the whole town smells like a big, weird bakery during weekdays? If you only go at night or on weekends that will be an unwelcome surprise. 

• Is there a House of Worship with bells that ring out the hour nearby? Is there a firehouse a block away that will be blaring their sirens unexpectedly at any and every conceivable hour?

• Maybe your house isn't on a main road but there's a highway nearby that gets crowded and busy with roaring motorcycles, cars and 18 wheeled vehicles that will shake your whole house from a half a mile away. If you just visit on the weekends maybe you don't hear it until it's too late.

• Does the guy across the street keep to himself all week but on the weekends invites his friends over, cranks heavy metal, and works on his boat engine from morning till night?

• Do the neighbors have a dog that barks when they put it out at 10p until they bring it in when they go to work at 8a? Or it barks after they go to work from 8a till they come home from work at 6p blissfully oblivious to the noise and mental havoc they're wreaking on everyone around them. 

• Do you take mass transportation? How close is it to your house? Can you walk it? Is it through safe neighborhoods? Do the trains stop running between certain hours making it unreliable? Will you need another car to solve that problem?

• Do you live in a place that snows and the streets are steep and narrow? Do you have a car that can handle that? Will you need to purchase a 4 wheel drive vehicle?  

• Drive from your house to the schools your kids will go to. Is it close? Are there busses? Sounds crazy but some districts don't offer them. Can they walk after a certain age? Would you be way on the outskirts of town so you're never on any other parents' way? Asking another parent to pick your child up may not be practical or convenient. 

• Drive from the house to town where you'll be getting groceries or out to dinner. Is it close or is everything an adventure? 

You can make all the best plans, responsibly save all your life, buy a beautiful house to have the whole thing ruined by an external factor. Can you predict every little thing? No. Can you predict who will sell their house and who will move in? No. However, you should spend time figuring out what kind of environment you'll be moving into initially. These things contribute to the quality of your life. A little work now may save you a lifetime of heartache later. 

In Conclusion

If you've ever been out on a date with someone you really liked at first but after a couple of dates it clearly wasn’t going to work out you have an apt metaphor for what a house is. You may love it at first and then slowly find something you don’t like about it until a couple of visits in you know it's not for you. Or vice versa you love it more and more every time you see it. Same thing with the area. Until you spend some time figuring it out it will be hard to tell if it's for you. There's only one way to know. And that means going more than once. However much extra effort you put in you put in before you buy the house you'll get back over a lifetime.

Why Should You Definitely be Going to Open Houses?

So you've been online looking at houses. A lot. You don't even look at Facebook and Twitter anymore. You just pour through listings. According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), 90% of buyers rely on the internet as one of their primary research sources. But if you’ve ever seen a fast-food commercial where the burger is perfect and bursting with juicy flavor, the bun is fresh, the lettuce crisp, the tomatoes red and ripe, and then compare that to what you get at the actual restaurant, you know most times what's advertised doesn’t equal what you get in real life. Once you get the burger and open up the package it's pretty obvious that burger isn't nearly as perfect as they made it seem like in the commercial. That’s because what was advertised was staged with special lights and photoshopped to get it to look perfect. Sad to say but that's the same thing with those online houses. What you're looking at is the seller's commercial. They are staged and photoshopped. That furniture may be rented to enhance the room. No trick is left out. Even if a seller doesn’t plan to sell their house until the fall or winter they will often take pictures in the spring to put in their listing because what doesn't look nicer with flowers blooming next to it, fresh-cut grass, and a beautiful blue sky? Like any commercial, the whole purpose is to get you into the house and then get you to pay as much as possible for the product. That's why you need to get out there. Facebook may not be real but the mortgage payments you have to make sure are. According to the same NAR study, 46% of buyers who use online searches also attend open houses during their home search. That's where you can get out there and see houses in the areas you're considering. It’s a great way to turn yourself into a homebuying expert so you can confidently pull the trigger on your dream home when the time comes. 

So should you go to open houses? Yes, definitely and absolutely! 

Why? Because it helps you:

1.     Understand what you want in a house

2.     Understand what you want in a neighborhood

3.     See what it's like to deal with real estate agents. 

4.     Compare houses in your price range

5.     Compare it to houses in different price ranges

Understand what you want in a house

One of my favorite things about open houses is how casual it is. Maybe you'll be unexpectedly blown away but otherwise, you're just window shopping. Seeing what you like about a house and what you don't and then turning that into a list of what you need, want, and can live without. You can check out 5 houses in a day. Do that for just a month and you've just seen 30 or 40 houses. You're now fairly acquainted with what kind of houses are out there and what you want. Maybe you have a system. You can bring along our Ultimate Homebuyers Checklist to remind you of things. Considering you may be spending the rest of your life there and a sizable portion of every dollar you make it's one of the best time investments you'll ever make. 

 Some things you might learn is:

o Do you prefer a ranch vs a split ranch vs a multi-story? 

o Do you need an eat-in kitchen as well as a dining room?

o Do you want something you can just move into or a fixer-upper? 

o Do you want a basement you can finish or a basement that’s already finished? If you see one that's unfinished what will that require as far as ceiling heights and other structural elements and what will it look like once it's done? 

That's just the tip of the iceberg. There are a million things and you just don’t know how to house hunt until you get out there and look. 

Understand what you want in a neighborhood

Are you okay with living anywhere or do you want specific elements to the area where you'll live? Every person is different and wants different things. 

Do you want:

o A quiet side street? o To live at the end of a cul-de-sac? o Are you ok with living on a busy 2 lane thoroughfare?      o Do mind living with an interstate behind your property with multi axled semi-trucks rumbling by all day and night. o Do you want to live near parks for kids? o Do you want a more rural feel where the houses are more spread out, or a more suburban feel where you see your neighbor walk out and pick up the newspaper?

Maybe you're not sure or maybe one of those things sounds good while the other sounds ridiculous. Some people will wonder how people can want the peace and quiet of a country night and others will think you're crazy for living in a busy downtown area. The point is there's something for everyone and only you're the only one that will know what's right for you.  

See what it's like to deal with real estate agents

90% of homebuyers used a real estate agent to buy their house according to a Harris Insights housing consumer study so chances are you'll be using a realtor when you buy a home. They'll point out amenities to the house and neighborhood that maybe you hadn't thought you wanted.  Remember. This is a learning process. They help people buy and sell houses for a living. It's all they do. For God's sake, they may even attend conventions for it. If you're not truly serious about a house you might worry about wasting people's time but don't. Get out there. For an open house, the seller's agent has to be there anyway and you're not making your agent drive across town in rush hour for you, and then you don’t like the bathrooms. They understand the odds of you buying that house aren't great but they can get the wheels turning on for you.  Believe it or not, one of the reasons, beyond selling that particular house,  is to meet prospective clients. Being a real estate agent is about networking to meet new clients and open houses are considered a great way to do that. That's why they don’t mind sitting there while people come and go. The more open houses you go to the more realtors you'll meet. You can take cards and when the time is right, if there were a couple you really liked and had a good rapport with you can call them up and interview them to be the agent that helps you in your buying process.

Compare prices in your price range

By going out to several open houses you can get a feel for what you can expect in your price range. Every house will have different features in your particular range but by establishing what you want it will help you narrow your search. You may be giving up a bigger yard for more space inside or bigger bedrooms for a smaller living room. Every house will have its plusses and minuses but you'll get a feel for what you can expect for a certain amount. You'll also know when someone's asking more than they should so you can try to negotiate and make a lower offer or, even better, when you're getting a great deal. A house is like anything else. It's not one size fits all and you have to get the one that’s fits right for you. 

Compare it to houses in different price ranges

Don’t just stick to houses in your price range. Go to houses 10% or more above and below your budget to see what you'd get. Do you really get all that much more for the extra money you'd spend? What if you go 10% less? Are you perfectly ok living with less? Great! You just saved yourself 10% on your mortgage and you don’t have to negotiate to get it. The bank won't like not being able to gouge you for interest payments for the next 30 years but good for you. You can use that money to buy a car, take some vacations, or save for retirement. 

So when should you start going to open houses? Well, if you're reading this and thinking about buying a house? Right now! Or if you're actively looking at houses? Right now! You should be out there for sure. However, you don’t have to wait. Even if you don’t plan to buy a house this year or next it's never too early to start your research. There's so much to learn about making a good home choice and they'll be so much regret if you don’t get it right. If you can start to narrow down your search months or even years in advance you'll be well-positioned to confidently make an offer on something when the time comes. Early bird gets the worm, as they say, and good home shopper gets the house.

The Real Cost Of Home Renovations!

The Truth You Need to Know

How does it feel when you think about renovating your house and turning it into your dream home? Yes, we know that it’s exciting, but did you know that it might put a serious dent in your pocket book? And by seriously, we mean a tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

We all want to have the perfect home, with the best furniture, wall accessories, and much more, but it isn’t always the most reasonable option. Let's talk about numbers; on average, a kitchen renovation costs around $10,000 – $50,000, which is pretty costly for everyone unless you are related to Jeff Bezos, or you are Jeff Bezos.

Keep reading to learn about some of the costs you might incur when you renovate your house or, at least, some parts of your house. It's better if you sit down:

Structural Changes

This is the most drastic change you can make but can also be the most rewarding. Taking that wall out between the kitchen and living room can create an open flow that will change how you feel about the whole house. Adding a sunroom might be the extra space you need. But that extra 12’x10’ space could set you back $27,000. Whatever it is though when you make structural changes in your home's layout, you should be ready for all the hefty expenses you might incur. These expenses are not minor, but you must know it's not an easy task since you are dealing with changes in the very structure of your house. Plus, if you’re talking about adding actual square footage to your home you may be adding more dollars to your tax bill along with it. But that's a whole other topic.

Most expensive room to remodel

As per statistics, the most expensive room to remodel is your kitchen. According to reports from Houzz and Remodeling Magazine, the cost of remodeling is skyrocketing. Going up almost daily. Today a kitchen renovation will cost, on average, $5,000 more than just 3 years ago. In 2017, a kitchen's remodeling costs were $14,000-18,000. Now it will be $18,000-$23,000. That’s a 30% increase. A bathroom may be a small room but it comes with a big renovation price tag. The average bathroom renovation costs over $10,000. So get ready to spend between $5,000 and $15,000 to get the bathroom you want. However, it always depends on the amount of work and the type of material put in. Again, the costs of bathroom renovation are increasing fast. 15-17% from 2019 to 2020. That’s pretty fast. If we’re talking about the popularity of bathroom remodeling, then more people go for the small renovations compared to full renovation from scratch. However, just because youre just changing the faucets and  counter tops doesn’t mean its going to come cheap. Just upgrading the fixtures, lighting and painting can cost upwards of $3,000. If you wonder why the costs are so high, mainly the costs are high due to the material prices. The prices of the material have significantly increased in the past few years due to various reasons. A few reasons why the prices have increased are:

Demand:

The average age of a home in the United States is 40 years. Although 80’s hairstyles may be fun to look at, 80’s linoleum floors are not. Many homes go back to the 1930’s and 1940’s. Not only are you talking about surface level changes but how the houses were built and structurally laid out to accommodate the lifestyles of that era has drastically changed. Today one of the biggest decisions is where to put a TV in your living room. Well, if your house was built before there were TV’s guess what? Unless the builder of your house was a science fiction fan they didn't exist and the builder didn't consider it. On top of that, trends change fast, and its human nature to want the latest thing and renovate a house. All these things are combining to create more demand for material and skilled contractors. As demand increases, the prices rise too – these are the simple supply and demand dynamics.

Scarcity:

Scarcity is when the product's supply is less than the demand (ability and willingness to buy); when this happens, the highest bid wins. In this case, whenever there is scarcity, especially for luxury products, the prices always boost.

Due to scarcity, most brands import materials, and when this happens, they have to pay taxes, duties, and much more, which automatically raises the prices.

Now that you know about the reasons behind the high prices let's talk about the average costs of renovating each room in your house.

1. Cost To Renovate Interior Living Room

It costs nearly $4,000 to $10,000 to remodel a living room, including painting, windows, shutters, crown molding, new flooring, and a living room installation. While a basic living room renovation is possible for $2,500 to $5,000, including flooring, painting, and some design, most people don’t go for it. Why don’t they go for it? They don't go for this type of living room renovation since it makes little to no difference. It can be good for giving your living room a tidy and neat look, but it doesn't make any significant difference, leaving you where you were at the beginning.

Breakdown of costs:

· Interior Painting Costs: $600 – $2,000

· Flooring Installation Costs: $1,600 – $4,600

· Fireplace Installation Costs: 1,000 – $5,000

· Crown Molding Costs: $400 – $1,100

2. Bedroom Renovation Cost   

The bedroom is usually the most personal space for us. Hence we want it to reflect our personality. We want to be able to easily find things and feel totally at home. However, personalizing it can be costly. An basic bedroom renovation may cost anywhere between $1,500 to $5,000, and it will include trim and moldings, painting, ceiling fan, and new flooring.

If you wish to go for a complete renovation that will leave everyone stunned, you will have to make your spending plan a little more flexible. A complete renovation will cost you around $4,000 to $12,000 inclusive of windows, drywall, flooring, finishing, lighting, new furnishing, fixtures, and much more.

Breakdown of costs:

· Paint a Room: $350 – $1,400

· Flooring / Carpet: $300 – $2,000

· Trim & Moldings: $500 – $1,500

· Ceiling Fan: $150 – $350

· Install Drywall: $600 – $1,200

· Custom Closet: $2,000 – $6,000

· Interior Design / Furnishings: $2,000 – $6,000

3. Basement Renovation

The basement is one area in your house that helps you in many ways but often goes unnoticed. It is where you can store your extra items or simply make a small office. However, if you really want to finish your basement, on average, a basement renovation costs $20,000 to $50,000. The costs are largely dependent on the floor plan or the layout of the rooms or if your basement has a kitchen, or a bathroom installed.

Breakdown of costs:

Square Feet: Average Cost

· 500: $18,000 – $23,500

· 1,000: $32,000 – $38,000

· 1,500: $48,000 – $57,000

4. Roof Renovation Costs

You can put off many projects for your house but when you need a new roof you need a new roof. Water getting into your house is not only bad because of the annoyance of pots and pans on their floor catching water but it can cause a variety of serious problems. Water can damage the structure itself. Black mold grows in moist dark places and can cause health affects problems and it makes the wood soft which is the environment that termites just love. That’s why you need to keep an eye out for the condition of your roof. Roof renovation can be extremely costly. $4,700 to $10,500 on average. However, there are variables—such as pitch, type of material, and the size. If you wish to renovate the roof, you must be ready for all the expenses you will incur since removing the old roof alone costs $1,500 to $3,000. Many other complications might arise with renovating the roof, such as drainage issues and weakening its foundation. Plus once you take off the old roof you never know what new problems you might find. If it just for the sake of appearance, think hard before you go for roof renovation. Do you really need it? If you're buying the home make sure its in good condition and if not is the house still in your budget. It's a serious consideration.

Breakdown of costs:

Material: Average Cost

· Copper: $22,000 – $50,000

· Clay Tile: $15,000 – $45,000

· Asphalt Shingles: $3,600 – $10,800

· Slate: $15,000 – $45,000

· Solar: $22,000 – $65,000

· Wood Shake: $8,000 – $24,000

· Metal: $8,000 – $24,000

We know you might want to get your house renovated, but it is important to consider the expenses.