Appraisers and Roofers

It was 7:30 in the morning.  The house was all spic and span and

the morning sun poured in the front of the house.

The yellow paperwhites brought their own sunshine to

the dining room we all waited for the appraisers to arrive.

There had even been a dusting of snow overnight that

perfectly covered my missing shingles.

Everything was perfect....

...until I looked out the window to see...

...the roofers had arrived unannounced.

I nearly had a heart attack.  All I could envision was the

appraisers arriving to find my roof...

...looking like this.

Fortunately, they were just stopping by to accept delivery of the

roofing materials.  It would have been nice to have gotten this done

before the appraisal but at least they could see that it was actually going

to happen in the near future.

The roof was replaced the next day.

So here's the before.

And here's the after.  It's not a huge impact but it does look a lot better.

They also added a ridge vent which will provide better ventilation in the attic.

(The shingles are Certainteed architectural shingles in Colonial Gray color.)

The appraisal went well I think.  It's hard to judge and a lot of the outcome will

be the comparison of my house and its finishes to comparable properties

in the neighborhood based on recent sales.

They did say that it was apparent that everything was well maintained

and that a lot of the finish work looked new.  That subjective data gets

offset by the fact  that I don't have a garbage disposal, a dishwasher and

a microwave, butcher block counters versus granite, etc. etc. etc.

A porch adds X dollars to the price, a patio adds X dollars

and off-street parking adds X dollars.  Good information.

They did drawings of the floor plans and took photos of only of

the kitchen and bathrooms, hot water heater and furnace. 

Not too invasive and it took less than a half hour.

I don't have any concern about where the appraisal will come in but I'm more interested in

how the work I've done to the house has affected the value.  I think it's important when you're

renovating to know the value of your house as well as understanding your local real estate

market.  I don't want to overshoot on installing high end finishes if I won't be able to recoup

that investment if I decide to sell the house at some point.

Is there another renovation in my future? I don't know.  But it's good to be educated.