"RicodJour" wrote in message


It's not clear from your post what you mean by "I'd look for another
house." Are you telling the owner to keep looking, or as the roofing
contractor you'd pass on doing the job?

R


If I was buying the house, I'd not buy the house. Old homes are charming,
interesting, have lots of character, history, etc. But they are also
expensive to maintain. If you are a renovator and enjoy spending a lot of
time working on a house, it is the perfect setup. Just not for me.

When I bought our present home, we look at a lot of houses. My wife wanted
a big of Victorian, but every one of them needed a lot of work just to move
in and a lot of money to do the work. We compromised and bought a 3 year
old raised ranch and did nothing when we moved in. Looking back, some
of those houses we passed on look fantastic today, but I also know that many
of them took more money on renovations that I spent to buy my house. My son
bought a house built in the 1750's and it is on the town green where he
lives. He has over $100,000 in up-keep type work (siding, roofing, fence),
not improvements.

As for the roof, I'd do it myself on my house if I was about 10 years
younger, but at any age, I'd not tackle this job. You won't find me
climbing 3 or 4 stories.
--
Ed
http://pages.cthome.net/edhome/