A Total Sh*t Show

The above photo is of a cedar roof in Chatham which I was asked to look at because the new homeowner wanted it to be cleaned before rental season.
It can't be cleaned because the cedar roof is rotten. Poke it with your finger, and your finger goes right through the thin, punky shingles.
That was news to the homeowner, who bought the place last autumn without getting a home inspection. In talking with the contractor currently on the job, the rotten roof is among a long list of "uh-oh's" that the new homeowner is slowly becoming aware of. I didn't tell him the new roof will likely be $40k+, IF his roofer can find red cedar shingles.
I'll take this opportunity to point out that the local real estate scene is now a genuine runaway disaster. Here's how I see it:
- The COVID-19 pandemic caused affluent folks to flee the cities and suburbs, where they've learned they can work remotely from a home by the sea.
- At the same time, demand for vacation rentals skyrocketed, as many vacationers felt safer in driving to a rental home by the sea than taking a plane from an airport to a crowded resort or amusement park.
- Due to COVID-19, the output of manufacturing centers plummeted for a while, falling well short of normal demand. Transportation shortages between there and here and there exacerbated normal supply shortfalls.
- Due to (1) and (2) above, the shortfalls due to (3) have been greatly magnified as demand exceeds normal levels. Many once-plentiful construction commodities to now be either unavailable or eye-wateringly expensive.
- Soaring property values due to (1) and (2) is provoking many "average working folks" to cash out of their Cape Cod homes and move elsewhere. They are removed from the local labor force, making existing labor scarcer and more costly. The off-Cape buyers of their home are most likely buying it to gut it to rent it. Go to step (4).
- As a result of 1, 2, and 5, I'm told that local homes are now uniformly selling for far more than their asking price. The winning bidders are paying in cash. As a sweetener to their bid, the winning bidders are waiving their right to a pre-sale home inspection.
- Their un-inspected Cape Cod properties are not in tip-top condition. Wiring isn't up to code. Septic systems have failed. Cedar roofs are rotten.
- Due to (4) and (5), the new homeowner can't get a service provider in a reasonable amount of time, and then they can't get the materials they need.
- Money is thrown at both labor and materials in an effort to speed them up.
- The "average" Cape Cod homeowner is left behind. Go to step (5).
Maybe I'm foolish for caring about the cost of a new roof or septic system or electrical system; maybe that type of small thinking is a difference between myself and the Really-Rich.
I'm not quite sure where the cycle ends. I do think that increasing interest rates will only slow demand from the Average Joe, not the second- or third-homeowner with big-time cash on hand. But these unflagged issues will be biting new Cape Cod homeowners in the butt for years.
I'd like to know, though: WHO insures a newly-purchased home which wasn't inspected during the ownership transaction?
That's all for now. I'm going back to work.




