In this episode, John Maher interviews Brett Rogenski,
general manager of Master Roofers, a trusted roofing company serving New
Hampshire for over 80 years. They discuss the various financing options
available for homeowners needing a new roof, including 0% interest plans,
mid-term loans, and long-term financing. Brett highlights the flexibility of
these plans, allowing homeowners to choose the best option for their financial
situation. He also explains how Master Roofers helps customers navigate the financing
process, offering quick approval and no prepayment penalties, ensuring the
roofing project moves forward seamlessly.
John Maher: Hi, I'm John Maher, and I'm here today with Brett
Rogenski, general manager of Master Roofers, the most trusted roofing company
in New Hampshire for over 80 years. Today we're talking about roof financing.
Welcome, Brett.
Brett Rogenski: Hey, thank you, John. Appreciate it.
What are the Most Common
Financing Options for New Roofs?
Maher: Sure. So Brett, what are some of the most common financing
options that are available for homeowners who need a new roof?
Rogenski: Sure. I would tell you that, well, again, we've been
doing this a long time here. We've been doing this since 1942. Everyone has
different needs and we understand that. We certainly have some customers who
just like to write a check for their new roof, and that's wonderful. That's
fine. We have other folks that maybe for various reasons want to use something
like a credit card because they're accumulating miles. Those are usually folks
who could have written a check, but they run it through their American Express,
get a bunch of air reward miles and then write a check to American Express. It
sounds great to us.
But a lot of folks, they're not budgeting to replace a
roof. Sometimes you can see it coming and you do that. A lot of times people
are reacting to all of a sudden the end came relatively quickly with a roof. So
we offer several different flexible financing options for people through a
couple of different lenders. So there's a lot of times, I would tell you
there's a couple of program that are the most popular. We have, for instance, a
couple of options on 0% interest financing, and those are usually relatively short-term
options, maybe one year, 0%, no monthly minimum payment.
That allows people who are choosing to do a roof now,
either because they have to or they want to, to sort out how they want to
handle that financially in the meantime without accruing interest. And that's
so much of a better choice than if your other option was to put this on a
credit card or something like that, right? So zero interest versus credit card
interest in the mid-20s.
So, we offer zero interest options through our lenders.
The other option that tends to be quite popular is something along like a
five-year option. So, almost like you were purchasing a lot of people finance
vehicles for over the period of time like that. So being able to, at a
relatively low interest rate, very much in the single digits, being able to
finance that roof out over a reasonable period, 60 months or something like
that. And instead of making a big capital investment, turning it into a monthly
payment. We also have options for loans that are, gosh, up to 180 months.
And the neat part about all the loans that we offer is
none of them come with prepayment penalties. So, sometimes maybe something
catastrophic happens and someone needs to re-roof, and this just totally wasn't
in the budget. I didn't know I was going to have to do this. I didn't have
money set aside for it. We have people who take those longer 120 or 180 month
finance terms frequently. Again, the interest rates are actually surprisingly
reasonable. And they'll take that to have a very low monthly payment while they
figure out, do I want to take out maybe a home equity line of credit or am I
drawing money from another source of funds, but it's going to take me a little
while to do that?
They'll take out that long-term, very low payment, and it
gives them time to sort out whatever else they want to do in terms of their
finances, and then they simply pay it off early and with no prepayment penalty.
It makes it extremely affordable. So I would tell you the three most popular
would be 0% financing because hey, 0% leave your money in the bank, let it work
for you and use my money. Use our bank's money at a low rate. Some folks
looking at a 60 month or 36 month, those mid-range options. And then a lot of
folks take that long-term, one 20 or 180, mostly just the lock in on a very low
payment while they figure out what they want to do. And frequently people pay
those off well ahead of time once they kind of sort out what their financial
situation was. And a lot of times those folks are reacting to something that
was maybe unexpected.
Does Master Roofers Help
Choose Financing Options?
Maher: Right. Does Master Roofers help homeowners to determine what type
of financing might work best for them? Or are they kind of on their own to talk
to their bank and figure it out?
Rogenski: Yeah, no, we actually provide financing through a couple
of different options. And when you're sitting with one of our roofing advisors,
he can talk to you and model out for you what those payments would be. And you
can actually, right there sitting with him either on an iPhone or on a tablet
that we have him with, you can actually complete the application and receive
approval literally in... it might take you a minute to fill out the form and
another minute at the most to receive the approval. So, you can sit there,
model them out, what are my options? Geez, I think that choice C is what's best
for me and my family. And then simply, you can literally apply while you're
sitting right there with the roofing advisor and do it right then.
If not, we can certainly email you the link and you
complete it that way. It still only takes a minute or two, but it can be as
fast as, "I would like to choose option C." Great. You're standing
right there with the roofing advisor. Let's take care of this now. And 30
seconds after you hit send, you receive your approval, which allows us all to
move forward rapidly for you.
What are the Pros and Cons of
Financing a New Roof?
Maher: Right. What are some of maybe the potential benefits and drawbacks
of different financing options like loans or home equity lines of credits, like
you mentioned before?
Rogenski: Yeah. Yeah. When you're talking about a loan, for
instance through one of our lenders, one of the biggest advantages is speed.
Reasonable interest rates, and then speed. Again, as I mentioned, you can be
there with my roofing advisor and literally two minutes after you make a
decision on what you'd like, know that you're approved. Home equity lines of
credit usually take a bit longer. So if you want to go to your existing bank,
let's say they're going to want to do an appraisal on the home because they're
going to want to know what sort of equity you actually have there. So that's a
little longer road.
A lot of times what people do is they use the flexible
financing that we offer to secure the project, and if they later say,
"Hey, I want to turn this into a home equity loan," they can simply
go get that home equity loan and simply pay off the personal loan that they've
taken out through our lender. So, that gives them the best of both worlds in
that they can deal with the project rapidly, but then also return that with...
if there's some advantages for them with a home equity line of credit, go ahead
and do that. But certainly we also work with a lot of the local major banks.
It's just for home equity lines of credit. It's just a little longer process
for the homeowner.
What Factor Should a
Homeowner Consider When Financing a New Roof?
Maher: Right. Are there some factors that homeowners should consider
when they're comparing financing offers from different lenders?
Rogenski: Sure. Yeah. They want to look at obviously the interest
rate and the payment factor that works best for them. Are they offering you
one-size-fits-all or do they have multiple plans that they can offer you?
Because some folks are about, "Hey, I'm looking for the lowest interest
rate." Other folks are looking for a particular type of payment, at least
initially. So being able to offer you a plan that meets that your family's
personal financial needs, whatever those are, is important. So yeah, any good
company should be able to offer you multiple financing options to do that
there. And then at that point, it's a personal decision, is this about interest
rate? Is this about what is the payment number? But if someone's just offering
you one type of financing and telling you, "Hey, it's
one-size-fits-all," I don't think that's a particularly good service.
Are There Government Programs
to Help Finance a Roof?
Maher: Right. And then finally, are there any government programs or
incentives available to help homeowners to finance things like a roofing
project?
Rogenski: Yeah, there are some incentives that are out there if
it's being done in conjunction with, for instance, solar. So, a lot of times
that's actually done through the solar provider as well. So we partner with
multiple solar providers. We also have a company that we partner with directly
that people are looking for a roof and are asking about solar, we can provide
them with a proven partner as well. But a lot of times people have contracted
for solar and the solar company finds out that the roof has a problem, some of
that can be tied together in terms of tax incentives and that sort of thing.
One thing that I would also tell you is that skylights
have a solar incentive tied to them as well. So for instance, if you were to
get a Velux Skylight that has a solar driven shade in it, so it's a
self-contained unit in there that is solar-powered. You're not wiring this
thing to your house or anything like that. Solar shade, and they can also buy
solar power be made to open and close, et cetera.
Not only is there a rebate of a tax credit, excuse me, of
to 30% available for the Skylight itself, but it's also the roofing around that
skylight. So what had to, did this entire section have to be replaced to
accommodate replacing these three skylights with these solar skylights? If the
answer is yes, all that is then eligible for up to a 30% tax credit on that
work, the roofing as well as the Skylight. So, I would tell you, if you have
old skylights and you're thinking about replacing them, I would absolutely look
at what the Velux solar Skylights, because the government will literally help
you with by way of a very significant tax credit. And that then can then
encompass any roofing, flashing, et cetera around those Skylights that needs to
occur to make it safe and watertight.
Can a Roofer Help with
Government Incentives?
Maher: So, what's the best way for a homeowner to figure all this out,
because that sounds like a lot to research? Should they just talk to a
reputable company like yourselves, like Master Roofers and you can walk them
through all of these different options?
Rogenski: Yeah, I would tell you there's a lot of information
that's out there, for instance, through the Velux website and stuff, but you're
having to navigate that yourself. But yeah, I would tell you if you work with a
reputable roofing company that's also knowledgeable in skylights and solar and
stuff, that they can guide you through that. So for instance, the expectation
here is if you're sitting with one of our advisors and you have an interest in
solar skylights and that sort of thing, he's going to be very well-versed to
talk and explain that through to you. We then also, once the work is done,
provide you with all the documentation you need to then later file for that
solar tax credit as well.
So yeah, probably the best step for most homeowners,
because they're not professional solar skylight quote getters, is to have a
knowledgeable roofing and skylight advisor come out, visit with you, talk with
you about your options, and then they can then model out and tell you what the
requirements are, and then model out what those projected savings are for you.
And then of course you work with your tax advisor to file for them.
Maher: All right, well that's really great information, Brett. Thanks
again for speaking with me today.
Rogenski: Thank you so much for having me, John.
More Information About Master
Roofers
Maher: And for more information, you can visit the website at
masterroofers.com or call 603-623-4973.