Well, a couple of things! First and most obvious is the fact that our rainy season is just around the corner. Although it doesn’t usually start in earnest until November, it can and does rain in September. I know this for a fact!! When I moved to this area in September 1972, it rained almost every day, or so it seemed. Remember the song “They say it never rains in California.” I believed it!! So it was not quite what I expected. A prudent person would think seriously about finishing off this roof job.

1. If you already own your home, have the roof inspected now, before it starts to rain. Roofers are hard to find in a downpour, as they are then working in emergency mode;
2. If you buy a newly constructed home, buy from a reputable builder who has been in business for a long time. That builder is more experienced, and is also less likely to disappear overnight and leave you holding the bag if defects are discovered after escrow closes.

 On several occasions I have written about how some of my clients have amassed a tidy retirement fund by moving into rental properties they owned, living there at least 2 years to establish those homes as their own personal residences, and then selling them and keeping $250,000 of their profit for a single person or $500,000 for a married couple, tax free, as long as they living in the home at least 2 of the 5 years immediately preceding the sale. I have clients who have done this as many as 4 times, thus accumulating $2 million, tax free, towards their retirement.