u/Spirited_Edge_9141

Location: Texas

Situation: First lien with approx 350k @ 3%, appraisal a few years ago showed 600k value. Based on the specific location we don't expect this has changed much.

We were hit by a bad storm that has totalled our roof and left additional damage over 2 sides of the house. We are still waiting on adjuster but expect full cost to be in the 80k range minimum. We have a very high deductible and while we can pay it out of cash reserves it wouldn't be fun. We also want to take this opportunity to upgrade to a metal roof (we had been planning/saving on doing this within the next year anyway). Based on the estimates we have for upgrading to metal plus our deductible we are anticipating we would be looking at 50k-55k out of pocket, but of course we won't know for sure until we know what insurance is willing to pay out.

We've been looking at HELOC/HEL as options, possibly around a 75k limit/amount, just to have a buffer. We have one car payment, but no other non-mortgage debt. Questions:

1. Does it even make sense to take more debt when we can likely get the liquidity to pay cash for our portion, even if it would leave us more vulnerable to emergencies in future until we recover? (I know this is probably personal preference but appreciate options)

2. Would the interest be deductible on taxes? We keep seeing people use "renovations" but none use repairs so we are uncertain if this counts

3. Would one option make more sense over the other? We think HELOC since we would only pay interest on what we took out, but appreciate opinions.

4. We are a little nervous about the thought of an adjustable rate, is there somewhere online that clearly shows the recent historic prime rates Typically used?

5. Does the appraisal look at the "now" value? Will the value be less because we have damage, even though the whole point of looking for loan is to repair damage? (We believe because we are a relatively rural location an appraisal would be required, AVM and other valuation models likely will not satisfy lender)

Appreciate any input!

Hello,

We recently had a severe thunderstorm (very high winds/tennis ball sized hail) where the area slightly north and south of us were both hit by confirmed tornadoes. We believe we have roof damage, but haven’t had an inspection yet.

My question is this, the current roof is asphalt singles (pretty aged) and we would like to replace with a metal roof, how does that work if we do place a claim and the insurance agrees it needs to be replaced and not just repaired? We've gotten a couple quotes over the past few years for metal roofs so we had an idea of what it would cost to replace if we ever got enough saved. We also have a very high deductible so knowing the price of a metal roof we aren't even sure if it is worth it to go through insurance instead of just replacing it ourselves. If, for example, the insurance agrees to replacement for 20k (minus deductible) could we just put that towards the cost of a new metal roof or do they require we get a 1 for 1 replacement (asphalt shingles for asphalt shingles)?

Appreciate any insight.