I'm going to close on this house in a month. Inside it's 1250 square feet, but can't measure the outside for a few more weeks. The inspector I hired (who is a licensed builder also, but not practicing now) found that the older (1940's) part of the roof was made with rafters that were 8' and nailed together to make them 16'. That part of the roof is sagging in the middle. Not a huge problem immediately, but needs to be addressed. The newer part of the roof (1990) has some mildew on the inside and needs newer bigger air vents along the bottom. He says the newer part should come off and be replaced so the mildew doesn't spread or at least be coated with something. Stupid part (he said) is that the whole roof was recently redone with shingles over the old shingles and nothing else was addressed. This is why I'm thinking of tearing the whole roof off and putting a flat roof ( that I much prefer) on. Facts are the pre agreement states the seller has to repair or deduct from the price what the mortgage leader demands to be done and up to $10,000 for things the inspector found. Fact is that I'm in Michigan and with the economy here, he said there are skilled people on Criegs list. No one wants to under pay people but another fact is that I'm a disabled vet and this is my first house, so I live on a fixed income and have no way to improve my lot in life. I feel it's fine for me to save money hiring skilled people that wouldn't be working or want to work more in the summer, if I am able to. I'm purchasing the house through the Rural Devlopment program and I can also borrow up to $20,000 at 1% interest for 20 years, for repairs or upgrade's for reasonable purposes. But of course, every dollar I borrow comes off my monthly income for the next 20 years. If I can't get this done economically, I'll just put up with the sagging roof part and hire someone to coat the inside of the other part to stop the mildew. No problem either way. I never had a house in the first place and am 58 years old. Wanting things in good order and having some of my ideals (flat roof) etc. is fine in the perfect world, but I've lived in public housing for many years and know that there is no perfect world. No complaints, as every day above ground is all gravy, we always said.