We just recently bought a house - currently pre-close, going through appraisal/underwriting/etc. The home is a typical suburban house in Sugar Land, built in 93. The homeowners think the roof was replaced in 2008.

Looking to get insurance taken care of...but our current provider (Amica) wants proof of the roof age which we do not have nor know how to obtain. Called a few other companies and running into the same roadblock. The roof pre-dates the current owners time there. Our home inspection said its older and needs a few things addressed but is still functional as a roof. Inspector verbally said we probably have 3-5 years left on it. Honestly, we'll probably replace it pretty quick but that doesn't help the current situation.

Anyone else run into this? Figure this can't be that unique a situation. Time is of the essence as we plan to close in a few weeks.

The sellers dont have it from when they purchased the home? I feel like we have had that info included/kept in all of our closing papers when we have bought/sold.

The only other suggestion I have is to start calling roofing companies and ask if they have record of that address

No, guessing they didnt hit the same problem when they bought it in 2016. We just now got their homeowners policy that has 2008 listed in a field there. We are going to reach out, but its State Farm and it seems like a ripoff. Over 5k premium which is well over 1% of the appraised value...but maybe that's normal now (?). Seems significantly worse than our policy. But guess we can get it then flip to something else. Or maybe it can be used as proof.

May be worth seeing if State Farm had the previous owners policy as well, which would explain the year with no paperwork. They may have just transferred some of the data from a previous policy...

say it's 10-12 years old when you get your next quote

I ran into this 6 months ago

Mercury Insurance wrote coverage for me

2005 built house likely original roof

So if this is okay, one would assume it would then be okay if the previous owner "fudged' on the seller's disclosure, amirite?

I guess if the previous owner "isn't sure"
like the OP said l, as it was in my case as well,
amrite?

Sellers disclosures are for amateurs they are meaningless

And when you sign an application for home insurance, you are stating that all the information you have provided is true.

as far as you know

Say you don't know then.

Not 10 or 12 when it's likely 15-16 (very easy to tell an original roof from a replaced roof).

Well, looks like we're going with State Farm, who the current owners use. Got a significantly lower premium than they have. We'll reassess once settled and probably address the roof. Thanks!

Insurance Agent here-This is pretty common as Insurance Carriers have gotten really tight on not writing new business if the roof is older than 15 years. We have to go on what a client tells us, but in the instances I always let the client know that all properties are subject to inspections by the carrier. If the sellers guess 12 years then we'll go with that, but if the carrier does an inspection and determines the roof is in bad condition then they will adjust the policy. State Farm is likely starting your policy insuring the roof at Actual Cash Value, meaning the older the roof the less they'll pay towards a claim. That's one reason it would be cheaper than the sellers because they aren't on the hook for the old roof the same way they are with the Seller.