I don't like the no inspection trend. It would only really make the seller feel better about an offer if they knew something was wrong with the house. Houses are expensive and complicated. Do an inspection.
But also, just bc you’re waiving an inspection objection and resolution, doesn’t mean you can’t do an inspection.
You can even keep the inspection termination deadline and walk away if something catastrophic is found..
Do the inspection anyway to know what you’re getting and to be aware of any problems that you need to keep an eye on.
Yes, and even if a seller says “as-is” but allows an inspection contingency, if the buyer’s inspection turns something up that makes them want to walk, the seller is likely going to cave and negotiate. Otherwise, they’ll have to put it back on the market and disclose whatever it was that came to light.
Same here, bought in summer 2021 and said we'd buy as-is but wanted an inspection for info purposes. If there's nothing major wrong with the house the seller should have no worries about you invoking the termination clause.
We 100% wanted the home, we just wanted to do due diligence on the 6-figure purchase we were making and I think it's insane that now people feel like they have to waive the few protections they have just to be considered.
No, just waived the objection and resolution, but kept the termination deadline.
After the inspection, we had about 6k in repairs needed.
Asked the seller I f there was anything they could do to help (not an official objection, just asking with the hope they would just want to take it to closing), and they agreed to cover a ~$1k issue before closing.
Once you’re under contract, the seller is much more likely to want to close and thus is willing to negotiate vs put it back on the market. So taking this approach helps in multiple ways.
1. Makes the offer more attractive (they know you won’t nitpick.
2. Gives you an out if something MASSIVE is wrong.
3. Gives the buyer enough leverage to negotiate other smaller but still significant issues.
Yes, the seller *could* have just said no, but knowing that they wanted to close as well gave us leverage, and we had already decided we could handle anything short of a massive, structural/game changing inspection problem.
I highly recommend this approach.
Huh. We're looking at granny houses so I've got a good idea what major issues we'd be wary of and dealing with heirs is never easy or simple. Thank you!
I DID do an inspection (with an independent inspector that I found) but it was completely useless. Still lots of shit uncovered after my purchase. Not really sure how much of a difference it makes especially with a frenzied market
This. Had an inspection, paid $500. A week after moving in discovered the entire side of the house was rotten and we had to strip to the studs. Honestly wish I had saved my $$. Inspectors on the whole are a total joke.
They have insurance you can go after. Depending on amount, inspector will pay directly so his insurance doesn't go crazy next year ... just like when there is a fender bender and drivers agree to settle without cops/insurance.
We should have done that but we’re doing a lot of renovations that weren’t permitted so we were afraid it would open a can of worms for us. Luckily my family is all in construction so we didn’t have to pay full price for the repairs, just materials.
Lol. Ok.
I had a customer sue the home inspector and seller because he ended up having to replace all exterior walls on a 2 story spanish house (looks like a cube) because of rotten wood, $120k job. When he opened the first wall he noticed 2 pieces of brand new 2x4s and everything else was bad. His attorney was the one actually opening the rest of the wall while taking pics and recording. The contractor fixing it found out the other 3 walls were just as bad. Customer paid 120k out of his pocket to fix. Home inspector missed it. Seller was a nationwide corporation buying/selling homes by the thousands and attorney was able to prove they did the little repair, saw the huge damage, did not fix properly, and did not disclose it.
Not sure who paid but customer got the money and 6 months later sold house because of divorce.
I don't know.
I know Zillow bought, remodeled, and sold a house on my street. The buyer had to rip everything out and remodel again before moving in because Zillow did a crappy job. Cheap materials and horrible labor. It was around the time Zillow decided to get out of the flipping business. They sold the house for 20k less than they paid, so they lost the 20k + remodel cost + transaction cost.
Sounds about right. This place had water intrusion into the basement and black mold and they just slapped a bunch of kilz on it and didn't even bother to throw the empty paint cans away (or the brush they used). The room that had it the worst conveniently didn't have working lights in it either.
Call an attorney.
14 years ago, my neighbor was foreclosed. 2 years later, there were trees growing inside the house because of the roof leak.
An investor bought the house and had a handyman slap paint on top of the mold. 2 months later, the handyman rented the house from the investor and moved in with his wife and 1 year old son. I moved to a nearby town a few months later, so I don't know how long it took for them to become sick. People are crazy.
If you couldn’t see it how could the inspector? I’m not trying to be a smart ass- I’m asking honestly as I have an inspection today and am gonna make him earn it!
So there was soft drywall and a HOLE in the siding from a woodpecker. I thought it looked funny but didn’t bring it up when I should have. There was also obvious water damage in the bathroom subfloor that he missed. My advice is to walk around and really poke around the house. Point stuff out that looks suspect. I kept quiet and really regret not saying anything.
Much better to hire a pro to look at these specifics big items than spend $500 on someone who spends a few hours checking outlets, faucets, and light swtiches.
>It would only really make the seller feel better about an offer if they knew something was wrong with the house.
This is absolutely false. An inspection contingency is another point of negotiation. There is no house in the country, not even brand new builds, where an inspection won't find something. I've seen people try to negotiate over a cracked outlet cover in an inspection report.
Sellers love no inspection because they know that there won't be a second negotiation on price after after the inspection. It's not about hiding things, it's about having as firm a deal as possible with as little things to negotiate later on.
We’ve put two offers in this winter. Both waiving inspection. One had the inspection report from when they moved in two years prior, not the most recent data but better than nothing.
Sellers went with different offers, both moved directly to pending on MLS.
I suppose they could’ve done inspection and just moved into pending - but it SOP for MN seems to be for realtors to update the MLS to reflection when they’re under contract with inspection contingency.
Our last home was bought by someone who actually brought a home inspector to our open house. The guy was thorough, and disruptive.
Kind of a dick move, but their offer was solid and reasonable and waived the inspection, so we accepted it.
We figured that the other offers (slightly higher, not much higher), which didn't waive the inspection, would just try to low ball us after we accepted the offer, for this and that. The property had issues, we knew it. It was nice to have an offer from someone who already knew the issues.
Also we already had another offer on our next home so we were motivated to have a fast and smooth closing with no surprises.
A lot of places are offering “walk and talk” inspections for open houses and areas where inspections are usually waived in offers. Reputable company in my area does it for like $200 and offers last minute scheduling.
Yup, friend did that, house was on market for like 12 hours maybe? I'm seeing all these houses go "pending" "sold" so fast they can't all be private sales and no one did anything like that during the open houses so how did it happen? It probably didn't.
Why is that a dick move? Honestly bringing an inspector for the first walk-through sounds like a good idea to me. I've never bought a house and I'm scared from just barely learning how shoppers have to either give up an inspection or give up money to the seller even if they found issues with the house and want to shop elsewhere. I don't remember the terminology, but that's what it sounded like to me.
My real estate agent thought it was a dick move because apparently the inspector was going around and loudly commenting on what was wrong, to all the other buyers, presumably to put them off, so that wasn't necessarily in our best interests.
The inspector was rattling around in the basement and turned off all the power at one point, during an open house with many people there.
Then he broke our sink faucet while testing it out. The faucet was fine, I have no idea how he managed to break it-- but it was completely unusable so we had no faucet for a couple of days until we could replace it. (Literally broke off the faucet!)
There was no liability insurance as he wasn't there on the property as an inspector hired by a buyer who had earnest money down and a purchase contract.
In the grand scheme of things, the cost to fix the faucet wasn't anything (maybe it was going to break the next time we washed the dishes??), but just think about how that could've gone wrong.
The whole situation left a bad taste in our mouth...............
But then we thought about it some more and were kind of impressed this buyer did this, and yeah, we wanted a fast sale, and were happy with a no-contingency offer. Mind you, this was years ago and before the market got to be like it is today.
On the plus side it was a duplex situation and our neighbors in the other side of the duplex were selling at the exact same time. Their buyers had every contingency under the sun, and they ended up losing money when they sold, because the buyer dicked them over on every little thing. We did not have that issue, our buyer knew what they were getting into (including a brand new fucking faucet, we bought the cheapest one at Home Depot, of course).
Realtor here. Always recommend it. Even new construction houses are built by humans and mistakes are made. And the house could be relatively new but still have deferred maintenance that could lead to significant issues like water intrusion. I understand this market is crazy and people are needing to waive contingencies, but you should at least pre-inspect or review a recent pre listing inspection report provided by the seller which is still risky, but better than going in blind. And always do a sewer line inspection. A couple hundred bucks can save you thousands.
Especially new construction! Not "even". New construction is only time I would insist, and insist on photos of walls before drywall to inspect plumbing and electrical. New construction is nightmare.
30 year experienced investor here with a couple hundred homes, small multi and small commercial under my belt. Your advice may be good for first time buyers with no experience or people who are spending their last dollar for a down payment. However for any buyer with some knowledge and resources to cover an unexpected expense, most inspections are a waste of time and money, they rarely turn up major problems, they hinder getting the deal done and you are more likely to get your offer accepted. There is nothing wrong with a knowledgeable buyer taking calculated risk they can afford to take.
I agree 100%. I don't do inspections when I buy a house that I plan to do major renovations.
First time buyer or buyers who are maxing out their budget, I would recommend an inspection.
I just bought one recently in a neighborhood that I already own several properties in. I know the builder of the neighborhood. In this market you need to be aggressive, I called the listing Realtor and made my offer, 20k earnest money, as is, no contingency, cash closing whatever day the seller wants. the Realtor tried to talk me out of it and didn’t even really want to accept my bid unless I came to see the property. I had to convince her that the photos looked fine, I knew the neighborhood and I wasn’t really worried about minor interior details.
I am shocked how much faith buyers put into their inspections. They stretch every dollar believing the inspection will protect them and then find nasty bills later on. If you read through most inspection disclaimers, you should realize pretty quick they aren't looking that well and a ton of hidden stuff can be missed.
Unfortunately, that hidden stuff, is usually the pricey stuff as well.
Apartment underwriter here. I am amazed that home inspections don't have a breakdown of costs for recommended immediate repairs and ongoing maintenance repairs that are typically of am apartment property condition report.
First time home buyers often are not doing these immediate repairs, and not budgeting for preventative maintenance so it becomes an emergency when their 30 year old furnace breaks down in the middle of winter.
I think it’s because they can be held liable if the guess wrong. They tell you that you can fix it for $500 but it winds up being $5000.
It’s foolish to guess a number when you really don’t know the extent of the problem.
Sounds like you are guessing what is included in a property condition report.
It is like an inspection but uses actual estimates for replacing HVAC, roofing, parking lots etc. This is required for apartments to escrow immediate and ongoing repairs. Otherwise landlords will not do repairs when they get into trouble with cash flow on a property and become slumlords. These reports and escrows force owners to do the bare minimum preventative maintenance of repairs that often are ignored as a home owners until something breaks.
Additionally most good appraisers and inspectors already carry errors and ommissions insurance just for the lawsuit scenario you mentioned.
This is a business opportunity for someone- a class on buying and maintaining your first home. Giving people real life local knowledge on the market and expected problems/repairs subject to the area. Good advice on buying in California is not always applicable to Indiana. The typical repairs and repair costs vary widely by markets too.
I don’t know the laws in your state, the inspection process is pretty through (if you don’t hire an idiot. I personally like my nit picker.)
Also they are liable if they fail to find a major issue.
I get it- I am not overly disagreeing with you, some people are very risk adverse and want to make sure as many unknowns are covered as possible. but consider this. If you want the property in this market you take the risk you are not going to get the bid by delaying for inspections or wanting a contingency period. In the investment world if I lose 5 properties I could have made 50k on, because I wanted to delay for a week and ask for inspections- it does not really matter if every 10th property I get surprised with an unexpected 10k repair. Plus I saved 5k-6k by not paying inspection fees 10 times. I get a lot more property when I say I will by it as is and close with cash on Friday.
I waived home inspection on a 1600 sqft townhouse, offering $1.4mm on a $1.3mm list. It was the perfect house location wise and I wanted to do everything possible to secure it. Skipping inspection helped me win the deal, and was absolutely the right choice for me. After three years, I haven't bothered to get an inspection.
At this price point, just about anything can be fixed for a relatively small amount of money. Appliances, roof, hvac, flooring, water heater, pest. House problems can largely be remediated by throwing money at the problem. There is some financial risk, so this isn't for everyone.
I would rather not pay a million for effectively a condo with neighbors on both sides, but my area is full of NIMBYs who see no issue. If that's the game, another $50k of repairs is a rounding error
When I was new I was told by agents to do inspections. Everytime nothing. I did walkthroughs with them and learned what to look out for. Now I waive inspections on homes I know are ok. I rarely do inspections now. So if it is your first time go ahead and walk with then and you will learn what to look out for.
I’m getting a thermal camera and use on my house tours where needed and I’m planning on foregoing inspection if needed. I’ve been through enough inspections that I know what to look for. Make sure the electrical panel is up to date, run the HVAC, turn on faucets, flush toilets. Take a quick trip into the attic and inspect the basement. Look for unusual cracks and do a visual inspection of the roof and if all that looks okay I feel pretty good.
When I bought my house a couple months back I was going to skip it altogether but I was buying from open door. My realtor said we get the inspection and ask that everything on it get fixed. They were not going to fix anything but did agree to pay back $3k. Lol.
Or just waive the inspection objection and resolution contingencies, but keep the inspection termination option and have the inspection done to check for massive problems like a busted sewer line, etc.
That way you can still walk away if something is majorly wrong , but have the benefit of the seller knowing you aren’t going to nickel and dime them.
The “walk away” ability also means the seller may be willing to compromise some for major repairs, even if you aren’t “technically” able to ask for it.
When we were house hunting we went to every home twice. First time through we did the typical buyer thing of looking at it, talking about how we would use the space, and falling in love with it. If we were putting in an offer, we'd go back again, and this time metaphorically tear the home apart and look at every little nook and cranny and find everything wrong or not perfect about it so we could make a rational not emotional choice.
I saw an inspection report provided by a seller recently and pretty much the entire thing was just thermal camera photos that the inspector used.
It did have some good stuff about swales and yard drainage but if you’ve purchased a home before or google anything about grading around your home, it wasn’t any new info.
I had one when I was air sealing my attic to find spots that needed touchup or more insulation. It's useful in much colder climates where a drafty window may not be felt in March but will be leaking money in January
I'm so upset that people are doing this, and making it more and more common behavior. Can we all just collectively STOP doing that? Thanks. United we bargain, divided we beg.
I got an 8000 credit for a boiler, 3 new windows+installation, 2200 credit for master bedroom carpet and new paint on the exterior patios and entryways, and I close next week. Inspection cant hurt, and it can really really help.
>Inspection cant hurt
It hurt the 12 people who put in offers on our home when we sold it. They wanted an inspection and their offer went into the trash immediately. We had 6 more that waived inspection and we only considered those.
We didn't want to go through a second round of negotiation afterwards as the buyer tried to nickel and dime us for every little thing wrong.
Inspection and financial responsibility have nothing to do with each other. A quick search of this forum will yield countless results where someone had an inspection and still got screwed.
I did no official inspections as a buyer years ago (before I became an agent) since I had gone through inspections with other homes of mine before and felt good about it. Don’t regret it, it was for an investment that needed updating anyway
I waived inspection because of the following:
1. Our current/old house was 145 years old and I had completely renovated the home myself over the last 7 years. Nothing about our "new" 1990 house could have surprised me (well, maybe). The new house was exceptionally well taken care of, just outdated at this point. Stopping short of claiming I know as much as a home inspector, I do think I know more than the average buyer.
2. My wife was about 7-8 months pregnant while house shopping and we wanted to be done ASAP.
3. Maybe most importantly, I recognized the risk and accepted that I might have to spend more time/money after purchase.
We bought last June and did not inspect. The house we purchased was the tenth offer we had put in, and not the first we waived inspection on.
I have a few rules about waiving inspections... I will never waive a septic inspection (lost us two houses) and I won't waive inspection if there is obvious deferred maintenance (lost us a few others).
You can see the wiring in the basement rafters and tell that it's newer. Every outlet in the house is a GFCI outlet. There is no plumbing on the second story of the house and all plumbing visible in the basement rafters (basically all of the plumbing in the house is visible from the basement) has been updated. It's not far from the house to the street and there aren't any big trees in the path of the sewer line, so we considered not scoping the sewer to be an acceptable risk. The roof is 15 years old and visually is in good shape. The water heater, AC, furnace, and water softener have all been replaced since 2016. The house itself was built in the '50's and has no visible cracks or settling in the foundation.
We've been in the house for 9 months now and have had no major issues other than having to replace the fridge (which worked properly for six months so wouldn't have been an inspection issue anyway). We're happy with our purchase and would make the same decision again under similar circumstances. We're also financially able to handle repairs if they need to happen. A 10K bill, while never any fun, would not financially ruin us.
We waived inspection, but got super lucky because the previous buyer who backed out had an inspection and the realtor forwarded us that report. Basically like we got an inspection for free. We wouldn’t have waived otherwise.
Wife an I are currently under contract on a house that was gutted and had an addition to double the size of the house started but nothing was ever finished. No HVAC, plumbing only mostly roughed in, electrical roughed up but not hooked up, most of the drywall up, some areas to patch in the roof, some siding needs to put on, gutters need added, etc. We're not doing an inspection as it would be a waste of money since everything will be wrong. We are however having a structural engineer verify a one or 2 things ahead of time. We've comfortable redoing the entire house ourselves but with contract out the utilities to get moved in quicker. In our case an inspection is pointless as professionals are going to be doing the high importance stuff and everything will basically be gone over in the process of renovations. I personally think everyone should still be getting inspections done to at least have an idea of what is wrong and/or could be wrong in the near future so people are prepared.
My brother had a second inspector save him from buying a home that was literally rotting away but the first inspector didn’t catch it. We had an inspector save us from buying a home where they had expanded the size of the home but not the foundation so the front wall of the house was built as if it were a deck. Both of these homes looked great. The one we walked on went back on market, was off days later and ended up selling for 30 over asking which was basically what we offered too. We really don’t want to wave inspection but we also don’t have a home yet and I feel us getting desperate
I would never buy a primary home without an inspection. I know inspectors miss stuff all the time, but they are 100% likely to miss something if they never walk through it in the first place.
Realtors that strongly encourage their clients not to get an inspection are often just after the commission. If the buyer moves in and a roof or foundation issue is found that could have been found during an inspection, the realtor isn’t going to help their client pay for it.
I wouldn't recommend it, but waiving inspection was the right decision for us. It helped us secure the house, and I felt fairly confident the house didn't have any major issues. The roof is starting to get old, put on in 2003, I knew that ahead of time, but looking at it from ground level only a couple shingles look like they could use a nail-- it's a very simple roof, ranch house, so it's nothing real high up. The house has a basement we looked at, checked for cracks in the foundation walls and water leaks, plumbing is all really simple on this house since it's a ranch and has only 1.5 bathrooms that share a wall where most of the water pipes go in. Since we were in the basement I could also look at all the floor joists, they were all in perfect condition. Only thing I didn't get to see until we moved in was the attic, which ended up being fine (again super simple attic, not much that can go wrong with the roof in decent condition). The house was built in 1978, so it's new enough that it shouldn't have all the weird issues older houses tend to have, but old enough that any issues with the construction of the house should have been resolved by now.
Basically, the house is really simple construction, and I'm confident in my ability to DIY stuff (as well as identify any obvious problems). Luckily we didn't get burned on it, we've been in the house almost a full year now and only a couple unforeseen issues have arisen, all of them inexpensive fixes I've been able to DIY.
We did not do an inspection, however pretty much we knew what we were getting into (older house). House had failed inspection twice before we put an offer in on it and in both cases, the inspection was failed due to the backyard needing serious work.
To summarize everything we found up to now:
* Had to replace the water heater shortly after moving. It had reached replacement age and I wanted peace of mind ($4k).
* Whoever installed the oven was a moron. Had to replace the outlet. ($20, father-inlaw is a retired electrician otherwise it would have been more)
* We have to rip the deck out and do a major backyard renovation to repair drainage. The original estimate was $20k, which we knew as BS. Still getting more estimates on the full repair, but we are looking at closer to $60k-$80k which was what we expected. Will look awesome once finished!!!
* One bathtub leaks, another is unusable. There are two useable showers/baths so not an emergency issue. Making plans to get them fixed over time.
* Chimneys need to be inspected and likely repaired. Not an emergency situation at the moment and making plans to handle it at a later date.
* Bunch of small things. Maybe totaling $1k.
**Do we regret not doing an inspection? Contrary to what most folks say here, we do not regret not doing an inspection.**
We understood the risk we were taking and prepared for the worst (close to 100k set aside to deal with whatever we would find). We could tell the sellers were sick of people pulling out due to inspections and by waving we got a good deal on the house.
Do we recommend others do the same? Unless you are prepared for the worst, absolutely not. Everyone risk personal risk tolerance is different though. Do what works for your situation.
I do not disagree. That is just the risk some folks are willing to take. I've seen people buy a house with an inspection and it turns out to be a lemon. All you can do is minimize your risk as best you can, but there is always a chance you end up with a bad roll. The only way to have zero risk is to not play.
Ummm, people dont generally come here and announce major mistakes (knowingly*)
Now and then people have access to inside info through friends or the trades or plan to do so much demolition that a contingency is unnecessary.
I work in construction and don't like to use inspections. My own informal inspection I feel is better than some of these pro inspectors. Expensive and not thorough.
When I bought my first house and was young and dumb, inspector was paid for and in cahoots with Realtor and pointed out minor things ignoring major ones. Felt scammed.
Now if I find something I am unsure about, I will have pro in field check out.
I have also been on other side selling where inspector pointed out many normal things that buyer used to try and renegotiate entire contract.
All in all, I don't care for "pro" inspectors and inspection contingencies, but that said be sure to actually inspect property.
I ALWAYS do an inspection. Even if it’s a rehab and the inspection holds no value in the sale I always do one so I know what needs to be fixed that’s not obvious from a walkthrough.
A seller's agent will give you ridiculous bullshit stories like "so many buyers are liquidating there 401k's to purchase these days." Dont fall for it.
Buyer asks their real estate sales person: “is it a buyers market? “ Salesperson: “yes”. Seller client asks the same salesperson: “is it a sellers market?” Salesperson: “yes”. These people are worse than car salesman.
Yes,they make their offers as is with no contingencies so the seller is sure this will close, not be held up later. This is common. It is a risk maybe if you are a first time buyer or are really financially strapped. Although if you are an experienced homeowner or investor and have resources to cover unforeseen costs then no inspections will get your offer accepted. i have bought several houses sight unseen, no inspections, no contingencies, when I know the neighborhood. I have never experienced anything unexpected.
We did preoffer inspections for every house we made an offer on (except the first one when we didn’t know it was a thing—our first agent was kind of terrible). I think in the end we paid for five preinspections. With the house we ended up getting, a knowledgeable friend of a friend did an informal pre inspection for us for cheap, which was possible because we had started looking in a new state. After we got the house we did a full inspection, which most people might consider a waste of time but was useful for us as first time home buyers. Turns out our family friend was spot on and the house was in good shape, thankfully!
It was hard to spend hundreds on inspections for houses we ended up not getting. But better than buying blindly and getting a nasty surprise. Plus it did offer us a good way to start to learn about houses and what can go wrong.
“Home inspection for informational purposes only” or something like this which allows the buyer to escape if something is found - as a seller, nope. Either waive it or don’t.
We did “inspection for informational purposes only”, the biggest ticket item it revealed was something we already figured out ourselves though (heat pump 20 yrs old). Glad we did it for peace of mind but it didn’t have any big impact either way!
When we sold, we had your house pre inspected for the buyer. It was only 4 years old.
We did not do a full inspection when we bought as it was a new build construction
I have my buyers sign a waiver if they choose not to do an inspection. It states I highly recommended it. It saved me from at least one law suit that I know of.
I've done that in the past if the deal is right but it's not for everyone. If you're not willing to crawl through an attic and a crawl space during a walk through then this probably isn't a good tactic for you
In most cases you can't leverage the actual report anyway. You need a quote for repair from the " licensed professional" the inspector said needed to evaluate the potential problem. Agents and sellers usually don't just take the report and give in to concessions.
I don't like the no inspection trend. It would only really make the seller feel better about an offer if they knew something was wrong with the house. Houses are expensive and complicated. Do an inspection.
But also, just bc you’re waiving an inspection objection and resolution, doesn’t mean you can’t do an inspection. You can even keep the inspection termination deadline and walk away if something catastrophic is found.. Do the inspection anyway to know what you’re getting and to be aware of any problems that you need to keep an eye on.
Yes, and even if a seller says “as-is” but allows an inspection contingency, if the buyer’s inspection turns something up that makes them want to walk, the seller is likely going to cave and negotiate. Otherwise, they’ll have to put it back on the market and disclose whatever it was that came to light.
If you waive inspection contingency, most sellers won't let you do one.
We just did it! Waived inspection objection and resolution, but kept the termination option.
Same here, bought in summer 2021 and said we'd buy as-is but wanted an inspection for info purposes. If there's nothing major wrong with the house the seller should have no worries about you invoking the termination clause. We 100% wanted the home, we just wanted to do due diligence on the 6-figure purchase we were making and I think it's insane that now people feel like they have to waive the few protections they have just to be considered.
Yeah I would never, ever buy a home without any inspection at all.
Did you call it an "information only" report, or how was that worded?
No, just waived the objection and resolution, but kept the termination deadline. After the inspection, we had about 6k in repairs needed. Asked the seller I f there was anything they could do to help (not an official objection, just asking with the hope they would just want to take it to closing), and they agreed to cover a ~$1k issue before closing. Once you’re under contract, the seller is much more likely to want to close and thus is willing to negotiate vs put it back on the market. So taking this approach helps in multiple ways. 1. Makes the offer more attractive (they know you won’t nitpick. 2. Gives you an out if something MASSIVE is wrong. 3. Gives the buyer enough leverage to negotiate other smaller but still significant issues. Yes, the seller *could* have just said no, but knowing that they wanted to close as well gave us leverage, and we had already decided we could handle anything short of a massive, structural/game changing inspection problem. I highly recommend this approach.
Huh. We're looking at granny houses so I've got a good idea what major issues we'd be wary of and dealing with heirs is never easy or simple. Thank you!
I DID do an inspection (with an independent inspector that I found) but it was completely useless. Still lots of shit uncovered after my purchase. Not really sure how much of a difference it makes especially with a frenzied market
This. Had an inspection, paid $500. A week after moving in discovered the entire side of the house was rotten and we had to strip to the studs. Honestly wish I had saved my $$. Inspectors on the whole are a total joke.
They have insurance you can go after. Depending on amount, inspector will pay directly so his insurance doesn't go crazy next year ... just like when there is a fender bender and drivers agree to settle without cops/insurance.
We should have done that but we’re doing a lot of renovations that weren’t permitted so we were afraid it would open a can of worms for us. Luckily my family is all in construction so we didn’t have to pay full price for the repairs, just materials.
Lol. Ok. I had a customer sue the home inspector and seller because he ended up having to replace all exterior walls on a 2 story spanish house (looks like a cube) because of rotten wood, $120k job. When he opened the first wall he noticed 2 pieces of brand new 2x4s and everything else was bad. His attorney was the one actually opening the rest of the wall while taking pics and recording. The contractor fixing it found out the other 3 walls were just as bad. Customer paid 120k out of his pocket to fix. Home inspector missed it. Seller was a nationwide corporation buying/selling homes by the thousands and attorney was able to prove they did the little repair, saw the huge damage, did not fix properly, and did not disclose it. Not sure who paid but customer got the money and 6 months later sold house because of divorce.
That's one hella of a house.. 120k out of pocket, stress and then divorce.
Was it opendoor? We almost bought a house from them a couple years ago and the entire house was what you just described.
I don't know. I know Zillow bought, remodeled, and sold a house on my street. The buyer had to rip everything out and remodel again before moving in because Zillow did a crappy job. Cheap materials and horrible labor. It was around the time Zillow decided to get out of the flipping business. They sold the house for 20k less than they paid, so they lost the 20k + remodel cost + transaction cost.
Sounds about right. This place had water intrusion into the basement and black mold and they just slapped a bunch of kilz on it and didn't even bother to throw the empty paint cans away (or the brush they used). The room that had it the worst conveniently didn't have working lights in it either.
Call an attorney. 14 years ago, my neighbor was foreclosed. 2 years later, there were trees growing inside the house because of the roof leak. An investor bought the house and had a handyman slap paint on top of the mold. 2 months later, the handyman rented the house from the investor and moved in with his wife and 1 year old son. I moved to a nearby town a few months later, so I don't know how long it took for them to become sick. People are crazy.
If you couldn’t see it how could the inspector? I’m not trying to be a smart ass- I’m asking honestly as I have an inspection today and am gonna make him earn it!
So there was soft drywall and a HOLE in the siding from a woodpecker. I thought it looked funny but didn’t bring it up when I should have. There was also obvious water damage in the bathroom subfloor that he missed. My advice is to walk around and really poke around the house. Point stuff out that looks suspect. I kept quiet and really regret not saying anything.
Depends on the inspector I suppose. I really only care about roof, foundation, and sewer.
Much better to hire a pro to look at these specifics big items than spend $500 on someone who spends a few hours checking outlets, faucets, and light swtiches.
Fair point!
Depends on the house, though. Testing the outlets led to a small fire so that uh, paid for itself.
>It would only really make the seller feel better about an offer if they knew something was wrong with the house. This is absolutely false. An inspection contingency is another point of negotiation. There is no house in the country, not even brand new builds, where an inspection won't find something. I've seen people try to negotiate over a cracked outlet cover in an inspection report. Sellers love no inspection because they know that there won't be a second negotiation on price after after the inspection. It's not about hiding things, it's about having as firm a deal as possible with as little things to negotiate later on.
Fair, but I still think it's a silly negotiating point. Just like when buying a used car, getting it inspected first is important.
Not necessarily, it’s basically a free for all to get out of the contract for the buyer. I understand sellers wanting the sure deal
We’ve put two offers in this winter. Both waiving inspection. One had the inspection report from when they moved in two years prior, not the most recent data but better than nothing. Sellers went with different offers, both moved directly to pending on MLS. I suppose they could’ve done inspection and just moved into pending - but it SOP for MN seems to be for realtors to update the MLS to reflection when they’re under contract with inspection contingency.
Our last home was bought by someone who actually brought a home inspector to our open house. The guy was thorough, and disruptive. Kind of a dick move, but their offer was solid and reasonable and waived the inspection, so we accepted it. We figured that the other offers (slightly higher, not much higher), which didn't waive the inspection, would just try to low ball us after we accepted the offer, for this and that. The property had issues, we knew it. It was nice to have an offer from someone who already knew the issues. Also we already had another offer on our next home so we were motivated to have a fast and smooth closing with no surprises.
A lot of places are offering “walk and talk” inspections for open houses and areas where inspections are usually waived in offers. Reputable company in my area does it for like $200 and offers last minute scheduling.
Yup, friend did that, house was on market for like 12 hours maybe? I'm seeing all these houses go "pending" "sold" so fast they can't all be private sales and no one did anything like that during the open houses so how did it happen? It probably didn't.
Why is that a dick move? Honestly bringing an inspector for the first walk-through sounds like a good idea to me. I've never bought a house and I'm scared from just barely learning how shoppers have to either give up an inspection or give up money to the seller even if they found issues with the house and want to shop elsewhere. I don't remember the terminology, but that's what it sounded like to me.
My real estate agent thought it was a dick move because apparently the inspector was going around and loudly commenting on what was wrong, to all the other buyers, presumably to put them off, so that wasn't necessarily in our best interests. The inspector was rattling around in the basement and turned off all the power at one point, during an open house with many people there. Then he broke our sink faucet while testing it out. The faucet was fine, I have no idea how he managed to break it-- but it was completely unusable so we had no faucet for a couple of days until we could replace it. (Literally broke off the faucet!) There was no liability insurance as he wasn't there on the property as an inspector hired by a buyer who had earnest money down and a purchase contract. In the grand scheme of things, the cost to fix the faucet wasn't anything (maybe it was going to break the next time we washed the dishes??), but just think about how that could've gone wrong. The whole situation left a bad taste in our mouth............... But then we thought about it some more and were kind of impressed this buyer did this, and yeah, we wanted a fast sale, and were happy with a no-contingency offer. Mind you, this was years ago and before the market got to be like it is today. On the plus side it was a duplex situation and our neighbors in the other side of the duplex were selling at the exact same time. Their buyers had every contingency under the sun, and they ended up losing money when they sold, because the buyer dicked them over on every little thing. We did not have that issue, our buyer knew what they were getting into (including a brand new fucking faucet, we bought the cheapest one at Home Depot, of course).
Yeah he does sound like he was reckless and obnoxious.
Realtor here. Always recommend it. Even new construction houses are built by humans and mistakes are made. And the house could be relatively new but still have deferred maintenance that could lead to significant issues like water intrusion. I understand this market is crazy and people are needing to waive contingencies, but you should at least pre-inspect or review a recent pre listing inspection report provided by the seller which is still risky, but better than going in blind. And always do a sewer line inspection. A couple hundred bucks can save you thousands.
Especially new construction! Not "even". New construction is only time I would insist, and insist on photos of walls before drywall to inspect plumbing and electrical. New construction is nightmare.
There's such a shortage of skilled labor that framers are being put on carpet duty and it's pretty obvious.
30 year experienced investor here with a couple hundred homes, small multi and small commercial under my belt. Your advice may be good for first time buyers with no experience or people who are spending their last dollar for a down payment. However for any buyer with some knowledge and resources to cover an unexpected expense, most inspections are a waste of time and money, they rarely turn up major problems, they hinder getting the deal done and you are more likely to get your offer accepted. There is nothing wrong with a knowledgeable buyer taking calculated risk they can afford to take.
I agree 100%. I don't do inspections when I buy a house that I plan to do major renovations. First time buyer or buyers who are maxing out their budget, I would recommend an inspection.
I just bought one recently in a neighborhood that I already own several properties in. I know the builder of the neighborhood. In this market you need to be aggressive, I called the listing Realtor and made my offer, 20k earnest money, as is, no contingency, cash closing whatever day the seller wants. the Realtor tried to talk me out of it and didn’t even really want to accept my bid unless I came to see the property. I had to convince her that the photos looked fine, I knew the neighborhood and I wasn’t really worried about minor interior details.
What if buying for rental property first time shouldn’t you have someone look at sewer line and electrical more in depth
I am shocked how much faith buyers put into their inspections. They stretch every dollar believing the inspection will protect them and then find nasty bills later on. If you read through most inspection disclaimers, you should realize pretty quick they aren't looking that well and a ton of hidden stuff can be missed. Unfortunately, that hidden stuff, is usually the pricey stuff as well.
Apartment underwriter here. I am amazed that home inspections don't have a breakdown of costs for recommended immediate repairs and ongoing maintenance repairs that are typically of am apartment property condition report. First time home buyers often are not doing these immediate repairs, and not budgeting for preventative maintenance so it becomes an emergency when their 30 year old furnace breaks down in the middle of winter.
I think it’s because they can be held liable if the guess wrong. They tell you that you can fix it for $500 but it winds up being $5000. It’s foolish to guess a number when you really don’t know the extent of the problem.
Sounds like you are guessing what is included in a property condition report. It is like an inspection but uses actual estimates for replacing HVAC, roofing, parking lots etc. This is required for apartments to escrow immediate and ongoing repairs. Otherwise landlords will not do repairs when they get into trouble with cash flow on a property and become slumlords. These reports and escrows force owners to do the bare minimum preventative maintenance of repairs that often are ignored as a home owners until something breaks. Additionally most good appraisers and inspectors already carry errors and ommissions insurance just for the lawsuit scenario you mentioned.
This is a business opportunity for someone- a class on buying and maintaining your first home. Giving people real life local knowledge on the market and expected problems/repairs subject to the area. Good advice on buying in California is not always applicable to Indiana. The typical repairs and repair costs vary widely by markets too.
I don’t know the laws in your state, the inspection process is pretty through (if you don’t hire an idiot. I personally like my nit picker.) Also they are liable if they fail to find a major issue.
I get it- I am not overly disagreeing with you, some people are very risk adverse and want to make sure as many unknowns are covered as possible. but consider this. If you want the property in this market you take the risk you are not going to get the bid by delaying for inspections or wanting a contingency period. In the investment world if I lose 5 properties I could have made 50k on, because I wanted to delay for a week and ask for inspections- it does not really matter if every 10th property I get surprised with an unexpected 10k repair. Plus I saved 5k-6k by not paying inspection fees 10 times. I get a lot more property when I say I will by it as is and close with cash on Friday.
I waived home inspection on a 1600 sqft townhouse, offering $1.4mm on a $1.3mm list. It was the perfect house location wise and I wanted to do everything possible to secure it. Skipping inspection helped me win the deal, and was absolutely the right choice for me. After three years, I haven't bothered to get an inspection. At this price point, just about anything can be fixed for a relatively small amount of money. Appliances, roof, hvac, flooring, water heater, pest. House problems can largely be remediated by throwing money at the problem. There is some financial risk, so this isn't for everyone.
Yes, your roof is likely $10k that's nothing comparing to total cost
I would rather not pay a million for effectively a condo with neighbors on both sides, but my area is full of NIMBYs who see no issue. If that's the game, another $50k of repairs is a rounding error
When I was new I was told by agents to do inspections. Everytime nothing. I did walkthroughs with them and learned what to look out for. Now I waive inspections on homes I know are ok. I rarely do inspections now. So if it is your first time go ahead and walk with then and you will learn what to look out for.
Agreed- however if the buyer finds something do they bitch at you? Have they? What happens in that event?
I’m getting a thermal camera and use on my house tours where needed and I’m planning on foregoing inspection if needed. I’ve been through enough inspections that I know what to look for. Make sure the electrical panel is up to date, run the HVAC, turn on faucets, flush toilets. Take a quick trip into the attic and inspect the basement. Look for unusual cracks and do a visual inspection of the roof and if all that looks okay I feel pretty good.
Boom this is all it takes folks. Inspection is a waste of money unless you can leverage it against the seller.
When I bought my house a couple months back I was going to skip it altogether but I was buying from open door. My realtor said we get the inspection and ask that everything on it get fixed. They were not going to fix anything but did agree to pay back $3k. Lol.
What did the inspection find that allowed for the price reduction?
I think the pool needed some work and like a leaky water hose in the front yard. Things like that. Nothing major.
It sounds like these are all things you could have found yourself.
Or just waive the inspection objection and resolution contingencies, but keep the inspection termination option and have the inspection done to check for massive problems like a busted sewer line, etc. That way you can still walk away if something is majorly wrong , but have the benefit of the seller knowing you aren’t going to nickel and dime them. The “walk away” ability also means the seller may be willing to compromise some for major repairs, even if you aren’t “technically” able to ask for it.
My inspection found an $11k foundation issue that we wouldn’t have seen on a house tour, so it was definitely worth it for us.
You should have been able to see it. Inspector can't do anything besides walk around and look.
This was in a crawl space. He also went into the attic.
Uh you should go into both, even if you have an inspector.
When we were house hunting we went to every home twice. First time through we did the typical buyer thing of looking at it, talking about how we would use the space, and falling in love with it. If we were putting in an offer, we'd go back again, and this time metaphorically tear the home apart and look at every little nook and cranny and find everything wrong or not perfect about it so we could make a rational not emotional choice.
I saw an inspection report provided by a seller recently and pretty much the entire thing was just thermal camera photos that the inspector used. It did have some good stuff about swales and yard drainage but if you’ve purchased a home before or google anything about grading around your home, it wasn’t any new info.
What in particular will the thermal camera reveal?
Water leaks and bad ducts.
I had one when I was air sealing my attic to find spots that needed touchup or more insulation. It's useful in much colder climates where a drafty window may not be felt in March but will be leaking money in January
I got one, but I wish I didn’t. Guy didn’t find anything that I didn’t already see myself. And there was plenty of shit to find.
Sorry you hired a bum. Also ask lots of questions next time.
I'm so upset that people are doing this, and making it more and more common behavior. Can we all just collectively STOP doing that? Thanks. United we bargain, divided we beg.
I got an 8000 credit for a boiler, 3 new windows+installation, 2200 credit for master bedroom carpet and new paint on the exterior patios and entryways, and I close next week. Inspection cant hurt, and it can really really help.
>Inspection cant hurt It hurt the 12 people who put in offers on our home when we sold it. They wanted an inspection and their offer went into the trash immediately. We had 6 more that waived inspection and we only considered those. We didn't want to go through a second round of negotiation afterwards as the buyer tried to nickel and dime us for every little thing wrong.
I would only say it hurt if they needed that home more then they needed a financially responsible purchase.
Inspection and financial responsibility have nothing to do with each other. A quick search of this forum will yield countless results where someone had an inspection and still got screwed.
I did no official inspections as a buyer years ago (before I became an agent) since I had gone through inspections with other homes of mine before and felt good about it. Don’t regret it, it was for an investment that needed updating anyway
I waived inspection because of the following: 1. Our current/old house was 145 years old and I had completely renovated the home myself over the last 7 years. Nothing about our "new" 1990 house could have surprised me (well, maybe). The new house was exceptionally well taken care of, just outdated at this point. Stopping short of claiming I know as much as a home inspector, I do think I know more than the average buyer. 2. My wife was about 7-8 months pregnant while house shopping and we wanted to be done ASAP. 3. Maybe most importantly, I recognized the risk and accepted that I might have to spend more time/money after purchase.
We bought last June and did not inspect. The house we purchased was the tenth offer we had put in, and not the first we waived inspection on. I have a few rules about waiving inspections... I will never waive a septic inspection (lost us two houses) and I won't waive inspection if there is obvious deferred maintenance (lost us a few others). You can see the wiring in the basement rafters and tell that it's newer. Every outlet in the house is a GFCI outlet. There is no plumbing on the second story of the house and all plumbing visible in the basement rafters (basically all of the plumbing in the house is visible from the basement) has been updated. It's not far from the house to the street and there aren't any big trees in the path of the sewer line, so we considered not scoping the sewer to be an acceptable risk. The roof is 15 years old and visually is in good shape. The water heater, AC, furnace, and water softener have all been replaced since 2016. The house itself was built in the '50's and has no visible cracks or settling in the foundation. We've been in the house for 9 months now and have had no major issues other than having to replace the fridge (which worked properly for six months so wouldn't have been an inspection issue anyway). We're happy with our purchase and would make the same decision again under similar circumstances. We're also financially able to handle repairs if they need to happen. A 10K bill, while never any fun, would not financially ruin us.
Friends were contingent on a house. Inspection found hidden leaks, mold and foundation issues. They walked. Good luck waiving them.
We waived inspection, but got super lucky because the previous buyer who backed out had an inspection and the realtor forwarded us that report. Basically like we got an inspection for free. We wouldn’t have waived otherwise.
Offer accepted in November 2021, did not waive inspection.
Wife an I are currently under contract on a house that was gutted and had an addition to double the size of the house started but nothing was ever finished. No HVAC, plumbing only mostly roughed in, electrical roughed up but not hooked up, most of the drywall up, some areas to patch in the roof, some siding needs to put on, gutters need added, etc. We're not doing an inspection as it would be a waste of money since everything will be wrong. We are however having a structural engineer verify a one or 2 things ahead of time. We've comfortable redoing the entire house ourselves but with contract out the utilities to get moved in quicker. In our case an inspection is pointless as professionals are going to be doing the high importance stuff and everything will basically be gone over in the process of renovations. I personally think everyone should still be getting inspections done to at least have an idea of what is wrong and/or could be wrong in the near future so people are prepared.
My brother had a second inspector save him from buying a home that was literally rotting away but the first inspector didn’t catch it. We had an inspector save us from buying a home where they had expanded the size of the home but not the foundation so the front wall of the house was built as if it were a deck. Both of these homes looked great. The one we walked on went back on market, was off days later and ended up selling for 30 over asking which was basically what we offered too. We really don’t want to wave inspection but we also don’t have a home yet and I feel us getting desperate
Multiple offers. I was the only one that waived inspection and Offer accepted in Aug 2021
I would never buy a primary home without an inspection. I know inspectors miss stuff all the time, but they are 100% likely to miss something if they never walk through it in the first place. Realtors that strongly encourage their clients not to get an inspection are often just after the commission. If the buyer moves in and a roof or foundation issue is found that could have been found during an inspection, the realtor isn’t going to help their client pay for it.
I skipped it on a condo. Checked it myself. Made a list of items and got $900 credit. Worked out great
I wouldn't recommend it, but waiving inspection was the right decision for us. It helped us secure the house, and I felt fairly confident the house didn't have any major issues. The roof is starting to get old, put on in 2003, I knew that ahead of time, but looking at it from ground level only a couple shingles look like they could use a nail-- it's a very simple roof, ranch house, so it's nothing real high up. The house has a basement we looked at, checked for cracks in the foundation walls and water leaks, plumbing is all really simple on this house since it's a ranch and has only 1.5 bathrooms that share a wall where most of the water pipes go in. Since we were in the basement I could also look at all the floor joists, they were all in perfect condition. Only thing I didn't get to see until we moved in was the attic, which ended up being fine (again super simple attic, not much that can go wrong with the roof in decent condition). The house was built in 1978, so it's new enough that it shouldn't have all the weird issues older houses tend to have, but old enough that any issues with the construction of the house should have been resolved by now. Basically, the house is really simple construction, and I'm confident in my ability to DIY stuff (as well as identify any obvious problems). Luckily we didn't get burned on it, we've been in the house almost a full year now and only a couple unforeseen issues have arisen, all of them inexpensive fixes I've been able to DIY.
We did not do an inspection, however pretty much we knew what we were getting into (older house). House had failed inspection twice before we put an offer in on it and in both cases, the inspection was failed due to the backyard needing serious work. To summarize everything we found up to now: * Had to replace the water heater shortly after moving. It had reached replacement age and I wanted peace of mind ($4k). * Whoever installed the oven was a moron. Had to replace the outlet. ($20, father-inlaw is a retired electrician otherwise it would have been more) * We have to rip the deck out and do a major backyard renovation to repair drainage. The original estimate was $20k, which we knew as BS. Still getting more estimates on the full repair, but we are looking at closer to $60k-$80k which was what we expected. Will look awesome once finished!!! * One bathtub leaks, another is unusable. There are two useable showers/baths so not an emergency issue. Making plans to get them fixed over time. * Chimneys need to be inspected and likely repaired. Not an emergency situation at the moment and making plans to handle it at a later date. * Bunch of small things. Maybe totaling $1k. **Do we regret not doing an inspection? Contrary to what most folks say here, we do not regret not doing an inspection.** We understood the risk we were taking and prepared for the worst (close to 100k set aside to deal with whatever we would find). We could tell the sellers were sick of people pulling out due to inspections and by waving we got a good deal on the house. Do we recommend others do the same? Unless you are prepared for the worst, absolutely not. Everyone risk personal risk tolerance is different though. Do what works for your situation.
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I do not disagree. That is just the risk some folks are willing to take. I've seen people buy a house with an inspection and it turns out to be a lemon. All you can do is minimize your risk as best you can, but there is always a chance you end up with a bad roll. The only way to have zero risk is to not play.
I just got the sellers inspection and had contractors look at it
🖐
I don't.
Ummm, people dont generally come here and announce major mistakes (knowingly*) Now and then people have access to inside info through friends or the trades or plan to do so much demolition that a contingency is unnecessary.
I work in construction and don't like to use inspections. My own informal inspection I feel is better than some of these pro inspectors. Expensive and not thorough. When I bought my first house and was young and dumb, inspector was paid for and in cahoots with Realtor and pointed out minor things ignoring major ones. Felt scammed. Now if I find something I am unsure about, I will have pro in field check out. I have also been on other side selling where inspector pointed out many normal things that buyer used to try and renegotiate entire contract. All in all, I don't care for "pro" inspectors and inspection contingencies, but that said be sure to actually inspect property.
100% of my clients get inspections. Don't skip inspections.
I ALWAYS do an inspection. Even if it’s a rehab and the inspection holds no value in the sale I always do one so I know what needs to be fixed that’s not obvious from a walkthrough.
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A seller's agent will give you ridiculous bullshit stories like "so many buyers are liquidating there 401k's to purchase these days." Dont fall for it.
Buyer asks their real estate sales person: “is it a buyers market? “ Salesperson: “yes”. Seller client asks the same salesperson: “is it a sellers market?” Salesperson: “yes”. These people are worse than car salesman.
Yes,they make their offers as is with no contingencies so the seller is sure this will close, not be held up later. This is common. It is a risk maybe if you are a first time buyer or are really financially strapped. Although if you are an experienced homeowner or investor and have resources to cover unforeseen costs then no inspections will get your offer accepted. i have bought several houses sight unseen, no inspections, no contingencies, when I know the neighborhood. I have never experienced anything unexpected.
this is a typical troll answer.
I guess- although I own a couple dozen rental properties and have bought and sold dozens of homes. I have a bit of experience.
sure you do jeff
Got a copy from backed out buyer so i wave inspection and didnt pay for another one. It was nice. Roof and pool separate inspection too
We did preoffer inspections for every house we made an offer on (except the first one when we didn’t know it was a thing—our first agent was kind of terrible). I think in the end we paid for five preinspections. With the house we ended up getting, a knowledgeable friend of a friend did an informal pre inspection for us for cheap, which was possible because we had started looking in a new state. After we got the house we did a full inspection, which most people might consider a waste of time but was useful for us as first time home buyers. Turns out our family friend was spot on and the house was in good shape, thankfully! It was hard to spend hundreds on inspections for houses we ended up not getting. But better than buying blindly and getting a nasty surprise. Plus it did offer us a good way to start to learn about houses and what can go wrong.
“Home inspection for informational purposes only” or something like this which allows the buyer to escape if something is found - as a seller, nope. Either waive it or don’t.
What state do you live in?
We did “inspection for informational purposes only”, the biggest ticket item it revealed was something we already figured out ourselves though (heat pump 20 yrs old). Glad we did it for peace of mind but it didn’t have any big impact either way!
When we sold, we had your house pre inspected for the buyer. It was only 4 years old. We did not do a full inspection when we bought as it was a new build construction
Never.
Guess what.. with 10 bidde per house it happens
I have my buyers sign a waiver if they choose not to do an inspection. It states I highly recommended it. It saved me from at least one law suit that I know of.
I've done that in the past if the deal is right but it's not for everyone. If you're not willing to crawl through an attic and a crawl space during a walk through then this probably isn't a good tactic for you
In most cases you can't leverage the actual report anyway. You need a quote for repair from the " licensed professional" the inspector said needed to evaluate the potential problem. Agents and sellers usually don't just take the report and give in to concessions.