Here’s why waiving the home inspection when buying is a bad idea.
Home inspections are a fun topic for me to discuss, especially in a hot seller’s market. Right now, many people are buying homes and waiving an array of contingencies, including the home inspection. However, waiving the home inspection isn’t a great idea.
When you view a home, particularly in a hot market, you only spend 10 to 20 minutes in it, and you might get to see it twice if you’re lucky. In that short time, you’re not turning faucets on, looking under the sink, getting on the roof, or carefully checking out the crawl space. Also, if a home hasn’t been on the market much, it hasn’t benefited from recent inspections, so there may be major issues the seller doesn’t know about.
The home inspection is always crucial because, if nothing else, it gives you a baseline on all the systems in the home and a checklist of things you might need to do in both the short and long term. I usually don’t recommend that buyers waive the inspection unless they plan on tearing down the home. We may tell the seller that we won’t ask for repairs, but not doing an inspection could result in huge problems that may change the value of the home because it’ll cost you more than you thought.
When you work with us, you have access to all my trusted advisors, including inspectors. We’ll give you a list of all the licensed inspectors in Oregon and the few we work with very closely. You’re always entitled to use whoever you want, but my criteria for an excellent inspector is one that’s responsive and provides a report in a timely fashion.
If you have any questions relating to home inspections, including if you’re a seller considering pre-inspecting your home, give us a shout via phone or email. Let us work on a strategy with you.
