Estimated reading time: 7 minutes
In the current climate of real estate, some buyers are making a truly wild choice: they’re waiving home inspections. You’d think in a transaction as significant as buying a house—often the biggest investment of someone’s life—people would want all the information they can get. But instead, there’s a trend of skipping this crucial step, often due to a competitive market and desperation to land the deal. I’m here to tell you, as someone who’s been around the block in residential building and inspecting homes for decades, that waiving a home inspection is an absurd and risky gamble. And, yes, some are even arguing for laws to prevent buyers from being harmed this way.
A Free Country—But Freedom Has Consequences
Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m all about personal freedom. This is America, after all, and I believe if you want to buy a house without a professional looking at it, you should have that right. But it’s one thing to have the freedom to make a choice, and another to be wise about it. Much like you wouldn’t buy a car without having a mechanic take a look at it, or even agree to marry someone without knowing them—purchasing a home without an inspection is setting yourself up for some pretty big surprises down the road.
There’s a reason people like me have made careers out of inspecting homes: houses are complex. You can’t just walk around for a few minutes, glance at a few walls, and confidently declare it all clear. Problems with roofing, structural issues, plumbing leaks, and faulty electrical work—they’re not things that a buyer can identify without experience and training. The risk of jumping in without that knowledge can be financially devastating.
The COVID Surge: A Recipe for Disaster
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the real estate market went into overdrive. Properties were flying off the market faster than you could blink, and buyers were in a frenzy. To make offers more attractive, many people waived inspections entirely. It’s estimated that in 2020 and 2021, up to 30% of buyers skipped this crucial step. That translates to almost a billion dollars in lost revenue for home inspectors—but more importantly, it means thousands of buyers were stepping into homeownership blind.
Why? Because they were desperate, and desperate times make people do desperate things. Waiving inspections became a common practice, especially during bidding wars when buyers wanted to make their offers as clean and enticing as possible to sellers. And sellers loved it—no renegotiations, no contingencies, no delay in closing. It was a perfect storm, but one where the buyer often ended up standing in the rain.
When the Dream Turns Into a Nightmare
In the aftermath, many of those same buyers started to realize the gravity of their mistake. News stories began cropping up—people buying homes that, after closing, turned out to need six-figure repairs. Crumbling foundations, bad plumbing, and roofs that leaked like sieves. And what could they do? Nothing, because they waived their right to have a professional tell them the truth.
As an inspector, I’ve done plenty of post-purchase inspections for clients who waived contingencies. Often, the looks on their faces when I break down the issues are somewhere between frustration and sheer disbelief. They bought into the competitive frenzy and believed everything would be fine—only to learn that the home they’d imagined as their dream is now a money pit.
The Logic Behind Inspection Waivers
From a purely economic standpoint, sellers—and sometimes even agents—push the idea that waiving inspections makes an offer “cleaner.” There’s less risk of the sale falling through or of renegotiations based on the inspection report. But here’s the absurdity: buyers agree to waive inspections, essentially hoping there’s nothing wrong with a property they’ve hardly had a chance to evaluate.
It’s akin to buying a used car without test-driving it, without even popping the hood. Yet somehow, in the heat of a bidding war, buyers think, “What could go wrong?” Later, they’re shocked to find out about the very things a thorough inspection would have pointed out—things like broken HVAC units, unsafe wiring, or failing structural supports. It’s baffling.
Laws to Protect Buyers: A Step in the Right Direction?
In states like Massachusetts and New York, there have been legislative moves to protect buyers’ rights to inspections. For example, Massachusetts made it illegal for sellers to condition the acceptance of an offer on the buyer’s agreement to waive their inspection rights. The idea is that buyers should at least have the option to protect themselves without feeling pressured to forfeit it.
It’s not about mandating inspections, which would overstep into personal freedom territory, but about guaranteeing that buyers have the choice. This approach could serve as a model for other states, and frankly, I think it’s a much-needed adjustment. It doesn’t remove the right to make risky decisions—it just ensures that the buyer makes that decision free from undue pressure.
The “Crappy Inspector” Argument
Now, let’s address another point: some people believe the rise in waived inspections is partly because of the quality of the inspections themselves. Are there bad inspectors out there? Absolutely. Inconsistent standards, lack of experience, and varying degrees of thoroughness can all lead to a bad inspection experience. If a buyer had a previous encounter with an inspector who missed obvious problems, they might think the whole process is a waste of money. But here’s the thing—the existence of bad doctors doesn’t mean you swear off medicine altogether.
The real issue isn’t the inspection process itself, but the lack of regulation and consistency among inspectors. Buyers need to do their homework when hiring an inspector. Check credentials, read reviews, ask questions. A good home inspection is invaluable, and if buyers skip it because they’ve heard horror stories about ‘bad inspectors,’ then they’re doing themselves a disservice.
The False Sense of Urgency
A lot of this comes down to urgency. People feel they need to rush. The fear of missing out on the “perfect” home leads them to make irrational choices. But the truth is, no matter how hot the market, the long-term costs of a bad decision far outweigh the short-term gains of winning a bidding war.
Imagine moving into a home that you stretched your budget to buy, only to find out within a month that the electrical system is so outdated it’s a fire hazard, or the HVAC is on its last leg. Suddenly, the “great deal” you landed turns into a financial sinkhole. It’s madness, and it’s largely preventable.
What Needs to Change?
So, what’s the solution? It’s not just about educating buyers—though that certainly helps. It’s about changing the perception and practices within the industry:
- Pre-Listing Inspections: Sellers should be encouraged to get their homes inspected before putting them on the market. This shifts the burden and removes the time pressure from the buyer.
- Legislative Protection: More states should consider laws similar to those in Massachusetts, ensuring that buyers always have the right to an inspection.
- Industry Standards: We need better regulation and higher standards for inspectors. Consistency in quality can restore faith in the inspection process.
- Agent Accountability: Real estate agents have a role in this too. A good agent should guide their buyer towards making informed decisions, not push them to waive critical contingencies just to speed up a deal.
The Bottom Line
At the end of the day, buying a home is not just about winning a bid—it’s about buying a safe, secure place to live. Skipping an inspection because it makes your offer “more attractive” to the seller is a gamble that puts you, the buyer, at risk. The cost of a home inspection is small compared to the price of discovering major defects after the deal has closed.
If you want to waive your right to a home inspection, that’s your choice. But don’t do it because you think it’s your only option. In this competitive market, we need to work towards a balance—one that allows buyers to be competitive without being reckless, and sellers to feel secure without forcing buyers to take unnecessary risks.
Remember, a home isn’t just a product; it’s where you’ll build your life. It deserves a thorough look before you make that leap.
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