Should I Still Get a Home Inspection?

[Timothy A.]

Hi everyone!

I just opened escrow on my first property! It's a 3 unit, single building home and I am super excited about it. It's an old 1910 California craftsman style home with 2700 sqft in a historic neighborhood. It was previously used solely for rentals, but I plan to live in the downstairs unit and will rent out the 2 upstairs units. Unfortunately, this property needs a lot of work. It's in pretty bad shape cosmetically and my father-in-law (general contractor) estimated ~$50k-$60k in repairs from his quick walk through of the house (mainly cost of materials since he's family).

My question is, would it still be a good idea to get a home inspection performed? My father-in-law seems to think it's a waste of money since we'll be doing extensive renovations to the home anyway. But I figure a professional home inspector going through every facet of the house may catch some things that my father-in-law wouldn't have caught upon his initial walk through. Any particular thoughts on the matter?