Termite hold harmless?

[Jesse Hodges]

The owner of a single family home I was going to place an offer for in Alabama is asking me to sign a hold harmless. It states because there is less then 18 inches to access underneath the house, an inspector will not be able to provide a wood infestation report and therefore the seller will not be held responsible for any wood damage in the house. Is this common/reasonable to sign? I feel like knowing if the house has termites is a big part of getting a home inspection and knowing if it has large underlying issues. Thoughts?

[Jon Reed]

Remember @Jesse Hodges, termite inspection is just one of many issues you will have if you have a house that has utilities running in a crawl space that has no access point. Also, when you go to sell it one day you will have this exact same issue again but this time you will be the seller who is unable to find a buyer for the property. Focus in on houses that are discounted for a reason that you can fix like roofs, vandalism, poor upkeep, or just ugly... you will be able to improve those features and increase the value of the home... you will not see an ROI on jacking up the entire house 24" so that you have a crawl space.