Anyone Ever waive inspection contingency?

[Greg Todrank]

I was in a multi offer situation on my most recent property. My realtor called with a suggestion that may move me ahead of the others — waive the inspection contingency.

Spoiler alert: I did and have it under contract.

Was it smart? Here is my logic…

1. It is an owner occupied duplex with an elderly couple living downstairs and their daughter living upstairs. It is well maintained.

2. The walkthrough was thorough.

3. I weighed the pros and cons of anything the inspection may have found. What could have been found that would get me to back out of the deal?

4. Roof is recently replaced.

5. They are moving to a single story house due to need, not because the property is trouble.

I understand waiving if you are going to BRRRR, but this is lipstick and rent (hopefully).

Thoughts?

[Jim K.]

@Greg Todrank

Your realtor's probably not looking out for you. If you are a residential building professional and can reliably do your own home inspections, sure, it's a good idea. If not, it's a bad idea. Let's look at your list.

1. "It is well maintained." Or does it just look "well-maintained" to your untrained eyes? Are you familiar with the saying, "A little caulk and a little paint make a carpenter what he ain't"?

2. What exactly is a thorough walkthrough? Show us your snagging checklist. Do you have one?

3. There are a whole host of things that could completely screw you on any given property. Do you know them all? I certainly don't. How many years of experience do you have in the building industry, and doing what?

4. Was the roof replaced competently (if at all), or are you going to be doing it again soon? What's your methodology for determining the quality of the roofing replacement? Have you actually done any roofing?

5. Do you always have the faith of a priest in Christ in the explanations of people who are trying to sell you something that costs a lot of money?

I do make no-contingency offers on some properties. These are always properties of a specific variety and build that I am very familiar with as a handyman. I have bought multiple up-and-down duplexes with no inspections. I can only with difficulty imagine better ways to go broke than doing it without the benefit of years of experience and study behind me.

Even with my experience, I recently bought a single-family with no inspection contingency that was supposed to be lipstick and rent. It turned into four months of lipstick on a pig. The former owner, a bank clerk, had spent THREE YEARS painstakingly covering over every single problem with a trowel and paintbrush before he sold it. My four months were spent in a dirty little campaign to try to uncover everything he screwed up, from a complex sewage leak in the slab to a soilstack busted in three places to a live 240V wire taped and left open, outside a junction box, in the basement joists. I had to replace both toilets, a vanity, and do a new surround around the existing tub.

If I hadn't been able to fix it all myself, it would have been an additional $10K or so added to the purchase price.