I would assume anything requiring a permit or inspection at the city would need to be done by licensed contractors

I'm down here on the coast, I was able to get home and WDIR inspections done last week.  

. $5,000 over asking, no inspection requests for individual items below $2,000 (a no-nit-picking clause), and the lender agreed he could close in 22 days.

They're still inspecting large commercial "essential" projects though. #2 contractors are having a tough time convincing their workers and subs to show up.Personally as a plumbing and heating contractor I want to limit my exposure to absolute emergencies only for existing customers.

Valuation applications are better than they were in the past, but don't take them as gospel and 100% accurate.I've seen online appraisals vary by almost 10-20% (think Zestimate) for the same property, whereas physical appraisals tend to group closer together.I think valuing properties is still done best by the old-school method of physically inspecting a property and the neighborhood it is in to generate a value for it.

Inspection date Nov 18, 2019.

At any phase of construction you are going to get to a point where you will need to have an inspection whether it be for your framing, your rough-in, or your final.

So we are doing deals with cash buyers, no inspection contingencies, and (ahem) pretty low offers.

We got a property inspection which helped us negotiate.

Had to do an HVAC inspection per city inspection (sec 8)  they charged me $350 and the city did not accept their HVAC inspection  so I had to call one myself because of time sensitivity.