Home Buyers Skipping Home Inspection?

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Apr 9, 2008
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Location
Central NY
Looking to replace the sh---y swamp shack. We're done with the constant flooding, muddy yard, constant major work on the house, wolf spider infestation, mosquitos ... I can keep going.

Our mortgage advisor was saying that a lot of people are skipping the home inspection in the current environment. Is that happening for a lot of people?

I'll start by saying I've been burnt by a home inspector. I am also seeing a lot of people online saying they've also been burnt by home inspectors missing major issues.

I don't have a high opinion of home inspectors after everything that was missed on my current house.
  1. Missing load bearing foundation wall in crawlspace
  2. Jumpered breaker in panel
  3. Bootleg grounds
  4. Venting system for plumbing was capped off (not functional at all)
  5. Every single floorjoist being rotten along with most sub floor - he actually said there were only one or two rotten joists
  6. Rotten rim joist - again, this was noted as being in good shape ... was definitely not
  7. Plumbing issues that should have been very obvious
  8. Garage below grade

Unfortunately, the last five years have made me quite a bit more versed in home repairs that I'd like to be. Plumbing, electrical, structural ... all stuff that i never really cared to know about I now know about. I'm pretty confident that I can do what the home inspector does - that is, identify the type of siding, plug a cheap harbor freight outlet tester in, etc

After doing repairs to every major system on my home, I can identify issues ahead of time. I've been able to find issues for friends on their homes as well and advise on repair as I've had to do that.

From what I have heard from others, the home inspector is a way to back out of a house if something else pops up and get your deposit refunded. Well I don't think we feel comfortable buying it, one of the outlets in the bathroom closet is installed upside down!!

Any thoughts on this?
 
If it is happening, then I can't see why this would not be in your favor. Good luck!

FWIW I sold mine pre-pandemic and the buyer didn't do an inspection. I was doing an as-is sale anyhow, had it priced to sell, and did not have issues.

What do you have to lose by trying?
 
Depends on the market. In a hot market buyers are afraid to miss out on a deal of they want a home inspection. Home inspections is a bit of a racket. They're usually not a disinterested third party. They are NOT experts in everything they inspect and routinely incorrectly make claims that something is or is not an issue.

Typically the seller will repair some or all of the relevant issues and the transaction goes through.
 
The buyers home inspection on my house sale didn't even have a ladder. Used a drone to look at the roof. I was glad I didn't have to pay for it.
 
It would certainly be up to the buyer to inspect or not. I’d never purchase a home without one. You could list ‘as is’ and price it to match. Of course I understand you want all you can get out of it as would anyone. We’ve moved A LOT and always have an inspection done. I agree inspectors are not all equal. We’ve had bad inspections on both sides but also some good ones. Some inspectors are extremely thorough and some just check the boxes and collect their check. Our current home was inspected by a real bum. Missed MANY obvious things I would have absolutely had addressed by the sellers. Some inspectors go too far and nit pick small things. So you never know. I think the market has slowed since this past summer. At that time houses were definitely selling quickly and people skipping inspections and appraisals, paying cash and WAY WAY over asking. Few of the houses in my neighborhood went 50k to 75k over list. People are nuts.
 
The key is picking a good one. I've run into a few bad ones that aren't recommended by any real estate agents and that's for a reason. The ones I use use to be licensed contractors so they actually know how to build a house. Not a requirement to be license as a home inspector. Some other states might be more lax in licensing.
 
The key is picking a good one. I've run into a few bad ones that aren't recommended by any real estate agents and that's for a reason. The ones I use use to be licensed contractors so they actually know how to build a house. Not a requirement to be license as a home inspector. Some other states might be more lax in licensing.

The one I used last time was absolutely terrible. Real eager to sell a Radon test. I thought that was a 90s fad that passed


The buyers home inspection on my house sale didn't even have a ladder. Used a drone to look at the roof. I was glad I didn't have to pay for it.
When I bought this house the home inspector didn't check the roof. The sellers told him the roof was new in 2013 and he believed them.
The roof is actually new as of 2013, I actually have a picture of the roof getting replaced so I believe it. But still - he didn't check
 
True in our local market.
Most homes are ending up in a fierce bidding war and going almost 20-25% above price. Some homes do not even end up being listed. After learning that people are willing to pay so much AND skipping home inspections (buying them 'as is'), we decided to step back. We are in no rush to buy a house.
 
True in our local market.
Most homes are ending up in a fierce bidding war and going almost 20-25% above price. Some homes do not even end up being listed. After learning that people are willing to pay so much AND skipping home inspections (buying them 'as is'), we decided to step back. We are in no rush to buy a house.

Unfortunately I've spent the last 4 months under water here. Just tired of dealing with the constant flooding.
 
Just went through this with a friend. First, it depends on the inspector, and then it depends on the type of inspection you, as the buyer are willing to pay for. Down here, the typical 4 point inspection costs about $100.00, not bad, but he only looks for code violations, such as outlawed breaker panels and GFCI location. Roof inspection and (in the case of trailers) under floor inspection is part of a 5 or more point inspection, which undoutedly costs more. Her 1978 (!) built house trailer passed with flying colors, even though I spotted a few problems right away.
After all that is said and documented, it is still up to the seller to be willing to fix the issue, unless it's a safety hazard.

I'm not a fan of home inspectors, and didn't use one when I bought this home. Part of my reasoning was that it was built in 1994 so entrance panel was good, and the seller had documents on roof and other repairs. Further, the home insurance company didn't have issues, so we were good.
Minor issues did show up afterwards, like a small faucet leak after use, but that's it.
 
Just sold my father's home in October to settle his estate. It was in good shape but needed updating. I listed it "as is". I had three offers and each one waived a home inspection. It sold in five days and I was very happy with the offer.

Home inspectors will nit pick over little stuff to make it appear they are earning their keep. They usually will not bring up big items which can hurt the sale. Reason being, they don't want to upset any realtors, get a bad reputation, lose future business and referrals from any realtors.
 
We skipped a home inspection, but had dad’s contractor friend come out to take a look at it.

Most of the time they find stupid stuff. Oh, that switch in the closet needs a cover plate.. the drywall here needs touched up. I’ve never heard of one getting on the roof or into a crawl space either.
 
Looking to replace the sh---y swamp shack. We're done with the constant flooding, muddy yard, constant major work on the house, wolf spider infestation, mosquitos ... I can keep going.

Our mortgage advisor was saying that a lot of people are skipping the home inspection in the current environment. Is that happening for a lot of people?

I'll start by saying I've been burnt by a home inspector. I am also seeing a lot of people online saying they've also been burnt by home inspectors missing major issues.

I don't have a high opinion of home inspectors after everything that was missed on my current house.
  1. Missing load bearing foundation wall in crawlspace
  2. Jumpered breaker in panel
  3. Bootleg grounds
  4. Venting system for plumbing was capped off (not functional at all)
  5. Every single floorjoist being rotten along with most sub floor - he actually said there were only one or two rotten joists
  6. Rotten rim joist - again, this was noted as being in good shape ... was definitely not
  7. Plumbing issues that should have been very obvious
  8. Garage below grade

Unfortunately, the last five years have made me quite a bit more versed in home repairs that I'd like to be. Plumbing, electrical, structural ... all stuff that i never really cared to know about I now know about. I'm pretty confident that I can do what the home inspector does - that is, identify the type of siding, plug a cheap harbor freight outlet tester in, etc

After doing repairs to every major system on my home, I can identify issues ahead of time. I've been able to find issues for friends on their homes as well and advise on repair as I've had to do that.

From what I have heard from others, the home inspector is a way to back out of a house if something else pops up and get your deposit refunded. Well I don't think we feel comfortable buying it, one of the outlets in the bathroom closet is installed upside down!!

Any thoughts on this?
We bought our house early/mid summer. In our market here you won't purchase a house if you insist on an inspection. It's just become accepted that you're not getting one.
 
Just list it as is. No harm in trying. If it is priced right it will sell or you actually may wind up with a bidding war. FWIW...the home inspectors in my area are very professional and do a good job of inspecting. A few years ago some were iffy but I think that licensing and litigation has run off the bums.
 
It was still normal to get an inspection when I bought my house in summer 2020, but I could see how that may have changed. You could still buy a car then too.

I personally would prefer an inspection just to have some kind of documentation on the home's condition. The report I got was pretty extensive and there were pictures to go along with each thing noted. I'm glad I got it and it pointed out some things I (still) need to fix.

The big thing the inspection missed was a leak in the pan of an original 1960 tiled "cave" shower. That was a big one, but not easy to find since you had to run the shower several minutes before the leak would show up, and the part of the crawlspace it was over was difficult to access. When the shower was redone one of the guys working on it said he guessed it had probably been leaking to some extent for 30 years. They had to sister floor joists and all that. As bad as it was, I wasn't mad at the home inspector because it was a really weird thing to catch. I figured it out because I heard a faint sound of water dripping on an HVAC duct after I would take a shower.
 
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