Should You Pass on the Home Inspection?
By Jim Palmer Jr.

 In a recent real estate transaction a buyer was convinced by their broker to pass on the home inspection so they could present an offer to the seller that was more streamlined than the competition. The buyer was aware of the possibility of other offers coming in that would directly compete with their offer, so they deleted the home inspection contingency from their offer and won the bidding war. Months after the closing, the disgruntled buyer made contact with the seller and their broker and threatened a lawsuit if they didn’t replace and repair some of the broken items they had discovered by living in their newly acquired home.

This scenario plays out constantly in the world of real estate sales, even though it could be avoided by simply completing a thorough home inspection. In my opinion, buyers should never purchase a home without a home inspection. It is also my opinion that a seller should never delete that contingency in a counter offer, because that process insulates the seller from liability. Sellers should be wary of the liability created when a buyer voluntarily skips that important investigation process. The inspection process reveals obvious and hidden defects, allowing the buyer to terminate or continue their purchase with their eyes wide open.

Qualified inspectors routinely inspect every aspect of a property including structure, systems, appliances and general condition. They provide detailed analysis of the inspection for the buyer, including colored photographs of deficient items in a highlighted summary.

At that juncture in the transaction the buyer has three options: 1) Proceed to closing despite knowledge of defective items. 2) Ask the seller to repair, replace or compensate for defective items, or 3) Walk away from the deal unscathed.

In the real-life case described above, the buyer is truly wasting their time, money and energy by seeking damages when they had every opportunity to ask for an inspection and could have sweetened their offer in safer ways than deleting the inspection process. Unless the buyer can clearly present evidence that the seller fraudulently concealed defects by not disclosing items that they should have reasonably been aware of, the buyer will more than likely come up empty in their efforts to shift the blame to the seller.

That old Latin term, Caveat Emptor, which means that buyer alone is responsible for checking the quality and suitability of goods before a purchase, is still very relevant when purchasing real estate.