Only 28% of Americans who planned to buy a home last year were able to successfully do so. For many, it’s a stressful competitive process, and one thing getting in the way for some is a decision that is recommended as the smart thing to do – a home inspection.
Licensed home inspectors have been seen as a safe bet to ensure your investment is a smart one — that any potential problems like roof decay, plumbing issues, or structural cracks are identified and possibly corrected before the sale. But a growing trend has seen would-be buyers getting their chances at homeownership shot down because they want a home inspection.
“It used to be more than five years ago, that most of the time when a buyer bought a house, they did get an inspection. But as the market has been super competitive for the last five years, it has been less, fewer buyers that are getting those inspections,” said Kelly Spurlock, president of the Buffalo Niagara Association of Realtors.
The National Association of Realtors began tracking home inspection rates during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the residential real estate market saw massive buyer demand and price spikes. In April 2021, the percentage of homebuyers who waived inspection was 25% and peaked at 30% in June of 2022. After a short dip, that number currently is back on the rise.
“It can make your offer more competitive. It can make it look better to a seller," said Spurlock. "So if you're in a competitive bid, a buyer may sometimes choose to drop the inspection in hopes that they would win the bid.”
Spurlock said sellers often look for bids that waive a home inspection, because it could turn up issues in the home that would adjust final sale price, or timeline. Still she said, standard advice remains at getting one, and even then there are options.
“if you're not able to get an inspection into the offer that you make, sometimes you can do an inspection even before you place the bid with the seller's permission, or you could do an inspection right after closing," Spurlock said. "So, you know, even though you already own the house, at least they can highlight if there's any issues that need to be addressed so they don't become major concerns. There's also home warranties you can purchase."
No law in New York currently exists that prevents a seller from making the waiving of a home inspection a condition for sale. A bill was introduced by then-Assemblymember Monica Wallace last year, but it failed to gain support in Albany.
