Buyers beware: many realty experts advise against waiving home inspections

VERONA, Wis. (WMTV) - Chances are, if you are looking for a home right now, you may have to offer over asking price. Many people working in the realty field are warning buyers against waiving home inspections.

Right now, some buyers are not paying for them, to make their offer more appealing to the seller, but experts recommend the opposite.

“I would consider it scary for someone to go into, waiving that home inspection,” Verona Homeowner Kevin Trost said. Trost and his wife had an inspection before closing on their home. However, that report missed many undisclosed problems that came up years later, after a storm.

[”Water] was leaking into the structure of the house,” Trost said.

A professional cleared water out of their basement but detected 80% of moisture in the walls.

“He said, ‘I think you have bigger problems than the basement,’ and that’s what really started us down the road of finding out what was truly wrong,” Trost said.

After a second look, Trost and his wife realized they had purchased a house with severe water damage, mold and issues with the structure and roof. it cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars and years to repair.

“There’s so limited inventory out there, so many homebuyers that want to get into a home,” Dennis Catencamp, Madison-area home inspector and former realtor said.

Catencamp has seen clients offer up to $80,000 over asking price, others give up inspections and some walk away entirely after a negative result.

“You’re taking that big risk and there are thousands of dollars that could be thrown away at your expense not having that home inspection done prior to closing,” Catencamp said.

For some people, it is a risk they can afford to take.

However, Trost says after his experience with a faulty inspection, he doesn’t recommend new homeowners willingly make the decision to forgo.

“I’ve been there myself and it’s not fun. It can be a long arduous process, not only for dealing with the problem with the house itself, but the legal ramifications of the undisclosed defects that you may find,” Trost said.

After handing legal matters with his own home, Trost became an attorney, in realty litigation, assisting other buyers with similar problems.