In the heat of a bidding war I waived my inspection contingency to make my offer more competitive. Won the house but now that ive moved in im finding issues everywhere. The water heater is on its last legs, theres evidence of old water damage in the basement, and one of the HVAC units makes a weird noise. I know i cant do anything about it now legally but just wondering if others have been in this situation. How bad can it get?
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Been there. Waived inspection in 2020 when the market was insane. Found out later the roof was way worse than expected and the septic needed pumping. Ended up spending about 15k in the first year on stuff that an inspection would have caught. Lesson learned the expensive way.
15k is around what im mentally preparing for. did you consider legal action at all?
talked to a lawyer but they said waiving the inspection basically means you accepted the house as-is. unless the seller actively concealed something, theres no recourse. expensive lesson in not letting FOMO drive major decisions
For anyone reading this as a cautionary tale - you can still get an inspection even if you waive the contingency. You just cant back out based on what you find. But at least youd know what youre getting into. Some of my clients do 'informational only' inspections in competitive markets.
wish id known this before. would have at least been mentally prepared
The silver lining - now you know the house and can prioritize fixes. Water heaters are cheap, HVAC noise might be a $200 capacitor or just needs servicing. The old water damage is only a problem if its ongoing. Get everything assessed one by one, it might not be as bad as it feels right now.
youre right, im probably catastrophizing. going to make a list and get quotes instead of spiraling
Every house has problems, inspection or not. My neighbor got a full inspection and still spent 20k on stuff in year one that wasnt caught. At least you have a house - in that market a lot of people were priced out entirely. Budget for repairs, tackle them one at a time, and enjoy your home.
reading this thread as a buyer currently house hunting. the market has calmed down now and im making sure to include inspection contingency on every offer. not worth the risk even if it means losing a house. OP i hope everything worked out - would love an update on how the repairs went if youre still around
OP here with an update since a few people asked. So we ended up spending about 11k total in the first year. Water heater replacement was 1,400, the HVAC noise turned out to be a bad inducer motor ($475 for the repair), and the basement water damage... yeah that one hurt. Turned out there was an active leak from a failed sump pump discharge line that had been slowly soaking the wall for who knows how long. Remediation and repair came to about $7,800. Looking back would I still have waived the inspection? Honestly no. An inspection probably would have caught the sump pump issue and saved us the worst of it. The water heater and HVAC stuff we could have budgeted for. But i also wouldnt have gotten this house without waiving so its complicated. We love the house, we're past the worst of the surprise costs, and now i tell everyone i know to never skip the inspection no matter what.