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With increased buying competition over the last couple of years, it was not uncommon for buyers to try whatever they could in hopes to put in the one offer that stood out against all of the others on a home they wanted. One of the most common of these strategies became waiving the inspection contingency.Is a Pre-Buy Inspection a Good Way to Hack the Inspection Contingency

The most trustworthy of advice through the ages when purchasing a home has been to make sure you have a reputable and experienced inspector look over the property before you sign on the dotted line to purchase it. This is smart advice. Waiving the inspection contingency should not be a decision stepped into hastily by a majority of buyers.

For the year 2021 records show that over 21% of accepted offers on homes had waived the home inspection contingency clause. This is data supplied by the website Redfin. To give some context to how many more people are waiving inspection contingencies right now, Redfin reports this number was at just 13% for the year 2019.

If you are feeling the pressure to take the risk of waiving your inspection contingency on a traditional home purchase offer there can be a way to help lessen some of the uncertainty of not holding the homeowner accountable for any issues wrong with the home. The most popular way to do this is by bringing a contractor or home inspector with you when you first go to tour the home with your agent. This is being deemed as the new form of a pre-buy inspection.

How a pre-buy inspection could help

When you hire a professional inspector to come to take a home tour with you, this will be all out-of-pocket cost. If you were to include the inspection contingency in your offer contract you would still be paying for the professional inspection out-of-pocket anyway. The difference here becomes in taking the risk of not negotiating any issue with the property with the homeowner. It could be a possibility for home shoppers looking specifically for homes they plan to put renovation money into any way to purchase a home more competitively.

Another risk you take with this method is making sure that you can pin down a professional able to walk through a home in time before other offers come in and the home is sold.

Even if you waive the contingency, you can still conduct an inspection during the due diligence process

Waiving the inspection contingency on your purchase offer does not mean that you do not have the right to have an inspector come and look at the property. It simply means you are waiving the ability to back out on the purchase if something is found within the inspection report.

It is always best to leave the inspection contingency in a purchase contract. If you feel that you have done your homework and are on the safer side and able to waive the contingency it is better to have one of the above hacks planned and in place with the help of an expert real estate professional.

For more information on professional home inspection in the Champaign area please contact us anytime.

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