I Broke This Cardinal Rule When Buying a House. Here's Why I Don't Regret It

When you're buying a house, it's very important to remember that you're making a major financial commitment. You don't want to accidentally buy a property with a ton of problems and drain your bank account by having to make repairs as soon as you move in.

To avoid this fate, you'll almost always want to make any offer to purchase a home contingent on a satisfactory inspection. While mortgage lenders don't usually require this as a mandate, home buyers should because an inspection can turn up issues that are expensive to fix. Making an offer contingent upon, or conditioned upon, a satisfactory inspection gives buyers the chance to either negotiate for money off the price or walk away without losing a deposit if something is very wrong.

Although it's almost never a good idea to waive inspection, I did exactly that when I purchased my home recently -- and I don't regret it. Here's why.

An inspection wasn't needed in this situation

When I purchased my new home recently, there were a few simple reasons why I did not make my offer conditioned upon a home inspection.

• I was planning to do a gut remodel of the house anyway. The home had been in foreclosure for a very long time before it was purchased by some investors I was trying to buy it from. There were tons of known problems with the home, from a bad roof to moldy cabinets in the kitchen. I didn't need an inspector to tell me it needed major fixes, since it was obvious those fixes had to be made.
• My contractors had been through the house. The sellers allowed us to bring professionals through to give us an estimate on remodeling costs, so I already knew how much money I was likely to be out to address the issues.
• I wanted my offer to be as strong as possible. The house had been listed for rent, not for sale, and I wanted to convince the investors to sell it to me despite that.

Ultimately, I was able to get my offer accepted, I am almost done with my remodel, and I have no regrets.

Should you waive an inspection?

If you do not make your offer to buy a home contingent on an inspection, you are putting yourself in a very high-risk position. A lot could be wrong with the house that isn't visible to the naked eye (unlike in my case, where you could see the damaged shingles and dirty cabinets). And if you don't have the chance to have a professional go through before you commit to buying, you could face some nasty surprises after your mortgage closes and you move in.

It's true an offer without an inspection contingency is usually considered a stronger one because there's less chance of the deal falling through or the price being renegotiated. But this is a risk you simply cannot take on unless you're planning for a complete remodel job anyway. The average price of a new roof is $10,000, and that's just one of many expenses you may have to take on.

Outside of very specific circumstances, like my situation, you should not take the risk that you'll find out after the fact that major portions of the house need to be redone. Get that inspection and follow this cardinal rule, unless there's a very good reason not to.