Should You Waive Your Home Inspection When Buying a Home in 2026?

Over the last several years, a lot of homebuyers waived their home inspection to make their offers more competitive, and it is one of the riskiest moves a buyer can make. According to reporting on the recent seller's market and the new state laws that followed it, some home inspectors estimated that up to 80 percent of homes in their area were closing without any inspection at the height of the bidding wars. The market has calmed, the pressure has eased, and in most cases a buyer no longer needs to give up the protection to win a home.

Watch on YouTube • Browse every Daily Tesla News episode

How common was it for buyers to waive the home inspection?

According to reporting from the height of the recent seller's market, some home inspectors estimated that up to 80 percent of homes in their area were closing without any inspection. Buyers competing in bidding wars felt pressured to remove every contingency they could, and the inspection was often the first to go. The consequences became common enough that lawmakers took notice: buyer's remorse, repair bills nobody budgeted for, and disputes with sellers after closing. That estimate comes from inspectors in specific hot markets, not a national count, so the real share varied widely by area, but the direction was clear. Waiving went from a rare last resort to a routine tactic.

What does the Massachusetts home inspection law actually do?

As of October 15, 2025, Massachusetts became the first state to ban sellers and their agents from conditioning the acceptance of an offer on the buyer waiving the home inspection. The law does not make inspections mandatory. A buyer can still choose to skip one. What it does is protect the buyer's right to have an inspection without being pressured out of it, and it keeps a seller from ranking offers based on who gave that right up. It is a narrow protection, not a requirement, and it only applies in Massachusetts. Buyers in other states are still free to waive, and sellers elsewhere can still favor offers that do.

Is New York passing a law against home inspection waivers?

Not yet. New York has introduced a bill similar to the Massachusetts law, but as of this episode it has not passed. That means sellers and their agents in New York can still weigh an offer that waives the inspection more favorably than one that keeps it. Buyers should not assume they have a legal protection that does not exist here. It also helps to know how deals usually work in New York City: the offer is accepted first, and the buyer typically inspects before the attorneys finalize and sign the contract. That gap is exactly the window a buyer gives up when they agree to skip the inspection.

What does a home inspection check, and what does it miss?

A home inspection is a visual evaluation by a licensed professional before you are contractually locked in. It covers the roof, foundation, plumbing, electrical, heating and cooling, and signs of water damage, mold, and pests. It lets you make an informed decision: move forward, renegotiate for repairs or a credit, or walk away. There are limits worth knowing. A standard inspection is non-invasive, so the inspector will not open walls, and some of the most expensive problems need separate tests, such as a sewer line camera scope or an oil tank sweep. Ask your inspector what is included and add the specialty checks the house calls for.

What can it cost to skip the home inspection?

A professional inspection usually costs a few hundred dollars. The defects it is designed to catch can cost tens of thousands. A cracked foundation, a failing roof, a collapsed sewer line, or a buried oil tank all become the buyer's responsibility the moment the deal closes. When you waive the inspection you are effectively buying blind. To be fair to the other side, waiving did help some buyers win homes in bidding wars, and some buyers with construction experience or a planned gut renovation accept the risk knowingly. For most buyers, though, the math is lopsided: a small, certain cost against a large, uncertain one.

How should Staten Island and Brooklyn buyers handle the inspection in a calmer market?

Keep it. Many local buyers waived inspections out of fear of losing the home in an ultra competitive market, and that pressure has largely eased. You can write a strong offer and still protect yourself: lead with a clean price, a solid pre-approval, a flexible closing date, and a short inspection window rather than none at all. On Staten Island and in Brooklyn, where much of the housing stock is decades old, the usual suspects are older roofs, aging sewer laterals, and oil tanks at homes that converted to gas, so a sewer scope and a tank sweep are often worth adding. Do not let anyone talk you out of your most important protection.

Questions about how this affects your home in Staten Island or Brooklyn? Work with Joseph Ranola, or text or call (917) 905-2541. New episodes of Daily Tesla News break down the NYC real estate stories that move the market.