Making Tweaks

Some of the earliest houses we bid on back in August are closing now, so we can see the details of what offers beat ours. The one that needed serious cleaning after horrific tenants - we'd bid $380K with $15K back in closing costs; the house closed at $377K, nothing back, and inspection waived. There was a huge tree growing under the patio that had buckled the concrete, headed for the foundation, and they waived inspection?

I review with F., making sure I'm clear on the difference between waiving inspection (which means you take the house with all its faults, big or little) and "as is," (meaning you can still inspect, but you give up your right to negotiate if something big is wrong - and most importantly, if something big is wrong, you can withdraw your offer). I don't think we'll ever be desperate enough to waive inspection, though we will start considering adding "as is" to our offers, since we're seeing that on most of our competitors' offers.

The Husband owned a house years ago in Missouri, and this is not the way the world worked there. I'm finding it difficult to stir up enthusiasm to look at any houses this week. Cynicism reigns supreme.