Desperate Homebuyers Forgoing Inspections To Try To Get Ahead In Tri-State Area's Competitive Housing Market
TOTOWA, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- Buying homes is so competitive lately, it's leading to desperate tactics.
Properties are getting multiple offers right away, so more buyers are agreeing to skip some important steps to give their bids a better chance.
In our area's red-hot housing markets, prices rise and competition is fierce.
Hoping to make money and make a move is Paul Cevallos, a data scientist and married father of two who lives in Totowa.
"My intention is to buy a bigger house," Cevallos told CBS2's Dave Carlin. "Keep simultaneously looking while trying to sell your property ... You have to work them both in tandem."
Because some homes sell in what seems like seconds, real estate experts see what they call a troubling trend. Homebuyers are so desperate, they choose to forgo inspections, purchasing sight unseen, as is, to get their bids chosen.
"The reason they're doing it is frustration. They're tired of losing out," said realtor Ron Aiosa, with Keller Williams Prosperity Realty.
Aiosa says those who sign away their rights to inspections move in and then might discover dangerously old plumbing, a bad roof, a faulty furnace or worse.
"Do a tank sweep. Find out whether or not there was ever a tank in the ground or there's currently a tank in the ground," he said.
The experts say it's your right to get these inspections, from rooftops to foundations, where huge problems can be hiding where you can't see.
Favio Ulloa, of Prestige Pest Services, says he's seeing buyers' remorse.
"They're calling for the inspection after the fact, and we're finding insects and damages," he said. "It could turn into maybe $25,000, $50,000, even $200,000 or even more. It depends how much damages we have."
He says don't risk it.
Better to lose the bid, not live in a lemon that winds up costs you big money to fix.