I know everyone here stressed how invaluable a good inspection is. I bought a house last July and I don't think we even got a home inspection. My question is, if you're going to buy the house anyways then what's the point? Isn't the home inspection done right before closing?
So what if the guy tells me I need new windows, roof, HVAC.. I'll figure it out at some point anyways. What am I missing here?
I think that its been mentioned, but if your inspection says that there are $10,000 roof repairs around the corner, you can use that as leverage to knock some money off the sale price, or get some other concession from the seller.
Also, in my case, I had a good real estate agent (another topic altogether) and together, the agent, armed with the home inspection got me a nice deal. Suffice to say that in my case the agent and the inspection payed for themselves.
YMMV