Jonathan LopezShould You Waive the Home Inspection to Compete in Woodland Hills? What the Numbers Actually Say
If you've been house hunting lately, you've probably read that waiving the home inspection is now just what it takes to win a bidding war. That advice is based on something real, but it's a national number, and national numbers don't always describe what's actually happening on the ground in west Woodland Hills.
What's Happening Nationally
The National Association of Realtors tracks this directly through its REALTORS Confidence Index, a monthly survey of real estate agents about the deals they're actually working. The most recent report, covering August 2026 data and published September 10, 2026, shows that 20% of buyers nationwide waived their inspection contingency that month. That's up from 16% in July and 18% a year earlier in August 2025. Waiving the appraisal contingency followed a similar pattern, landing at 22% in August 2026. The same report found winning offers were facing an average of 2.1 competing bids.
That's a real trend, and it's easy to see why buyers read those numbers and assume they need to do the same thing to have a shot. But the RCI is a national and regional survey. It doesn't tell you what's happening on your specific street in the San Fernando Valley, and that gap matters more than it might seem.
What's Actually Happening in Woodland Hills
Woodland Hills isn't moving at the same pace as the national trend the headlines are describing. As of Movoto's most recent update this month, the local market shows 394 active listings, with homes taking an average of 48 days to sell, up from 45 days a year ago. Sitting longer on the market is generally a sign of a market with less competitive pressure, not more. On top of that, 80 of those 394 active listings, right around 1 in 5, have already had at least one price reduction.
None of that describes a market where sellers are fielding so many offers that buyers have to give up their strongest protection just to be considered. It describes a market that's cooling slightly and giving buyers more room to negotiate, not less.
Why the Gap Matters
The inspection contingency exists for one reason: it lets you find out what's actually wrong with a house, foundation issues, roof age, electrical problems, plumbing conditions, before you're legally committed to buying it as-is. Waiving it can make sense in a genuine multiple-offer situation on a specific property where the market data supports that level of urgency. It makes a lot less sense as a blanket strategy applied to every offer because of something you read applies to the market as a whole. It's the same logic behind how to think about waiving an appraisal contingency: a capped, planned approach on a specific listing beats an open-ended waiver applied everywhere.
This is exactly why the national number and the local number both matter, and why looking at only one of them can lead to a worse decision. If your specific offer is one of several on a hot listing, that's useful information about that property regardless of what the citywide average looks like. If it isn't, the local slowdown in days on market and the rise in price reductions both suggest you may have more leverage than the national headlines imply, not less.
How To Actually Decide
The right approach isn't to follow a national percentage or to automatically assume Woodland Hills gives you unlimited room either. It's to look at what's actually happening on the specific property you're bidding on: how many other offers are realistically in play, how it's been priced relative to comparable homes, and how long it's already sat on the market. A listing that just hit the market at a competitive price in a desirable pocket of west Woodland Hills is a very different situation than one that's already had a price cut and sat for two months. Budgeting for a real inspection is also part of planning your overall earnest money and upfront cash needs as a buyer, not a cost to skip to save a few hundred dollars.
A good agent's job in this moment isn't to tell you what to do based on a national statistic. It's to pull the actual data on the property in front of you and help you decide, offer by offer, whether an inspection waiver is a smart risk or an unnecessary one.
Sellers face a version of this same question in reverse. See whether paying for your own pre-listing inspection is worth it before you go on market.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it true that most buyers are waiving inspections now?
Nationally, NAR's own data shows 20% of buyers waived the inspection contingency in August 2026, up from 16% the prior month. That's a meaningful share, but it still means 80% of buyers kept theirs, and the number varies a lot by local market.
Is Woodland Hills as competitive as the national numbers suggest?
Not necessarily. Local data shows the average days on market rose to 48 days from 45 a year ago, and about 1 in 5 active listings have already had a price reduction, both signs of a market with less urgency than a strict seller's market.
When does it make sense to waive an inspection?
Generally only when there's real, verified competition on a specific property, you've had the chance to do a pre-offer walkthrough or pre-inspection, and you understand and accept the specific risk on that home. It should be a decision made about one property, not a blanket strategy.
What am I actually giving up if I waive it?
The right to have a licensed inspector evaluate the property's condition before you're contractually obligated to buy it as-is, and in most cases the ability to cancel or renegotiate based on what that inspection finds.
Does a longer days-on-market number always mean I have more leverage?
It's one useful signal, but it should be read alongside how a specific listing has been priced and how long that particular home has sat, not treated as a universal rule for every offer.
How do I know what makes sense for the specific home I'm bidding on?
That's a conversation, not a guess. Pull the actual comps, competing offer activity if it's disclosed, and pricing history on that specific property before deciding whether an inspection contingency is worth waiving.
Bidding on a Woodland Hills home and not sure if waiving the inspection makes sense? Let's look at the actual listing before you decide.
Or call (818) 934-7576.