Q: My wife and I have put an offer on a house that the sellers have owned for only seven months and have been transferred out of state.

The sellers have offered us their home inspection report from when they bought the house seven months ago.

We’re trying to be careful with our money and $450 seems like a good savings to spend on something else. What’s your thoughts on this? I could put the $450 towards a new snowblower.

A: Heck no! Bad idea.

I know you’re thinking about saving $450 on the inspection and buying a shiny brand-new snowblower (all of us guys are tempted by such things!).

But what you are not thinking about is all of the things that could go terribly wrong.

• What if their inspector originally missed something?

• What if the seller or a contractor did something wrong to the house in the last seven months?

• What if the foundation has started to settle?

• What if black mold has started to grow in the attic?

• What if wildlife has gotten into the attic?

• What if a support beam has formed a crack weakening the structure?

• What if the heat exchanger in the furnace has developed a crack?

The what-if’s go on and on.

Now, I am not an attorney and if you read my column on a regular basis, you know that I have never claimed to be one and always refer buyers and sellers to consult one.

The main concern I have is normally a purchase agreement includes a contingency for a home inspection and usually there’s language for “as is” condition after a satisfactory inspection.

If you accept the seller’s old home inspection report thereby waiving your own inspection and thus being satisfied with the property’s condition and buying the property in “as is” condition, you may have just put yourself in a position of losing a future lawsuit against the seller should a claim arise.

You may be initially saving $450, but that is a small downpayment on what could be potentially $15,000 to $25,000 or more in repairs.

Unless you’re very lucky and win the lottery often, I say don’t do it.

The cost of a new home inspection will be well worth the cost.

Steve Meyers is a real estate agent/Realtor at RE/MAX First in Shelby Twp. and is a member of the RE/MAX Hall of Fame. He can be contacted with questions at 586-997-5480 or Steve@MeyersRealtor.com You also can visit his website: AnswersToRealEstateQuestions.com.