Tyce Ortman REALTOR

Should you waive the home inspection to win a Sioux Falls offer?

By Tyce Ortman | July 28, 2026

Here’s the scenario I hear from buyers all the time: you’ve found the house, another offer is on the table, and someone suggests waiving the inspection to look like the cleanest buyer in the pile. It’s tempting. It also might be the most expensive shortcut in real estate.

Before you give up that protection, it’s worth understanding exactly what you’d be handing over — and whether you even need to in the Sioux Falls market as it stands right now.

What You’re Actually Giving Up

An inspection contingency does two things: it lets you hire an inspector to examine the home during a set window — typically 7 to 10 days in South Dakota — and it lets you respond to what they find. You can ask the seller to make repairs, ask for a credit or price reduction, or walk away entirely and keep your earnest money.

Waiving that contingency erases the second part. You can still choose to inspect, but you lose your leverage and your exit. If the inspector finds a cracked foundation the day before closing, you’re stuck with two options: buy the home as-is, or walk and forfeit your deposit.

And that deposit isn’t small. Earnest money in the Sioux Falls area usually runs about 1% of the price — roughly $3,350 on a $335,000 home, which was the city’s median sale price in June 2026. Waiving the inspection puts that money, and a lot more, at risk.

The “a lot more” is the real danger. These are the repairs that hide behind clean paint and cost the most to fix:

• Sewer lateral failure — common in older central Sioux Falls homes with clay or Orangeburg pipe and mature trees. A trenchless repair runs $5,000 to $15,000; a full dig can top $20,000.
• Foundation and structural issues — settlement, bowing walls, and water intrusion can run from a few thousand into the tens of thousands.
• Roof replacement — often $8,000 to $15,000 on a typical Sioux Falls home once shingles are past their life.
• Furnace or AC replacement — a failing HVAC system is commonly $5,000 to $10,000 to replace.
• Radon — Minnehaha County sits well above the EPA’s action level, and a mitigation system runs about $800 to $2,500.

Any one of those can dwarf the few thousand dollars a waived inspection was supposed to save you in a bidding war.

Why You Probably Don’t Need to Waive Right Now

This is the part that gets lost. Waiving inspections became common during the 2021 and 2022 frenzy, when homes drew five to ten offers in a weekend and buyers stripped every contingency just to be heard. That is not the Sioux Falls market today.

As of June 2026, the local numbers tell a calmer story:

• Homes averaged 84 days on the market before selling — three days longer than a year earlier.
• The city had a 3.3-month supply of homes, which is close to a balanced market.
• Inventory was 892 homes, and closed sales actually dropped year over year.

An 84-day average and a 3.3-month supply mean most Sioux Falls buyers have negotiating room, not desperation. Yes, a well-priced home in a popular pocket — parts of southeast Sioux Falls, or newer construction in Harrisburg and Tea — can still move fast and draw competing offers. But the metro-wide picture is one where you can usually keep your inspection and still win. Waiving is a tool for a genuine multiple-offer situation, not a default setting.

Safer Ways to Make Your Offer Strong

When you’re up against another buyer, you have far better levers than your inspection contingency. Here’s what I steer clients toward first:

• Go with an information-only inspection. You still hire an inspector for peace of mind, but you agree up front not to nickel-and-dime the seller over small stuff — you’ll only walk for major defects. It reads almost as clean as a full waiver to the seller while keeping your protection against a disaster.
• Shorten the inspection window. Offering to complete your inspection in five days instead of ten signals speed and certainty without giving up your rights.
• Set a repair threshold. Agree to only renegotiate if inspection findings exceed a set dollar amount — say $2,500. The seller knows you won’t sweat a leaky faucet.
• Inspect before you offer. On a home you’re serious about, a pre-offer inspection lets you write a genuinely clean offer knowing exactly what you’re buying.
• Strengthen the parts that don’t cost you protection. A larger earnest deposit, a flexible closing date that matches the seller’s timeline, a strong pre-approval, or an escalation clause often wins the day without touching your inspection at all.

Keep in mind that South Dakota sellers still complete a Seller’s Property Condition Disclosure Statement listing known material defects, whether or not you inspect. That’s a helpful baseline — but it only covers what the seller actually knows. A quiet, slow-developing problem like a failing sewer line or a hairline foundation crack often isn’t on anyone’s radar until an inspector finds it. That’s exactly the gap an inspection is built to catch.

The rest of the transaction runs the way it always does: earnest money is held per the contract, closing goes through a title company — First Dakota Title in Sioux Falls or Abstract Title in the Madison area — and the seller pays the South Dakota real estate transfer fee of $0.50 per $500 of price, about $335 on a $335,000 home.

Deciding whether to keep, trim, or waive your inspection is one of the most consequential calls you’ll make on an offer, and it depends on the specific house, its age, and how much real competition you’re facing. That’s the read I help buyers make before we write — so your offer is strong and you’re still protected.

Frequently Asked Questions

The Bottom Line

Waiving the inspection can make your offer look clean, but it hands the seller all the leverage and puts you on the hook for whatever’s hiding behind the walls. In a Sioux Falls market averaging 84 days on the market, you almost never have to make that trade. Lead with a strong price, solid earnest money, and flexible terms — and if you want to look nearly as clean as a full waiver, use an information-only inspection instead.

If you’re buying or selling in Sioux Falls or the surrounding area, I’m happy to walk you through this. Reach out anytime: tyceortman@gmail.com.

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About Tyce Ortman — Tyce Ortman is a real estate agent with eXp Realty serving the greater Sioux Falls, South Dakota area and the Madison community. He specializes in helping first-time home buyers and sellers, with a focus on pricing properties right and finding each client the perfect home. Connect with Tyce at tyceortman@gmail.com.