AS WE PACK away our holiday decorations, I’ve been feeling grateful for what makes this season truly special – being able to celebrate the holidays with the people I love in the home we share together. There is no substitute for the assurance of resting my head in a home that is familiar and safe.

For generations, the homebuying process has provided that confidence – a detailed listing, a walk-through, and a comprehensive home inspection ensured home buyers knew exactly what they were getting. These days, however, many families are feeling pressure to forego some of these critical steps in pursuit of their dream home.

Like most, my home is more than just a dwelling, it’s my most significant financial investment. Homeownership has long been among the safest and most secure ways for the middle class to invest their life savings – nothing is ever guaranteed, but you can reasonably assume that your home will at least hold its value. After all, the average annual home price increase in the US has been 4.1 percent annually since 1991, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency, easily beating inflation. But what happens if, unknown to you, the home you spent your life savings on has a roof that needs to be replaced? Or a septic system that is due for reconstruction? Or – worse – the very foundation is crumbling, requiring a full replacement?

There is only so much an everyday person can be expected to look out for when investing in a home. Typically, after a seller has accepted an offer, there is an opportunity for the buyer to hire a home inspector to evaluate the property. This inspection can catch anything from minor upgrades for the future, such as updating single-pane windows, to acute issues, like fixing faulty wiring or a cracked foundation. While home inspections have always been a standard part of the purchasing process, since the housing market exploded during the COVID-19 pandemic, homebuyers have been looking for ways to make their offers more competitive to get an edge over others. Some make cash offers, while others eliminate contingency clauses. A concerning trend, though, is buyers offering to waive their right to an inspection.

At a time when even small offer terms can mean the difference between securing your dream home and returning to square one, many homebuyers are cutting corners and closing on a house without a full evaluation. It’s an attractive deal for the seller, who gets to avoid the danger of a sale getting derailed due to a less-than-perfect report. Worse, some sellers exploit this trend when they are aware of critical flaws – misrepresenting the condition of their home to squeeze the most money out of a sale, while sticking the new owner with the repair bill.

But what happens when a buyer, pressured into waiving the inspection, completes a sale and then finds out that the home needs costly repairs they can’t afford?

That’s what happened to Edwin Mendez. Edwin was a first-time homebuyer looking for a dream home for his pregnant wife and their daughter. Five months of searching and several failed offers later, Edwin’s mortgage officer recommended he waive his right to a home inspection to strengthen his offer on a $985,000 two-family home in Brighton.

He and his family celebrated when the news arrived that their offer had been accepted in October 2022, but his nightmare had just begun. After having his new home evaluated, he got the bad news – Edwin’s century-old home had major safety, structural, electrical, and plumbing issues. After months of headaches and over $50,000 in repairs, Edwin decided that he could not afford to keep plugging the sometimes-literal holes in his home on top of paying his new mortgage and rent at his old apartment. He sold the house at a $22,000 loss, leaving him out around $72,000.

Edwin and his family did not get the holidays they had dreamed of in their new home. And Edwin’s story is not unique. Waiving the right to a home inspection has become almost commonplace in a white-hot real estate market. Had he been warned of these dire flaws, he could have avoided “the worst decision I’ve ever made.”

When you’re spending a significant amount of money on something, you deserve to know what you’re getting. In Massachusetts, we already have consumer protections against misrepresentation and scams, as well as lemon laws to protect those who are sold defective cars. The best way to protect consumers is to make sure they have all the information they need to make an informed decision before they make a purchase – especially when hundreds of thousands of dollars are at stake.

I’ve introduced legislation to curb this practice and make sure nobody has to go through what Edwin and his family did. S.2474 – An Act protecting consumer rights in purchasing safe and habitable homes — establishes the basic right of a buyer to have an inspection done of the home they are about to purchase. The law would remove the home inspection contingency clause from the Offer to Purchase form, making the seller blind to whether the buyer will have the home inspected prior to finalizing the sale. To be clear, this law wouldn’t require a home inspection, it only protects the right of the buyer to have one.

When the average new mortgage tops $3,000 per month in the Bay State, according to lender LendingTree, an accurate assessment of the home’s condition is critical to making a smart financial decision. This goes beyond just one family – this policy would protect every single homebuyer in the Commonwealth and bring more stability to a market that has seen massive changes recently. Taking the right to an inspection off the negotiating table is just common sense.

“Home for the holidays” is not just an empty platitude – it’s hard to celebrate the happiest season when you don’t have a secure place to call home. Allowing families in the Commonwealth to fall into financial ruin when an unseen catastrophic flaw is found in their new home is a policy choice. The real question is, how long do we continue to let this happen before we stand up for hardworking people?

Michael Moore is the state senator from Millbury.