He seems to be buying mostly condos. He’s actually right in the case of a condo. Inspectors don’t see more than a good eye can see. They don’t open the walls, no basement to crawl down into, etc. The roof and external walls are the HOA’s problem. They can tell you about polybute piping, “bad” brands of circuit panel, and aluminium wire, all of which can be checked on one’s own.
Funny story: one condo I bought had a termite inspection, which consisted of the guy going into the condo and looking around for about 30 seconds. He never noticed that part of the outside railing had old termite damage. Fortunately not severe.
For a house, I’d probably hire an inspector sooner than a realtor, especially if it’s older. For a condo, I’d sooner hire an accountant to look over the HOA statements if something looks amiss.
