Tracking inspection contingency structures across offers, and what the repair credits actually showed

A buyer tracking their own offers over fourteen months to see whether the inspection contingency was costing deals or saving money is a useful exercise, even on a small sample that should be read as a log rather than a finding. Structure A, full inspection contingency with a repair or credit request, used on five offers with two accepted. Average credit obtained on the two that closed, $7,400 on purchase prices of $310k and $395k. Structure B, information-only inspection, keeping the right to walk on any finding while agreeing up front not to ask for repairs or credits. Used on three offers with two accepted, one closed with no credit by design, and the other walked after a foundation finding, costing $600 in inspection and scope fees. Structure C, a pre-offer inspection paid out of pocket before writing, used once at $780 on an offer that was not accepted, a total loss. On tiny samples B wins acceptance at a better rate, while A produced $14,800 of credits across two deals. The open question in any case like this is whether the sellers who accepted A would also have accepted B, which would make A free acceptance-wise and strictly better, or whether A cost the rejections and the credits are simply payment for the deals that stuck. Under $500k competition tends to be real, and in the $500k to $900k band buyers often move slower and worry less, which is where structure A tends to cost the least.