Q: We were talked into buying a house last summer without doing an inspection.

Our agent told us that there were other bids and that those offers were not subject to any conditions. She said that if we wanted to get the house we couldn’t have any conditions or contingencies. Now, after all of the rain, we have a leaking roof. The roof seemed OK but obviously it is not. My wife and I are really upset and need to know how to recover the costs to fix the roof.
A: Your first step is to repair the roof before there is further damage. A competent roofer should be able to tell you what needs to be done. It may not be as bad as you think. It could be leaking due to poor caulking or flashing around a skylight or chimney, for instance. It’s also possible, of course, that the entire roof needs to be replaced. Get at least two opinions and bids.
It’s always important to have an inspection as a part of a home sale. There are people who make offers without that contingency but in many of those cases a quick preliminary inspection before making the offer is always a good idea. But it has to happen fast if you want to be competitive.
I recently sold a home with a similar scenario. There were three very good, competing offers. None of the three contained contingencies or an inspection clause. However, all three parties had done a quick, professional inspection before tendering their offers. That might have been a good idea in your case.
Without knowing all the details of the situation I can’t make any recommendation as to your next steps. That should be done by an attorney in any case. However, if you feel you were unduly influenced into giving up your rights, you might want to start by talking to your agent. That would be the fair thing to do. Perhaps when she understands that her recommendation lead to problems for you she will offer to help.