Thanks a lot for all your input.
The lawyer said since we waived all clauses etc, we were not able to get out of the agreement. If you don't waive everything, as well as have your inspection and mortgage pre-approval in place before you make an offer, you may as well not make an offer at all. Multiple offers on most any good house.
Most states and provinces don't require the Realtor to act as a fiduciary, the vast majority of real estate transactions are done by transaction agents who have a limited duty to the buyer and/or the seller unless you've signed a single agent agreement with them at the beginning of your search for a property, or in addition to a listing agreement.
We did sign an agreement before we began that she would be both our selling and purchasing agent. She was going to 'take care of everything'. I don't know if this makes a difference?
Our lawyer said that he would try to get compensation for the waterproofing issue. When asked, he said I could
request compensation from agent for not delivering the service she promised, that we were not satisfied. But I guess it's not exactly
satisfaction guaranteed. If you're upset with anyone here it should be the inspector if they told you they didn't need to see the attic, but if you told them not to worry about it then that's on you. You made the decision to make an offer on the house without thoroughly reading the inspection. Sounds to me like lessons learned, the other thing is...where do you have any damages here? You have no idea if there is a problem in the attic, you haven't looked there yet...
It was the
agent who said not to worry about the attic, not the inspector. I asked Agent about whether this was a matter of concern and can you buy a house, really, without looking up there? She glossed it over. I had assumed (face punch) that Inspector's verbal tour of the house's problems were complete. I was shocked to find things in the Giant Report much later that he hadn't mentioned... Like 2nd floor washroom vent, and things I didn't even know to look for, like a plumbing stack. Etc. Which leads me to fear the attic.
But yeah, the attic might be okay. That would be... fantastic. They wouldn't let us look up there on our visit. And the onus was definitely on us to press for attic entry or walk. And read, no,
study, the whole report carefully
before -ahem- bidding.
I've learned when you're in a rushed, high-pressure situation, don't buy a house when you're not feeling well and at the top of your game. You'll miss too much and make dumb mistakes, and emotion is more likely to take over. And maybe avoid crazy high-pressure real estate situations to begin with. Well, I have learned a lot, at least--about houses, real estate, and human nature. And I will grow into a hardier flou-wa... Or something like that.