Not necessarily. If you waived the appraisal to win a home you genuinely wanted and understood the gap risk, you used a legitimate tool. The first question is whether you even needed to. In most markets, homes are not in bidding wars severe enough to require waiving an appraisal. It also helps to understand what an appraisal measures. An appraiser is bound to past comparable sales, so in a fast-rising market a home can be worth more to real buyers than the last comps can support. When several buyers are all willing to pay a given price, that price becomes the new reality, and future homes appraise at the higher level. In a hot market, paying above the last comps often looks like overpaying only until the next sales catch up. So the useful question now is about fit and risk. A property you valued enough to justify covering a possible gap between price and appraised value out of pocket made waiving reasonable. If you felt pressured into waiving for a home you did not really love, that feeling is the part worth sitting with. Either way, understanding the risk you took on matters more now than second-guessing the decision.