What do you think Re: home inspection on a foreclosure

So were putting in an offer for a foreclosure that no one lives in, and hasn't in a long time. It needs work, and were well aware of it, but our only issue is there is no electric or water.

We want to put in the offer that the offer is contingent upon the home inspection where the water and electric must be turned on on the day of inspection at banks expense....

Can we do this? or do you have any suggestions?

I know the house is "as is" but we also need to figure in the right price because we have to make repairs. I know with a lot of empty homes they steal the pipes to sell, etc. and I we just want to know what works and doesn't, so we neg. a price and know what we have to fix when we get in.

Like DH had a good point... we may turn on the water when we get in and possibly flood something because the pipes are broken or missing from somewhere we can't see...

What the heck do we do? I can't see the bank paying to turn that on for a day...

Re: What do you think Re: home inspection on a foreclosure

Have never bought a foreclosure...but inquired about one and was about to put a bid in on one, but last minute we changed our minds. We were told that having an inspection done was our choice but the water and the electric would not be turned on and regardless of what the inspection came back saying it would not matter...the house was being sold as is.

Hope that helps!

Re: What do you think Re: home inspection on a foreclosure

we were told no water or electric can be turned on. one of the icky parts of trying to purchase a foreclosure.

Re: What do you think Re: home inspection on a foreclosure

in florida they turn utilities on for short sale and forclosure inspections (it was in every offer contract we signed) - not sure how it works in NY

Message edited 7/6/2009 11:51:46 AM.

Re: What do you think Re: home inspection on a foreclosure

That's crazy. Maybe call a home inspector and ask them if they have a way of checking these things or if they will even check them if they are turned off.

We bought a foreclosure, but the bank was paying to keep the electric, water, etc on even though the house was vacant for months (but this is in Florida so I guess they have to with the heat down here).

What micknjohn said was told to us too, the bank said we could get an inspection (and we did put it in our contract that we could pull out of the offer based on the inspection) but if anything was wrong the bank obviously wouldn't fix anything. But we wanted to make sure there weren't any big problems (mold, termites, etc) that would cause us to walk away.

Good luck!

Re: What do you think Re: home inspection on a foreclosure

thanks... I will ask but I think in NY they won't.

Someone suggested us turning on the water and paying for 1 month just to make sure the pipes are working etc.

As for the electric, the box is up to date, we just concerned that some little critters living it the house may have chewed through some wire Again were well aware its "as is" but we want to make sure we get it cheap enough that these repaires are worth it.
We also want to make sure that the oil burner turns on
Maybe we could call an oil burner company and see if they can tell?

Re: What do you think Re: home inspection on a foreclosure

i would do as much as you can to try and find out as much as possible - even if you have to pay the utilitiy bills for a month i think in the end it would be worth it.....worst case is it cost you a few hundred dollars to find out the house was a disaster - i rather spend a few hundred and walk away then get a house that costs me thousands to repair.....best case is everything is ok and you can get the house and the money spent will give you peace of mind that you made the right choice....

good luck! i hope it works out for you!!

Re: What do you think Re: home inspection on a foreclosure

Re: What do you think Re: home inspection on a foreclosure

I have not done alot of foreclosure work but I believe that some banks will allow you to turn on the utilities but at your expense-I know that LIPA charges a fee to turn on electric that has been off I am not sure about the water company but I'm sure they do too. I do not know how it would work it there was damage caused by you turning on the utilities.