Offer accepted… and there’s a new dilemma

[Hector Serna]

Hey guys,

If any of yall have come across my previous post you’ll find that I recently had an offer accepted for a short sale in Cicero, IL. The numbers are as follows.

1959 Build Single family home: 3 bed (possible 4), 1 bath

Home price: 180k (Avg home in the area 240k-270k)

PITI Mortgage: $1,855

Down Payment: $9,000 (5%)

House needs approximately 15k-20k in repairs (A lot being cosmetic)

I recently learned that in order for me to rent it out, I needed to either put 20% down or live in it for a year.

I’m currently leaning towards living in it and repeating in my 2nd property in the future.

When I originally went to check out the house I learned that the water was shut off due to the bill not being paid. During the process, I was originally told that we can possibly get the seller to pay the water bill or that we can ask the town to turn it on so that I can get a proper inspection upon getting my offer approved. Today I learned that the seller is not willing to pay and the town is not willing to turn on the water until the bill is fully paid.
My realtor relayed we can either pull out of the deal or I can pay the water bill to perform the inspection thoroughly.

I’m looking at paying $1k+ for a water bill of a property that’s not mine I’m not even sure if I’ll go through with after the inspection (if worse defects are found).

I don’t know what to do.

thank you.

[John Clark]

If the seller isn’t paying his water bill, what else isn’t he paying? Have you checked property taxes (do that online)? Code violations? Gas bill?

Sounds like you don’t have enough experience to deal with this black box of a house. Hard pass and don’t look back.