"No utilities for Appraisal" Bank Owned Property / Advise? / Shared Experiences?

Question

@Theohicks and myself our offering on a money making dream of a 4-plex here in Cincinnati. It is a bank owned property that has just been listed at an extremely low price to encourage a bidding war, they've succeeded. The "final best bid/offers" are due on Friday. The kicker is they are only accepting offers without utilities for inspection, appraisal or underwriting. My lender will still be able to conduct an appraisal but again without utilities.

Lucky for us, our lender will still lend the money. However, this is a foreclosed property in the mid-west, it gets cold during the winter. What kind of issues could the bank be hiding or not willing to face, burst pipes?

If anyone has completed a deal like this or have some advice I would very much appreciate it. The #'s are great, making it a must buy for us. What is the worst that could happen?

Gilbert Dominguez · Answer

I would not worry about whether or not the bank is hiding anything just prepare yourself for the eventuality of having to replace a good part of the plumbing and getting everything reconnected. Same with the electrical system and components. You should be thinking about possible repair or replacement needed of the HVAC system as well.

Joe Chapin · Answer

I have bought 2 foreclosures that fit this scenario and you are correct. The bank doesn't  want to know how much burst pipe damage there is. Even if it has been winterized which both of my purchases had been there were still a few breaks that required opening up drywall and repairing the breaks. Still they were a great investment for me. Good luck!

Wayne Brooks · Answer

Did you do a pressure check?

Account Closed · Answer

Depending on what your local utility company is like, it could take a long long time to get utility service, and you might need to spend a lot of money getting electrical and plumbing repairs and/or upgrades. I bought a short sale two family house with no gas service here in New York at the end of November. I'm still fighting the utility company to get gas, and I recently had to spend over $3000 getting an electrical issue fixed that the utility company was threatening to shut off my electricity over. The latest representative who came out to inspect and issue a turn on order for the gas told me that it generally takes 9 months to get gas service if service has been shut off via cut and cap out in the street as my house's service had been! And I had been planning to rent the place out after a month of renovations!

"No utilities for Appraisal" Bank Owned Property / Advise? / Shared Experiences?

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