Purchasing a occupied property outstanding water sewer bill

[J. Jake stone]

 Interested in purchasing a duplex occupied currently with tenants what is the best process /way to proceed 

Talk to the my real estate agent  he says there’s no information available on the tenants-what is the best way to go in this situation how do I find out how much the outstanding water bill is I see the taxes are behind about $1800 

 He advises make an offer with proof of funds subject to the inspection my question is what’s the best way to come up with that number without knowing these other variables 

Thanks 

[David Lee Hall, III]

You can check with local property managers if you have any relationships and often they can give you ball park numbers for other variables you can't get hard numbers on. For utilities, if I know the provider I will often call and see if they will provide numbers for either the property (less likely) or the area in general. I wouldn't go into any situation with a tenant present without having a copy of the lease(s) and a signed estoppel cert for each tenant. You can make sure those requirements are in your contract if offering. Just as an example, you don't want to find out that they had some handshake agreement with the seller saying the only paid half of what was on their lease listed because they cut the grass and took out the trash.