Buying A Foreclosure
I have been made a counter-offer on a bank owned property. The counter offer stipulates that they will not turn on the electric or water for an inspection. Is this normal and if so what should I do to get it properly inspected?
you can have $2,000.00 in escrow, so that in the event there is a problem with any of the major appliaces that money is used for repairs, or buy a home warranty for the property at closing if they are unwilling to escrow money. Have an inspection done by an electrician and a plumber they will detect any problems they may be visible. Call the electric company and find out when the last time the lights were on what the bill was and if they were on recently they are probably ok. Same with the gas.
Good Luck!
In Calif here are companies that do these inspectins. Our office almost insists that our buyers get a professinoal inspection. The price is low and the risk is too great not to.
Ask the seller for permission to turn on the utilities at your expense to perform your inspection.
Make your offer contingent upon having the inspection completed within (15 days) from the date of their written permission and your acceptance of any deficiencies noted in the report.
Thanks for the responses. I am pretty confident that this bank will not go for the $2000 in escrow. They have been very difficult so far in the negotiations and some of the stipulations seem rather one sided (making me do all the work). I did negotiate the purchase price to $67,900 (they originally wanted $84,000). The tax value is $84,000 and comparables go for about $87,000. This is me first REI and I'm wondering if all the hassle is worth it on this one or if I should move on to a different deal.
I would take into consideration what you will have to put into it as well as what the ADOM is (average days on market) for the neighborhood. If you can pull 10K down in a month or two what more is there to think about. If you could do that 8x a year that is an extra 80K. Realistic...sure some houses move faster while others move slower, but if you don't pull the trigger on your first you will never be able to speak of your last.