Buying bug infested properties - how do you get contractor bids when nobody wants to enter the property?

[Alex M.]

Have you ever bought a property that was heavily infested with bugs? If so, what did you do about it during the home inspection/contractor bids/etc?

Were you able to get home inspectors and/or contractors into the property to give you a report and bids? 

Did you bomb the place yourself before closing? ...is that even allowed?

I'm in the process of buying two properties - walking into them, I was instantly covered in fleas in both, and one of them had literally thousands of roaches, and what I am guessing was bed bugs crawling around. It was pretty nasty. The neighbors mentioned they were occasionally spraying the outside steps as the bugs were just spilling out.

I'm the kind of newbie investor that gets really excited about the potential for a property - I literally spent hours at a time in my first rental planning out the rehab and envisioning what I was going to do to the property to make it look great - exposing brick, reconfiguring upstairs layout, enhancing outdoor space, etc. With these properties, though, I have not set foot in them since getting them under contract. I'm buying at a good price, and it will be hard to go wrong here, but I would feel much better having contractors in before closing to get my numbers a little tighter. 

If you have ever been in a similar experience, I would love to hear how you handled it.