Inspection without electricity/water running. What can I do?

[Roberto Torres]

Hey everyone. My name is Roberto Torres and I'm a newbie investor from Puerto Rico that just got first offer accepted. I don't know if I was more excited or scared when I heard my offer got accepted though. Now what? I thought. First get the lenders, do inspection, talk with family members for cash loan for down payment, find contractors, get job done, then I'm supposed to be a landlord. I'm screwed, what have I gotten myself into!?

Initially I made a 40k offer when seller was asking 70k. After seller declined and said she would go down only 10k she agreed to go to 55k. I could make $200 in cashflow after expenses at this price and this was good. When I was about to leave, a neighbor told me to check plumbing before closing because she was told by the deceased person who lived there that it clogged and he defecated and through it out on a plastic bag on the trash. Horror! This was so crazy to hear at the moment, it felt surreal.

I panicked a little after getting home and was revising what where the next steps. I was not going sign anything until I did a formal inspection but... what can I do if there hasn't been running water on the property for at least 2 years? Can an inspector really know if the plumbing is ok without running water? I imagine I can't put water or electricity on my name before being owner of property. Is crossing my fingers and praying to baby jesus the only thing I can do? I can get in a bit of trouble if something big like plumbing has to be redone after closing. Any recommendations are so welcomed!

Day 5 - #100DaysOfRealEstate

[James Barnhart]

I would think that you can use air pressure on the water supply piping.  Talk to a local plumber, and I bet he has done this many times.  They can install a gage and check back later to see if the air pressure has dropped.  And, look into hooking up a generator to the house.  You probably won't be able to run the A/C, but you can check everything else.