Getting liability insurance on auction property before previous owner is evicted

[Matthew Thomas]

Hi All,

I have not gone down the path of auctions in the past and there is one near me that is currently occupied and will be auctioned off in the next few weeks.   I am interested in bidding on it and as a part of my research I have seen a lot on what process it would take to get the previous owner out of the house.   I'd start with cash for keys but if that didn't work,  seems like it may take 3-4 months to evict a person,    my big question is getting liability insurance on the property.

I get that there isn't much I can do preventing the previous owner from trashing the place  (she is 60+ so I doubt she's taking a hammer to the place)   but I do worry that if she or someone else were to get hurt prior to an eviction and sues me.

Can you get insurance on a property under these conditions?

another question -   anything stopping a person from leaving the water running,  not nessesarilly to dammage the property but to run up a bill?

thanks in advance for your advice