Made offer on REO

[Virginia Jones]

I made an offer on a foreclosed property. It's been foreclosed for two years. Water and power off. I'm wondering how I can be sure the water and power is functional before it's mine. I don't want to buy it and then there's a major problem that was impossible to know about.

[Wayne Brooks]

With many REO's they will not allow you to have the utilities turned on, not the end of the world. Utility co.s generally require written permission from the owner to turn on utilities. Bring a good size generator, 8kw or so, and power the house to check applicants, AC, etc. Plumbers routinely do an air pressure test on the water lines, if freezing pipes are an issue.