Inspection Ends 11/26 - Need Help/Advice in FL

[Travis Moe]

BP Community - 

I'm in contract on a SFR in Jacksonville, FL. I'm a little stuck and need advice on best course of action.

Situation: The water and power are shut off at the property (it's an REO held by a private lender). This was not disclosed to me at any point. I discovered this when my GC went out to look it over and give me a rehab bid. The seller claims no knowledge of property and sent a disclosure to this fact since seller has never occupied the home.

The listing agent, on the other hand, was completely aware. 

When I requested the listing agent get the utilities connected so that I could conduct full inspections, he declined. He said power could not be restored to the property because there is exposed wiring making power a safety hazard. He stated this. So he knew ahead of time, but did not disclose this. 

I then asked that my inspection period deadline (11/26) be extended so that I'd have additional time to have an electrician quote me a price to repair something like that. The listing agent flatly declined.

In Cali, where I live, a listing agent is also required to disclose any knowledge about a property they represent - not just the seller. Is this the case in FL? In Cali, a seller's agent is responsible, at their own expense if necessary, to supply utilities to a property under contract for due diligence. Is this not the case in FL? Are there exemptions? Or is this listing agent just being a hardcase?

What should I do? My rehab bid came in just enough under my max threshold to allow for a 10% overage/margin of error. Systems repair like power and water can run into the thousands and I wouldn't know about them because I can't have inspection. I don't want to pay to repair the systems just to turn them on just to find degradation that kills the deal. 

How can I make this work?

[Jack Bobeck]

@Travis Moe - JEA (normally) requires a "Safety Inspection" for all homes with the power turned off six months or more. It has run me about $500 every time with the licensed electrician. Every REO property I have ever seen has had the toilet TAPED down to show there is no water, and of course, no power either.

With the listing, was there a seller's disclosure? If there was, all of the "known" issues should be made aware to a buyer. If the Seller does not tell the listing agent of the "issues", the agent has no knowledge, after all they are only representing the seller to the best of their knowledge. An REO most like will also come with a "Special Warranty Deed", meaning the "private lender" has no idea about liens or other items on the property. So run a simple title search to see if there are any other surprises..

If it were me, I would contact JEA and ask them the last time power and water was on at the property. Ask your contractor to tell you if the property 1) has a meter, 2) what color the tag is, yellow, white, red, green. The tag is the dangly thing that shows a JEA person the age of activity at the meter. Here is a link to their website 

Best of luck to you.