Some are upstairs, some are downstairs, but all of them have huge chunks blown out of them (presumably from freezing).

If no one is living there you just keep the propane good enough to keep your pipes from freezing, that was what we did when the electricity went out. 

My own FICO, while not terrible, is lower than my credibility as I have a couple of HELOC's which I maxed out when the bubble burst as I heard rumbles about banks freezing them.

If the brick is unable to dry out sufficiently, the water content - particularly in the outer wythe - will freeze and cause the brick to spall or crack.These walls are often 2-3 wythes of brick thick, so the external face can be in pretty rough shape and the wall still have sufficient structural integrity to carry the load of the building.  

I suppose a good compromise would be asking for proof of account freeze, and it will be waived.

Often times folks leave their houses …but they might leave water running..they are pisses at the bank …or frosty winter can freeze pipes and cause massive flooding.

It won't close for 4-6 weeks, which places it at the end of the year, and freezing temps.

And you had perfectly good assets being lost as the loans matured there was no way to refi and the underlying lenders foreclosed on perfectly good working assets because the owners could not retire debt in cash they had always banked on the ( OH MY BANK WILL roll the 20 due in 5 over they always have).. when they did not boom.. but I don't want to dwell on it I darn near ended up a statistic and its way in the rear view mirror.. but a combination of mortgage market  liar loans  credit freeze .. build stopped  jobs lost this all fed into it.take our PDX market .. 10k homes or doors built a year or more from 1990 to 2008... 2009   700 total that's all.. next year 1500 next year 2500 next year 3500 next year 5000 plus.. 

Bob...unless you live in the Panhandle, you really wouldn't even have much to worry about in terms of pipes freezing inside.

Will never buy in fall winter again unless I can close before freezing season.