Have you verified with the tenants via estoppel letters that the leases are accurate, they are paying the stated rent and that they DO pay their own utils?

Each deal has a new set of local customs.

Who owns these the city or utility company or you?

So that is also something that needs to be in the agreement (when I was selling and not giving keys, I had that explicitly stated in the agreement).How about utilities and property taxes?

I have a duplex built in the 50's I noticed that a similar duplex down the street was for sale and upon viewing the pictures I noticed it had a washer dryer hook up stuck in the utility closetthe owner moved the hot water heater to the left and and expanded the space I decided to do something similar in my unitsI actually used one of the hall closets there are two in the unit one near the kitchen and one outside the bedrooms I decided to use the one nearest the kitchen and ran plumbing and electrical to the closet widened the opening to accept a stack washer and dryer and installed vent holes and duct work to remove the lint.from the dryerof all the things I did in my unit from tiling to new lighting and laminate flooring over carpetprospective tenants seem to appreciate the washer dryer hook up the mostI think a close second is the laminate flooring but I wont know until it is all down and I have my first looks.this is probably old news to you veterans out there about converting a closet into a washer dryer room but I am a newbie and just happened to stumble upon this idea when I saw my neighbors house otherwise I may never had had the inclination to do it.

Yes I agree there is risk, but when the risk is virtually non existent, it's not worth even speaking about...yes, McDonalds and any restaurant can be at risk for serving HOT coffee and customer spilling such coffee on themselves...lawsuits could abound...but there are way's to virtually eliminate risk, even if a liberal judge on a mission, deciding in favor of a frivolous lawsuit, putting the hammer down on all those greedy and deceitful investors.

Hey, that's just like a customer!

they can walk you through where local utilities lie and where the taps or connections need to be made.

I assume you mean tenants pay all utilities.

, but if a title search indicates no cloud on title, that should legally qualify as "clear title" I would think.I know state customs are going to vary (in my state, it's very atypical for the seller to pay any title or closing costs unless specifically stated in the contract), but even if it's customary in your state for the seller to pay title search/insurance costs, short sales generally have their own rules.