I do not have the documents in my possession to know where that went or what happened to it.”

I have some previous business debts to payoff, so once all the dust has settled with realtor commissions and other closing costs, I'd have roughly $400k-500k of cash at my disposal.  

He has another $50k in assets and $325k in investments and no debt.

The Feds won't be able to increase the Interest rate, because the US debt level has gotten so high and banks are still under stress with low prior loan rates, but high interest costs.

The downside of bridge debt.  

I purchased it with a HELOC so higher interest debt until I can cash out refi.

Make sure you have enough equity to move forward and also you have to be below 50% debt to ratio income. 

Are there any tips, tricks, or guides for turning on utilities after close of escrow and possession?

At that point if would free up my Debt-to-income ratio (Nothing would be in my name & I could start growing again).

Deduct NEW property taxes after you buyDeduct home insurance costsDeduct maintenance percentage, typically 10%Deduct vacancy+tenant nonperformance percentage(we recommend 5% for Class A, 10% Class B, 20% Class C, good luck with Class D)Deduct whatever dollar/percentage of cashflow you wantNow, what you have left over is the amount for debt service.Enter it into a mortgage calculator, with current interest rate for an investment property, to determine your maximum mortgage amount.Divide the mortgage amount by either 75% or 80%, depending on the required down payment percentage - this is your tentative price to offer.If the property needs repairs, you'll want to deduct 110%-120% of the estimated repairs from this amount.Be sure to also research the ARV and make sure it's 10-20% higher than your tentative purchase price.As long as the ARV checks out, this is the purchase price to offer.It is probably significantly below the asking price.