Turned out the thing had a window in the surround that was left in place and covered over with a piece of plywood, the plumbing was not as accessible as I needed, and the wiring needed love too.

I would say it also depends on the access you were given before making an offer. 

to me there are credit lines and then there are credit lines.IE the vast majority have a heloc on their personal home or maybe a rental.. with a credit union local bank big bank etc.then you have credit Lines that are unsecured for business purposes .I have not heard of credit lines being frozen yet.. but I sure saw it a ton in the GFC.. and very few folks that get them on their personal resi or a rental.. actually read the fine print and therefor are shocked when they go to access their heloc for this deal they want and its frozen.our facilities are on one year terms with a mandatory 30 day rest per 12 months.. its been that way for me for 20 some years LOL.. mine are unsecured and of decent size i am not talking 50 to 100k..

I have access to a couple deals and want to use the equity to make this work and possibly get some cash out.  

@Dominique Mitchell Typically auction.com properties don't verify if the property is occupied and will not allow access.

@Joseph CacciapagliaThat’s a very good point, how do I learn about the market around me without MLS access.

We are mulling over how best to give people free or extremely low price access to "Recession Proof Real Estate Investing" to help address fears.

A good cap rate indication and an agent that has access to great deals might be all you need.

You'll also have access to the MLS and data that will help you learn your market. 

I would really like a smart way to get access to available MLS listings.