More often than not, when a home is bank owned the utilities to the home
have been turned off.   I would venture to guess that in the Metro Detroit
area 75% of the foreclosed homes are without electricity, gas or water.

Pre-planning when writing your offer to purchase the home and estimating
closing and inspection time-frames is essential to not have to scramble later
for extensions.  (Most banks - asset managers do not like to give extensions
on the closing dates.  In fact, many have penalties imposed upon the buyers
for going beyond the date on the contract.)

Plan your home inspection period for a minimum of 10 days if possible.
This will give you extra time to order the turn on of the utilities into your
name.  Here in Macomb County electric service can be turned back on
within 2-3 business days and the gas companies are right around the same
time frames. 

 **One local gas company is requiring that you prove that you
are purchasing the home in order to turn the service back on.
Ask for a  supervisor if this happens to you and they in turn will
give you their name and fax number to speed this process up.**

Most cities and townships water departments can also do things within
2-3 business days, although they may require you or someone you
designate to be on site when they do this in order to check for leaks.

Once the utilities are back on you can then have a full home inspection to
discover the "as is" condition of the bank owned home you wish to purchase.
If you are purchasing the home using a FHA or VA mortgage you will want
to leave the utilities on for the appraiser to properly do his/her job.


As an aside:  If you would like references to home inspectors in the Metro
Detroit area who also de-winterize a home while inspecting it please don't
hesitate to contact me.


Other articles about bank owned homes:

What does "final and best" mean?


It's sold?  How can that be?


Foreclosure + FHA buyer

Kris Wales RE/MAX Advantage 1, Inc.  Macomb County MI