Foreclosures

Last year , many of the homes I inspected were foreclosures, owned by a bank, aka REO's. This year it seems that the market has turned for me, as I am inspecting more homes that actually have people living in them, their utilities are all on and the whole real estate process seems to be going smoother.

But what really gets under my skin are those foreclosures that don't have their utilities turned on, including water, gas and electricity. I always ask the listing agent if all of the utilities are on, and they quickly say "yup, everything's on". But when I show up, it's dark, water meter locked at the street, gas meter locked at the meter - nothing's on.

Now I can inspect those properties, but the major systems can not be operated, and the Buyer does not get a complete inspection.

So I encourage all Buyers to insist that all utilities be energized and all systems started up BEFORE the home inspector shows up for the inspection.

Thanks for letting me vent, I feel better already.

D