5 Tips on Buying a Foreclosure in Chester County - Part II
Filed under Buyers · Tagged: bank owned chester county, bank owned properties in downingtown, bank owned winterization issues, bank owned winterized, chester county foreclosure buying tips, chester county foreclosures, downingtown foreclosures, downingtown reos, phoeniville foreclosures, phoenixville foreclosures, phoenixville reo, reo and dewinterization, reo chester county, reo winterized, tips on buying a foreclosure, west chester pa bank owned, west chester pa foreclosures, west chester pa reo
THIS PROPERTY HAS BEEN WINTERIZED
If you’ve ever viewed a bank owned listing before, a tattered piece of paper bearing this phrase has probably greeted you at the front door.
But what does it mean to you, the prospective buyer?
To boil it down to its most simple form, a winterized property has had all of the water in the home shut off, and then the pipes are bled to remove any remaining water in the pipes. Once this step is completed, the pipes are then filled with anti-freeze.
Why do the banks do this?
Because they aren’t planning to keep the heat on in the property, and they don’t want the pipes to freeze, crack, and burst all over the property which would cause extensive water damage.
Sounds like a good thing right? Not always.
An improper winterization can cause considerable complications and even severe property damage in some cases. Why?
Because if the person who performs the winterization doesn’t make sure that every last drop of water is bled from the pipes prior to filling them with anti-freeze, then some water will remain trapped in the pipes.
The remaining water (even only a very small amount) can then freeze and expand, causing the pipe to break ever so slightly.
You won’t notice that the pipe isn’t quite right until the anti-freeze is drained and you turn the water back on.
All of a sudden, as you are walking upstairs from the basement of the home that you virtually stole from the bank (suckers!), you notice a hissing sound….
“Do you hear that noise?” you ask your significant other.
You walk upstairs to the second floor to investigate this Hardy Boy mystery……
…….and much to your dismay you see that one of the bedroom radiators is spraying out water like a inner city fire hydrant cracked open by the neighborhood kids trying to cool off on a 98 degree summer day.
That sucks.
Winterizations also make it difficult for your home inspector to properly inspect the property.
The majority of bank owned properties that I’ve dealt with make the buyer responsible for dewinterizing the property at the buyer’s expense before the inspection.
To make matters worse, they also require the buyer to re-winterize at their expense once the inspection is complete.
The thought process behind this seems to be that if they make the buyer do it, then many times the buyer might just say, “that’s a pain, I won’t worry about inspecting the plumbing.”
Which works well for them, since they are then passing the buck to the buyer who really has no idea if the plumbing is in working order or not.
Need advise on buying a foreclosure, or getting a great deal on a home in Chester County? Hit me up…… Caleb@kw.com
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