I am a realtor in Mass. I just went through this with a client. You can have the utilities turned on for one day, but the bank will make you or the listing agent pay for it. Turn on the electricity first,then the furnace. The water can be done anytime. Resist the urge to skip the inspection. The property I was working on is only 20 years old and was full of problems. Good luck with everything!

If the home was truly winterized, it is not a simple matter of just turning things on. For a FHW system, a plumber must be hired.

DH is a plumber and has winterized/dewinterized etc. the same foreclosed property several times last year and already once this year. It costs some money to do and the seller pays for it through the REA.

I was thinking the same thing if it's hot water heat. If it's forced air it should be simpler. Having the property winterized should not be an issue for well other than it shall probably have to be re-primed. Septic........well depending on the tests, you may need water and that means the pump needs to work.

If you aren't used to working with wells and pumps, having a plumber handy is not a bad idea at all. Ditto winterizing a water system up again. Our back-flow is between the valve where we'd bleed the system and the pipe exit through the wall and if we wouldn't disconnect the pipes there to bleed that stretch out, it would not flow back to the water cachement and drain out. Then........it would freeze and could rupture. It would only be a small amount of water, but it would mean replacing the pipe.

Tell the damn bank that if they want the deal to happen that they have to pay for it...

ncrealestateguy: "Tell the damn bank that if they want the deal to happen that they have to pay for it..."

Excellent advice. Also, don't move forward with turning on utiolities without a legally binding agreement that you are not responsible for anything that may happen once the utilities are turned on...such as pipes bursting, gas leaks, etc.

This is why home inspectors (at least the smart ones) don't turn on utilities that are turned off due to the potential dangers and liabilities involved. After all,the utility may have been turned off BEFORE winterization due to some sort of malfunction...no way to know for sure.

Forewarned is forearmed...and good luck.

That said, I find it amazing that the banks...as the owners/sellers of these homes... make it so very difficult for people to purchase these homes.

Just one more example of them being the root cause of the RE debacle.

Some of the lenders have sent out some very poor winterzation procedures to include the promotion of tampering with utilitiy meters and the injection of an earth friendly antifreeze into the plumbing. There is no excuse for any antifreeze to be in your home plumbing...just dewater the lines and be done. Simply a disaster waiting to happen.

"There is no excuse for any antifreeze to be in your home plumbing."

Using anti freeze in traps is pretty routine.
They should not be left dry, and antifreeze with some mineral oil floating on top will last the whole winter.

Putting it into the supply lines is not needed, though it takes more time to make sure the lines are actually blown out completely.

Many supply lines have dips and low spots that allow water to collect.