Do you shut the power off at the box on some of your vacant listings?
I have noticed that a lot of REO properties have the power shut-off, but usually it is at the breaker box as most banks require the power to be on and in the listing agents name.
Some agents turn off the power so they won't incur a huge expense or maybe for other reasons. I showed a listing last night and it was dark outside. The power was off in the home so I called the agent who told me it was shut-off at the box.
I had a flashlight, found the box, turned on the power and waited five minutes for my clients. When they got to the home, we toured the bottom floor taking time to look closely at everything. While my clients were inspecting the downstairs bedrooms, I wandered up the stairs and heard the sound of water running. I ran to find the upstairs bathroom flooded with water that was pouring over the sink onto the floor. The sink was plugged and someone had shown the home, not realizing the power was off at the breaker box and either the agent or their client turned the faucet on, but no water...then left the faucet on and left the home, then in walked Fran and the rest is history.
The home is on a well, so if the power is off, the water won't flow, however, when I turned the power on, well you know the rest of the story.
My suggestion in an instance like this is to put a very conspicuous sign on every entry door that the power is off at the box, please be careful not to leave faucets on, even if water is not coming out!
I called the agent at 6:30 at night with the depressing news that she had a flooded home to deal with. Not good.
DelNorteCountyREOForSale.com & REOAgent95531.com
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