Sitting idle doesn't do great harm but a complete service is worth the cost.
Home inspectors use gennys all the time but they only see if fans run. An hvac contractor can test the critical componets to see if they are functional. Effecieny of cooling can't be determined. Gas furnace heat exchanger is the only expensive component on furnace and 10 years is rather young for an exchanger. So yes,hooking a geeny up to see if compressor runs is worth about $150,otherwise I would offer like the system likly needs replaced and hope it doesn;t. I would be much more concurned about plumbing until I saw it pressurized. If the burst pipe is accessible,it can be temporarly repaired whiel system is pressurized with air. If the meter is in place and not locked I would turn water on after patching leak in ceiling.

According to our realtor (he is a carpenter) who does lots of work with Habitat for Humanity, he thinks it looks like new fittings on the exposed plumbing, so the leak in the living room was likely fixed but the ceiling not repaired. Its unknown if there are other leaks.

So, I understand that you are saying a general home inspector, the type a buyer would normally use, will only say yes or no to does the hvac turn on, and that we should pay additionally to have an hvac guy to use a generator (unless we can get electric turned on) to be able to tell us if the compressor runs and give the hvac a look over beyond whether it powers up. Even if it does run, there won't be any guarantee that it cools unless it is warm enough to test it. right? Maybe we will get lucky and this will take a while, inspections aren't' ordered until the bank accepts an offer. Is it common for the hvac guy to have a generator or would we need ot provide it? (we do have a portable one--but still the possible problem of connecting to it--I know our home is wired right to the electric panel-no plug)

This deal is pretty much a take it or leave it price by the bank, so even if it is no good it won't affect the price. The contract would stipulate that if inspector finds over $5k in repairs that he could get out of the deal, otherwise he is stuck with it. He can't afford too many surprises. It just stinks that he has to pay for extra inspections to avoid surprises, and if the results are bad then he just wasted the $.

Short sales are not a good thing for first time home buyers to get into. Speculators have a group of tradsmen they have an ongoing working relationship with. In this case a plumber,an hvac tech and a punch-out crpenter would inspect the place,charging only enough to cover overhead. Depending on the tradsmen's track record,the relationship survives for years or desolves. The tradesmen reap the benifit of getting all the investor's jobs. In the end,the investor take's it in the shorts occasionally but hits home runs in others. The best advice I can give regarding this type property is if you don't have skill in most remodeling issues,don't buy repos. If one feels lucky and can afford to loose money on a deal,go for it if you injoy the game. It is no different while dealing with anything else. An example is a livestock auction. The animals are in the ring so briefly that the average joe couldn't describe the animal's color,sex and general apperance after it leaves the ring. Professional buyers know withing 3% what it weighs,it;s health,age,breed x cross,and potential to fill expected purpose. All the while carring on a conversation with those around him and a customer on his cell.

Model numbers please with brand, age, size of both inside furnace and outside condenser.

You are really not going to know anything without firing it up with an HVAC pro there at the time it is done. Any other advice and you would just be guessing. Plumbing and hot water should also be checked.

Make an offer with condition that you have a working HVAC system. Can't really understand why homeowner will not cut on utilities when trying to sell a property. This raises questions to me. Proceed cautiously.

IMO

" can the ac be tested in the middle of a NJ winter?"

Even if the house were brand new the AC cannot be tested in the winter.

I think your son should assume the AC condenser will have to be replaced and factor that into his budget.

An inspector is not going to show up with two generators (one for each side of the electric panel) to power up the house so he can do his normal inspection. You may be able to find an electrician who will do this for you, but expect to pay a lot of money for his time and effort.

I agree with Klem1's comments. A first time homeowner should not be buying an abandoned as is short sale. Don't listen to anything the realtor says. His objective is to make the sale and collect his commission. A home inspector can miss a lot of things. They typically know very little about HVAC.

tigerdunes,

The owner died several years ago so this is an estate/short sale. It isn't the "typical" short sale where the disgruntled owners wreck the place and move on. I am not sure if we will be able to turn on the electric and plumbing or not. We know we might have to pay for it, but I assume the current owners would have to agree and make the calls.

Our son will have plenty of support (guidance and labor) from us and intends to live in the home for several years, then use it as a rental.

I will take the advice of putting in the offer that the hvac must be functional, at least the heating part. I am putting some trust in the Realtor as he works with my brother at Habitat for Humanity. I trust him to be honest, but I know we have to be careful about how strong his knowledge actually is.

I am thinking maybe my son should hold off a little while, and as the weather warms make an offer then if it's still available. That will give us a chance to test the compressor if we can get electric turned on.

He really wants to buy, not rent, and this would be a good size home for a good price. I just want him to get started on buying! (and move out!)

Thanks for the advice.

"This deal is pretty much a take it or leave it"

I'd leave it and run, not walk, away. This isn't a good step for a young and first time buyer.

If the plumbing was leaking for periods of time, then you may have hidden mold problems.

yes Mike, there is mold from the floor up about 2 feet in a closet adjoining the living room (where the leak was). It is green, not black mold which is one positive. I told him he would need a professional mold inspection to be sure it was confined to the one room and closet. I think the mold inspection is the most important one, then the plumbing, then the hvac, mainly because I would say the hvac has the least chance of damage of the three.

Did I mention that his girlfriend's dad owns a drywall company? I told him to discuss it with him and see what his thoughts are.

At this point I think he is leaning more towards forgetting it. It's a shame about the plumbing/mold because he can live with fixing paint and carpet and even a kitchen remodel (which isn't really needed right now). In his price range he will either get a small place, or a fixer upper, or stay home and continue to save. His income is fine, but due to commission based it's a little harder to get a mortgage.

I'll just post back if he goes through with it. If you don't hear from me that means he gave up the idea.

There are professionals who make a living buying distressed properties like this, fixing them, and then selling them for a profit. If this house is a bargain, then you have to wonder why the professionals have not come in and grabbed it.

I think the HVAC equipment is the least of your worries. You can get a quote how much it would cost to replace the AC and furnace and factor that into the budget. It is the problems hidden behind walls that are risky. You can't discover these until you taken ownership and start gutting the house.

I'm with mike - run away from this 'deal'.

Also it's not good to have a home unheated in a northern climate. It allows for a lot more expansion and contraction which may affect some paints / glues. When you allow the temp in a building to drop through the dewpoint repeatedly, you can get rust and mold.

Everything can be fixed - at a price! Unless you and/or your son are particularly handy when it comes to home repairs, a neglected short sale is probably not a good deal in the short or long term. The market is coming back but there are still decent deals to be had out there that won't take up all your time and money in repairs.

We bought a house three years ago that was built in 2005 and lived in for less than a year. The HVAC hadn't been used that much but we had problems with both systems and ended up replacing them both. So my opinion is that lack of use might actually be worse than overuse. That could be explained (particularly in the case of heatpumps/ACs) by seals drying out, valves taking a "set", etc, etc, and in the case of high efficiency furnaces by heat exchangers rusting from lack of use. So figure on a greater-than-even chance of needing replaced.

good things to think about for sure. I will let him know these things. He hasn't mentioned it lately, so I think he is going to sit this one out. Thanks again.