Posted by -MisfitStyle- Abstract (old member, not really around anymore) and I were exploring an old residential school about 10 years ago and had a similar experience. Everything was going great until I turned a corner and saw a guy watching TV. In his room. That I was now in. Luckily his back was to me. Needless to say, I backed away slowly and we got the hell out of dodge. We later learned it was the new owner.

This happened to me as well- walked into a house where the lawn hadn't been cut in forever, windows were broken, some were boarded up and the front door was wide open- and there was a fat guy watching TV... amongst the piles of garbage.

The place was torn down about a year later.

I consult the UER DB.

tell me how you could have know a family was living in the hospital lol

Well, obviously they have their boat parked there. Duh!
All kidding aside--that really is freaky! But at the same time it's cool to see that someone is benefitting from an otherwise abandoned building. If they're just squatters, then I'd say the decorative flowerboxes on the balcony are a nice touch, if not a bit brazen! There has got to be an interesting back story here....

So, when you assume wrong and a place is indeed inhabited...what happens next??

Posted by AtticAddict Well, obviously they have their boat parked there. Duh! All kidding aside--that really is freaky! But at the same time it's cool to see that someone is benefitting from an otherwise abandoned building. If they're just squatters, then I'd say the decorative flowerboxes on the balcony are a nice touch, if not a bit brazen! There has got to be an interesting back story here.... So, when you assume wrong and a place is indeed inhabited...what happens next??

Live in the moment ; )

Totally agree about asking around. Those who live/work nearby can tell very interesting details about building and it's owner and it's 'visitors'.

Google the address.Sometimes on local news pages you can find out who's the owner, who cares about building if has been set on fire (for example)

Electricity...If there's a building which stands very close to the abandoned one and has electricity, there are high chances electricity still runs in the abandoned one,too. But it's not a sign that somebody cares about the abandoned place and can appear in the building out of the blue. Just don't mess much with switches / cables and so on.
Once my friend accidentally stepped on a cable which lied on the ground in abandoned restaurant. BOOM. Electrical sparks in darkness...Luckily, he didn't get electrical shock. It could have ended badly. At first we were super-sure that there are no electricity in building because it was really abandoned and there was much humidity in air. Later we found out building was somehow connected to another building nearby, some kind of a hotel which was half-abandoned. Just be careful, wherever you go.

About bunkers (fallout shelters) - if it looks totally abandoned inside and outside, there still might be a chance some of the rooms are still being used as storage rooms for nearby factories/any other places. True story.

I live in the midwest and spend a lot of time in old silos and the like. This goes back to what someone said earlier about industrial things sort of always looking abandon. Once I was exploring the premise of a very much abandoned building, when I decided to take the path down towards a few other structures. I started seeing cars and when I made eye contact with a guy in a hardhat I promptly turned and left. I think obviously cared for cars are the big give away here. It's easy to tell when a car hasn't been abandoned along with the building, so when you see those it's a good idea to avoid the property or at least scrutinize a bit closer and proceed with caution.

Likewise a middle west dweller, here. Mostly exploring houses in my area. There are a lot of super awesome tips in this thread and I am going to steal many of them.

For my part, I'd like to contribute:

+ Google maps for roof condition. In Iowa, the Google satellite images are typically very clear up to a close zoom? I have been frustrated looking at these images in other parts of the country when I'm traveling and not being able to get resolution to tell WTF anything is. But here you can practically see THROUGH a hole in the roof of a house if there is one. So, I guess... YMMV?

+ Drives. If you're trolling along Google satellite maps, the well-used driveways (especially in this area where everything is made of limestone) are bright shiny white (if they're not paved; I'm usually honed in on gravel farm roads to begin with because they're much more fruitful with abandoned farmsteads that have been bought up by corporate ag), but a less frequently used driveway will look dull. The whole property will look dull. It'll be a darker spot in a development.

When I'm there in person, usually lawns and stuff are kept mowed (I assume because of ordinances?? I don't own a lawn, so I don't know what the rules are), but you can get a sense from the weeds in the drive how often what kind of vehicle gets driven in there. A lot of these places are obviously being used for field access, but there will be saplings or fast-growing tall plants like giant ragweed springing up in the ruts. If the undercarriage of a car or truck would whack the tops of those plants, and they don't look trashed, that's a good indication that either no one is coming around, or they're just rolling a tractor in there every now and again.

+ Often, you can find records about individual properties on county GIS websites (iliamo86 turned me on to this). Sometimes they're fussy, depending on the system, figuring out exactly which parcel you're looking for information on. But a mailing address for the owner of said property will be listed. If the mailing address is the same as the physical address, well... that's a good indication that they're still there or still there routinely. Occasionally, these parcel info pages will also give you some other helpful hints about the property (whether taxes are being paid promptly, whether the house is listed as a dwelling or if there are just ag buildings listed as taxable on the property, occasionally even a condition).

Posted by bandi This happened to me as well- walked into a house where the lawn hadn't been cut in forever, windows were broken, some were boarded up and the front door was wide open- and there was a fat guy watching TV... amongst the piles of garbage. The place was torn down about a year later.

I once explored an 'Abandoned' apartment building in mid winter where the first two floors had busted windows and were wall to wall garbage bags. But when I opened the door to the third floor I was hit with a WAVE of heat because the door opens into the kitchen...which had all four of it's stove burners running. Lights were on, and in a room to the left I heard Judge Judy playing on a TV.

I closed the door VEEEEEEERY SLOOOOOWLY and quietly...then ran down the steps as softly as I could!