Buying a short sale, pool not winterized

[Richiewheels]

Hi,

A very close to the finish line to buy a house with an in ground pool. The current owner has no money and the pool was never closed for the winter. The house is in Northern NEW jersey and its been a mild winter so far but i don't know how to determine if any damage has been done. Can anyone help? Thanks.

 

[duraleigh]

Probably no issues this early in the season but the only way to tell is to get the pool operational and see what happens (leaks, pump operating, etc)

 

[Swampwoman]

Richie, when I bought my foreclosure last year I paid a pool company to inspect the equipment. Through freddiemac, I was also able to get the pm company to pay to have the same company properly close the pool as our offer was still in process in November.

In your case, with a short sale, which can be a drawn out process, I might be inclined to ask to bank to do the same if they've accepted your offer (or even if they haven't, but that's the slow part). If you're willing to risk being out a few bucks should the deal fall through, it's likely worth it to just pay the company to inspect and close the pool at the same time. Better that then damage from a hard freeze, I'd think.

In our case, although it was a stagnant swamp to recover come spring, at least the mechanicals were in fine working condition and there were no leaks!