Hello everyone. Need a little advice for a property we are moving into this week. I have read most of the foreclosure swamp threads already, so it seems like this is a fairly common situation that I have gotten myself into. When we get moved in I will be able to start the clean up process and get the correct test kits ordered. So first off, the pool is a Fox in ground, oval, and about average size. I wont be able to do accurate measurements until next week. We have talked to the neighbor, and the previous owner did have the pool running but it has been in foreclosure for about 14 months with zero maintenance. The once-integrated and automatic cover was haphazardly thrown over the water with sandbags holding the corners. Guessing this was the solution the bank came up with, but as everyone here already knows, this did not work very well. It is now very brown, full of sand/leaves/etc and about half empty. My first thought is to just skim off the junk and pump it out. Can anyone shed some light on whether this is a good or bad idea? The deep end is the only part of the pool that is filled, so id say its about a quarter filled at the current time. It seems like it would be easier to clean the junk out if most of the water is gone? Then fill, get the filter going, and go from there? I have attached pictures of its current state and old pictures from a previous owner showing what I would like it to look like again very soon.
Thanks for any help
Thanks for any help
Manual sweeping/cleaning would be a must. We normally don't like to see a pool empty for that long, or drained too low to maintain the structure itself. But that one seems to be holding well so far. Not sure if dropping a submersible pump in to let it remove more is going to make things any worse. Once you remove the trash and debris and start filling it up, a "SLAM" (link below) will be in order anyways. Just make sure you have a TF-100 (link below) or Taylor K-2006C ready when you do. Since it's sat for so long, you'll want water up to the skimmer to see if the pump still works. Maybe open-up that sand filter and do a deep cleaning as noted on the 
