Apr

Florida pool Home Dream Gone Bad

Pool violation

Lately, when I show real estate there have been a lot of short sales and foreclosures. Sometimes homes are not in so great of condition.

When a home is for sale as a short sale it means that the owners owe more than they can sell the home for. They have to ask the bank for forgiveness of a portion of the dept that they owe for their mortgage.

Some of the short sale homes are in not as good condition because they are tenant occupied and the tenants are tired of their home being shown. Other times the owners live in the homes and they, in my opinion, have become distressed and depressed. They quit caring about just about everything.

Sometimes when you walk into a home you can feel the sorrow.

Whether the home is foreclosed or for sale as a short sale the first thing to turn bad is the swimming pool. Since foreclosures often have their electric turned off the pools “turn”. Sometimes people in a short sale situation can’t afford to maintain the pool, including the larger electric bill that accompanies it. When they turn the pool equipment off the chemistry is upset and the environment begins to die. The pool goes black. Algae begins to grow and it’s all downhill from there.

pool code enforcement

As if losing your home, sometimes your job, your credit and self esteem wasn’t enough there’s more. Code enforcement is watching. I’m not sure how they find out, whether it’s by lis pendens filings (bank action toward foreclosure) or helicopter but I’m seeing more and more of “your pool is bad and you’re in trouble” notices on homes.

I don’t know what the fine is for having a bad pool. It can’t be much worse than the stigma of having lost the home and financial damage that results from it.