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Message edited 11/5/2006 10:41:45 AM.

Re: Buying House with Above-Ground Pool????

Be aware that this gift may not have permits approved by the town. Our neighbor had to take it down once they moved in because someone called the town (they thought it may have been a guy that was outbid on it). Now that they've paid for the permits, its back up again.

Re: Buying House with Above-Ground Pool????

We have no clue if they have a permit for it! I didn't even think of checking on that.

Our main deal is that we don't want it and don't want to be burdened with it.

Re: Buying House with Above-Ground Pool????

Re: Buying House with Above-Ground Pool????

I would tell your attorney, you don't want it & they need to be responsible for its removal.

Re: Buying House with Above-Ground Pool????

I would definitely check if the pool has permits. But they are not responsible for the removal of it. If they do it, they are very generous. Owners are really only responsible for certain kinds of repairs, but houses are pretty much sold as is.

Re: Buying House with Above-Ground Pool????

If you are not already in contract with the house - definitely make this one of the stipulations of your offer. In this market - I bet the sellers would find a way to take the pool down in order to get the house sold.... unless you are already aware of other offers on the house.... It can't hurt to ask.

As for taking it down - i dont see why it would be so hard. you would have to drain it and then have someone tear it down. you will need to landscape the lawn where the pool was though. depending on your town you may need a permit to drain the pool and a dumpster permit for the resulting garbage. I would call a landscaper - they might even be willing to take the pool down for you.

Re: Buying House with Above-Ground Pool????

My parents took down their above ground pool a year ago, and it was a lot of hard work getting the grouind prepared for grass, etc. They also had white rocks surrounding the pool which made it that much more difficult to clean up.
DH and my brother helped, so the actual taking down went pretty smoothly.

Re: Buying House with Above-Ground Pool????

We bought our house 3 years ago with the pool as a "gift". We didnt know that they previous owners had filed for a permit, come 3 years later there is an inspector knocking on my door saying it needs to be inspected or we will be fined. The pool would never have passed inspection (too close to the neighbors fence and electrical issues) so we took it down. It wasnt that bad my husband did it himself and we will be calling special pickup to dispose of it. The spot looks terrible and we will wait until we can seed next year. There is also this sand type of stuff on the ground that needs to be removed but we dont know how yet. But definately if you dont want it, tell the owners. Oh and when the inspector was here she advised us that we need a permit for the fence since it was on the application and it cost us $30.00. She also advised us when we go to sell it we might have trouble with the shed that we purchased it with. I cant believe we were able to buy the house with no permit for the fence, pool and shed but now I might have trouble selling it....permits are such a scam!!!

Re: Buying House with Above-Ground Pool????

I don't think above ground pool need a permit

Re: Buying House with Above-Ground Pool????

Like previous posters said, if you are not already in contract I'd make the removal and proper abatement, according to town codes, of any electrical as a stipulation of the contract. Money should be put in escrow to cover any town fees.

We had a similar situation on our purchase. There was an IGP here years ago it was filled in but the paper work for the town was never filled out and the electrical lines just left in the ground... LIVE Our lawyer held money in escrow until the town could check it out and my electrician took care of electrical line. The seller paid my electrician directly for his services.

In this market I think you could negotiate that.
Good luck.

Re: Buying House with Above-Ground Pool????

My MIL had an UGP at her house. Since my DH and my BIL moved out she didn't want the pool anymore. She wanted my DH to take it down for her, but My DH actually put it on EBAY. He posted Local Pickup only and they needed to take the pool down themselves. He sold the pool for $200 and didn't have to lift a finger!

Re: Buying House with Above-Ground Pool????

We bought our house with an above ground pool and as other posters said, the reason they list it as a gift is because there is no permit. We didn't want the pool, however, so we took it down as soon as we got in. It was no big deal to take it down and we put it out to the garbage and they took it. Cleaning up the area took a bit more work, we had to remove the sand that was under the pool and bring in two yards of topsoil, then plant grass seed. It was one FULL day of labor, but it looks fine now.

Re: Buying House with Above-Ground Pool????

Re: Buying House with Above-Ground Pool????

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Message edited 11/5/2006 10:41:36 AM.