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We found a foreclosed home that we want to make an offer on. The house itself is in decent shape but there is a pool that is in bad shape. Both our realtor and our lender are telling us we can't get the home loan because of the pool. That sounds ridiculous to me. I would gladly dig up the pool and get rid of it if it meant we could get this house. We were planning on going with a VA loan but we can do conventional with 5% if needed. We don't want to put our whole savings into a down payment because the house needs new some minor cosmetic work.
Is there anything I can do to still get this house? Both the realtor and lender are adamant that the appraiser won't sign off on it because of the pool. We haven't made an offer and it seems we are at a stand still with this home. I can't imagine a pool standing in the way of a home loan.
in the past, neglected pools have held back financing. in some cases, the seller will install a "cover" over the pool to satisfy an apparent safety issue. this cover has been just simple 2x4's across the entire span, with chicken wire then stapled to it.
cheesy yes, but sufficient for the lender/appraiser.
I would talk with your lender to see if the problem is a lack of safety cover, and if so, would the seller adding one be sufficient
OP, would you like to include the cost of pool repair in your purchase price and pay it off with % over years? LOL
Some realtors are just too funny
I agree with kww, I saw few houses with pools in bad condition that had covers all over it. If that what it takes to get a mortgage, it shouldn't be a problem. In fact, I saw these houses being sold as none cash transactions, so it's possible.
I'm not sure if a cover would be enough for the appraiser. The home is bank owned and our realtor is certain the bank won't fix any of it. I'm kind of frustrated with her because she felt that the pool would be an issue from the beginning and upon speaking with our lender, she just said we couldn't get the loan and that was it. I would have liked to at least make an offer on the house and see what the appraiser felt and let the bank know how bad the pool is so they would need to do something or risk hanging onto this house until a cash offer came in.
I am going to contact a different lender and get info about the fha 203k loan. I'm a little leery on it because there seems to be an awful lot of fees, both monthly and up front. Also, we are planning on renting the house out in a few years and I know the fha 203k has an owner occupied requirement.
I'm not sure if a cover would be enough for the appraiser. The home is bank owned and our realtor is certain the bank won't fix any of it. I'm kind of frustrated with her because she felt that the pool would be an issue from the beginning and upon speaking with our lender, she just said we couldn't get the loan and that was it. I would have liked to at least make an offer on the house and see what the appraiser felt and let the bank know how bad the pool is so they would need to do something or risk hanging onto this house until a cash offer came in.
I am going to contact a different lender and get info about the fha 203k loan. I'm a little leery on it because there seems to be an awful lot of fees, both monthly and up front. Also, we are planning on renting the house out in a few years and I know the fha 203k has an owner occupied requirement.
I've done several FHA 203K's and fixing a pool, I'm 95% sure, is not an allowable use of the monies. You can't just use the funds for anything. They have specific allowable things for it. We don't have many pools out here but just knowing what I know about the loan, I would doubt it. I know in some areas not having a working pool is a big deal on value so it may or may not be a good use of rehab dollars. You do have to pay an upfront fee as well as the mortgage insurance premium every month, just like a regular FHA loan.
I would look at changing lenders and go to a local bank that holds their own loans. When lenders sell homes on the secondary mortgage market they have to follow certain criteria. When a lender holds their own loans, they can do whatever criteria they have in-house. So I'd suggest a local bank first.
Oh, and this is the course you take after asking the bank to fix it. Banks have been much more willing to do repairs lately. We got a roof replacement on a house by Wells and they partially rebuilt a rotten deck on another house.
I don't know the price of the home, but the selling bank might be hoping for a cash offer. If you can't get a loan, and the house sits on the market, put in an offer with a request to have the bank bring the pool up to standards that get a loan.
I don't know the specifics for VA, but I do know they are tighter than FHA and Conventional.
FYI - I don't know what's wrong with that pool, but we bought a foreclosed home with a pool that had been drained and had about 1 foot of murk in the bottom. No way to inspect or determine the condition of the pool. Conventional loan.
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LOL 
