selling house - can't get insurance need to close

[cleancloths]

Why not just sleep there one day a week - its close enough and might save you a fortune, enough to pay someone to fix your pool problems

[AnnaK]

That is an excellent suggestion!

I was an Underwriting Manager for a national insurance company for a while and know a little bit about personal property insurance. By moving in a very few items of furnishings, a place to sleep and minimal equipment to prepare and eat a meal, and by spending one night in each 30 day period at the house, you change its classification from "vacant" to "unoccupied". This can make a huge difference in coverage and premium.

[edarling]

Sunday, I managed to close the filter and returns after lowering the water. You don't want to know what a bullfrog looks like after going through the skimmer to the filter - I was wondering where thay guy went when I was lowering the water, and I eventually found him in the filter basket - YUCK! I will never take the skimmer basket out early again - I figured emptying to waste and no leaves on top would be fine. I can't do the cover myself, so the pool store guys came to do that Monday.

I managaged to break one of the very brittle connectors that goes from the filter to the lines. One more thing going wrong, but it is a very small thing to fix. For some reason I couldn't loosen the outer ring of a larger valve, and the entire valve turned pulling the small line out from the valve connection.

I will ask about 'unoccupied' v. 'vacant'. I had to remove all the furniture after moving, since I then spent money on painters and new carpet in all the bedrooms, so it would be difficult to move stuff back. My disabled son lived in the master bedroom there and it was a HUGE mess. Wheelchair and hospital bed scrapped up all the white trim and doors and the carpet was long replaced by press-on vynal tiles that no longer had finish on them. that room and all the others to a much lesser extent had to be fixed up.

Not that it is helping the sale. 6K on updates (after already doing 3K in hardwood refinish and my own painting of common rooms), and lowering price 15K is not making me happy. July is month 4 of 2 mortgages

Thanks for pool advice too, guys. Liner is old, coming off a bit in one corner, has had some leaks that patched well, and is very faded. We hung in there with it, but every year I say NEXT YEAR is when it will be replaced.

On the positive side, we are building a new pool at the new house - salt water system - so far so good. I will try to take more photos and post, particularly the cool lift I just bought for my son so he can use the pool too.

- betty

[PoolDoc]

You might want to look at installing a salt system on that pool -- it's really hard to maintain a pool that you don't check regularly. No, actually, it's impossible.

But having a salt system would make it much easier.

Over the years, what I've heard from realtors suggests that pools kill sales far more often then they help them. And, a messed up pool is a house sale killer. So, investing in a salt system would not be recoverable $$'s . . . but it might keep you from losing a sale, and having to lower the house price again.

Ben