How important are CO's?

on a very small deck and an above ground pool? If we don't apply for them what happens?

Re: How important are CO's?

When we were buying our house about 12 years ago, there was no CO against a small (5' by 5') "deck" and about 4 steps off of the back door. We almost couldn't buy the house because of that.... Luckily, they were able to process the paperwork to get it approved, but it caused some problems for a while. I'm not saying it's always mandatory for everything in every town, but I'm just relaying what we encountered first-hand.

Re: How important are CO's?

If you are selling or buying they are, some towns are stricter than others and it depends upon if it is a buyer or seller's market.

We sold in summer of 05 and there was a brand new (8 months old deck on our house). This was the start of the end of the seller's market but it wasn't obvious yet. As we already went to contract on our second house we were not waiting or getting a CO for the deck. We made that clear to the buyer. We also mentioned that the bank would do a drive by appraisal and it was in their best interest (property tax wise) that the bank not count the deck or the taxes would go up. Bank never saw the deck and the buyers agreed.

If it's on an older structure and I was buying I would be more leery. Most likely I'd get an engineer to check it out. As long as the town wasn't very strict and it wasn't compromising the structural integrity of the property, it wouldn't hold me up from buying. Then again, I'm not fearful of such issues with houses. Not everyone else is.

ETA: To take down both an officially "abandon" the pool isn't much. Our pool was filled in years ago but never officially abandoned by the previous owner. He filled paperwork with the town, we had our electrician take care of the buried electrical and charge it to the previous homeowner. I think it took 60 to 90 days to clear with the town. Check with the town but I don't think it would prevent me from buying. That's one of the easiest ones to fix. Now a dormer w/o a CO... yikes, you would have problmes.

Message edited 1/31/2007 9:38:52 AM.

Re: How important are CO's?

We had signed contracts on a house and the buyers were difficult about getting COs so we backed out of the deal.

a lot of times it depends on the bank, some banks will not approve your mortgage if all the COs are not in place. I don't think its worth taking that risk.

Re: How important are CO's?

I already had an engineer in and the deck was fine structurally. It's a small deck off the DR to outside and the house has been renovated.

The sellers already told the RE agent that they aren't getting CO's for the deck/pool and I spoke to the broker and she said that she doesn't see it being an issue.

I have two more questions

1. How much is it to get the Co and if I dont' get it before I move in
2. How much can my property taxes go up?

One more thing, the sellers are extremely motivated and I believe that if the loan didn't go through because there were no co's they'd get it done if that was seen as a deal breaker.

Re: How important are CO's?

Re: How important are CO's?

Re: How important are CO's?

Message edited 1/31/2007 11:05:59 AM.

Re: How important are CO's?

How old is the pool? Deck?
A pool is not a selling point to me, actually it was hard to find a house in my neighborhood w/o one. Above ground pools do not have the lifespan of in ground pools. If the deck is wood and depending upon it's age, that might be a factor too.


The pool I think is 5 years old and the deck is fairly new. I would say 3-5 years old.

I was thinking of calling the town to find out but didn't want to draw any attention to the matter.

Thanks!

Re: How important are CO's?

They may not be important now, but possibly in the future. I had similar issues when I bought my house - the deck was too close to the property line, the shed is too big and in the wrong place and I had a pool (now gone). I was allowed to close without any COs, although the deck and shed should have them. Now we are trying to get a permit and they are busting our butts telling us we need COs and won't approve the permit without them.

So, you may be able to close without a problem (really up to the bank and the title company) but in the future it may be an issue.

Re: How important are CO's?

the title company may have not allowed the bank to close without proper c/o because the survey showed things on it that they didn't have c/os for. If a survey was done prior to the deck and pool being put on the property then the title company wouldn't know about it either. I would make sure that there is something in your contract though that states that if your bank requires c/os for those items then either c/os have to be obtained or it would deal breaker.