Date: April 22, 2025
Author: Travis Dalton
I’m not exactly proud of the way I got here, but I’m definitely satisfied with the result. It all started when I bought a house at auction, a house that was practically begging to be turned into something profitable. I had done my research, and I knew the potential was there — but there was one major issue: a pool.
It wasn’t just any pool, though. The thing was a disaster. The pool was never legally built in the first place, and as much as I wanted to rent the place out, there was no way I could get insurance to cover it. The last thing I wanted was to get stuck paying for an unsellable property with no return on investment, so I knew I had to do something about it.
Here’s where it gets a little tricky: this property had a bit of a sordid history. It was one of several houses that were supposed to go up for auction years ago, but for some reason, it never did. Somehow, the city manager got their hands on it, along with a bunch of others, in what looked like an insider deal. There was a brief news story on it, but it all just disappeared into the ether. Nobody seemed to care, and the whole thing was swept under the rug.
Flash forward to two years later, and the same house finally went up for auction — and I got it for a steal. The price was too good to pass up, but that pool? That was going to be a nightmare. I couldn’t legally rent it, I couldn’t fix it, and I sure as hell couldn’t just leave it there.
That’s when the idea hit me. If I couldn’t fix it myself, I’d get someone else to do it. But I needed the city involved — they were the ones who had let this slip through the cracks in the first place, and I knew they’d be desperate to keep the whole thing quiet. They had a lot more to lose than just my pool. There were several other houses involved in the initial scandal, and higher officials were likely tied to it all. I couldn’t just come out and admit to owning a non-permitted pool, so I had to be clever.
I waited until a city meeting where the topic of zoning and construction permits was on the agenda. Then, I carefully orchestrated a series of events that led to a concerned local citizen “raising” the issue of unpermitted pools in the neighborhood. I made sure it sounded legitimate enough that it would catch attention, but not so serious that it would immediately draw suspicion. The goal was to get the city to take action — and fast.
It didn’t take long. Within weeks, the city had sent an inspector out to check on the pool. I made sure the inspection report highlighted the lack of permits and code violations. From there, the city was on the hook for the fix, especially considering all the heat they had taken from the earlier scandal. They couldn’t afford another embarrassment, so they agreed to pay for the pool to be filled in, citing safety concerns and a need to keep the neighborhood “up to code.”
It was a win for me. I got rid of the pool that was holding me back from renting the house, and I didn’t even have to pay a dime to do it. The city took care of it, and in the process, I made sure to cover my tracks so nobody would suspect I had anything to do with the “concerned citizen” who raised the issue in the first place.
Now, I’m just sitting back, watching everything unfold. I’ll admit, it feels a little bit like cheating, but in the end, I got what I needed, and the city’s too caught up in their own mess to notice. It’s kind of like I played the game and won, using their own secrets against them. And honestly? I’m not losing any sleep over it.
