Over the past few years the U.S. housing crisis has gutted entire neighborhoods, dotting formerly thriving neighborhoods with growing numbers of vacant, unkempt homes. While it’s hard to find a silver lining in this serious economic crisis, thousands of skateboarders across the country are getting something out of it. Due to all the foreclosures, there are more empty pools than anyone knows what to do with. And wherever there’s an empty pool, a skater sees a big opportunity. As a result, these are truly the boom times for skaters who live in or near communities troubled by recent wave of home foreclosures.

But even though these houses are vacant, skaters obviously can’t just walk onto any piece of real estate and do whatever they want. Foreclosed homes may not be owned by families or individuals, but they are held by banks and are certainly not public property. So when it comes to using these pools, there are some obvious logistical issues.

On one hand, skaters are used to pursuing their sport in locations that aren’t exactly officially designated for boarding, and they’ve never been stopped by a measly little fence or some distant authority figure saying, “You can’t skate here.” And as many skaters have discovered, if you get chased out of one property, there’s probably going to be another one just around the corner or on the next block over.

But on the other hand, many skaters are discovering ways to make their pursuit of a perfect pool legitimate. Some skaters have perfected the art of locating foreclosed homes, and once they do so, all they have to do is talk to the owner of the home (a bank, in most cases) and offer to take care of the pool for free. Pools left unattended can quickly become muck-filled liabilities, and skaters skilled in preventing this from happening can earn some friends in the banking industry.

In places like Fresno, California and Phoenix, Arizona, this transaction has been more-or-less perfected. Skaters call the bank and offer to take care of the pool for free. The bank gets a promise that the skaters will keep the pool free of graffiti and will not try to enter the house, and the deal is set. Then, as soon as the house is ready to be sold, the bank has a clean pool that adds to the value of the home. Everybody wins.
photo credit: milesgehm

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