I'm at a point of deciding whether to replaster my pool or demolish it. My question for the group is: If you were a homebuyer right now, would a pool in good condition be a plus or minus in your decision to buy?
(sorry if this is the wrong group for this question, but I've seen similar questions answered here)
I recently bought my first home. One of my criteria was that the house has NO POOL. I don;t want to deal with the upkeep and repairs of a pool. My wife doesn't swim. However, If there were a hot tub, it would have been very acceptable. Sq. Ft. was more important to us than anything..............Needed the room.
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We specifically told our real estate agent not to show us any homes with pools. We told him that we would consider a home with an above ground pool if it was one that could easily be removed (no deck attached to the house built around the pool, for example).
Well, if the neighborhood was overrun with some mouthy little pukes, I'd consider having one installed and nightly removing the "Victims" while everyone else slept. :)
Depends on where you live...I live in SW Fla and pools here are a positive for those from "up North" who migrate down here on what seems to be an hourly basis. It is also a plus for me since I enjoy swimming and use it daily. I guess if I lived in place like Pennsylvania, Missouri, or even South Carolina or Northern Georgia, a pool might not be the attraction it is in year-round hot weather climates.
As for the monthly maintenance, once the pool is properly balanced, all you do is maintain the proper free chlorine-acid balance with either a constant load of 3-inch chlorine tabs (cost ranges from $40 to $60 for a bucket that can last several months) in your chlorinator or by shocking the pool with a few gallons of liquid chlorine (about $2.50 per gallon) every few weeks. The total cost shouldn't exceed $30-$50 per month, if even that much.
Problem comes in when the pool owner neglects the maintenance and the water starts to turn green and show algae growth along the sides. That's when maintenance becomes expensive since the owner usually freaks out and calls a pool maintenance business for help. However, it's actually quite simple to turn a dirty pool around in basically 36 to 48 hrs, going from a leaf-laden, can't-see-the-bottom green/brown pool to a clear blue one by simple cleaning and shocking.
Following Hurricane Charley I ended up with one of those pools that looked like it had been abandoned by the owner, full of leaves and pine needles blown thru breaks and tears in the pool cage's screen fabric, lots of yellow and green algae build up since our electric was out for
12 days and couldn't run the pump. When the power came back, I poured 4 gallons of liquid chlorine to shock it (cost about $10), turned on the pump for 24 hours, skimmed off the debris with my leaf basket and pool vacuum, and added an algae remover I had stored, resulting in a crystal clear blue pool again just 36 hours later.
Entr> I'm at a point of deciding whether to replaster my pool or demolish it. My
Having had a pool in the yard in the past, I'd not want a pool if I am in the market. An in gorund is definitely out of the consideration. I think most realtors would tell you the same.
I installed a 24,000 gal. in-ground pool in my previous home (Atlanta area) and we enjoyed it immensely. It was a nice centerpiece to the backyard landscaping and an excuse to have weekend parties. I spent about 1 hour / week for maintenance and about $150 each season for chemicals. When we got ready to buy another house, we went looking for one with either a pool or enough room to add one. In my personal experience, most folks who say they would never have a pool because of maintenance, cost, liability, etc have NEVER had one and don't really know what their talking about.
"Entropy" wrote in news:0Km9d.4160$% snipped-for-privacy@fe1.texas.rr.com:
If it were in Arizona it would definitely be an asset. Assuming you're in Texas, I would consider it similarly. If it were in the midwest or east, I wouldn't have one on a bet.
I'd have to disagree. I've seen lots of surveys, which you can probably find with a web search, that show how much value is added to a home for various improvements. Things like adding a bathroom or remodeling the kitchen are always at the top. Some even add more resale value than they cost. Pools are near the bottom of the list, however I have never seen them detract value, they just add a lot less than they cost.
A lot also depends on where you are located. A pool is going to be a lot more desirable in FL than it is in MA. Are there many pools in your neighboorhood?
I think the main reason realtors dislike pools is that a home with one can take longer to sell. If people have small children, for example, or are elderly they may be unwilling to buy a home with a pool, so it rules out some buyers. On the other hand, if someone really wants a house with a pool, they may still buy a home without it, figuring they can add it. The realtor would just rather have it sell quickly to as many people as possible.
I would also evaluate what the total cost of fixing up the pool vs filling it in and relandscaping, etc., will be, how attractive the area the pool is in, etc before I made a decision.
As for my vote, if the house had an attractive pool in good shape in an area where it can be used enough, it would be a plus for me as a buyer.
It depends upon the buyer, his/her family members, and where the house is located. In Florida, it is probably more of an asset. In Maine, less of an asset. Kids would probably use the pool more than adults. Adults look more at the maintenance and costs. Where I am in NY, the average swimming season is about 3-1/2 to 4 months. That leaves 8 to 8-1/2 months of looking at a black pool cover (when it's not covered by snow).
I bought a home in New Orleans - In town not the suburbs. Had a lovely pool that took up most of the backyard. It was a selling point for me. Little did I know.
There was a hackberry tree and a Chinese tallow tree that hung gracefully over the pool. Well, if you have had a pool you know right away what happened. These two trees dropped leaves, flowers and berries all day and night. The berries were a poisonous purple which stained everything they touched. The bottom of the pool and coping was constantly spotted. Could NOT get the trees down because one of them belonged to a neighbor and the other was so big, no one could get the needed equipment in to get it out. Plus it had grown into the neighbor's fence.
You cannot drain and clean a pool in New Orleans because of the water table.
Plus I would find dead frogs in the skimmer on a regular basis. It had to be cleaned all the time and despite the fact that New Orleans was built over Hell, the water temp was cold most of the year.
I bought chemicals by the case!
There were also two vicious German Police dogs - who did really belong to the police - who lived behind us and would jump the fence to go swimming. Their owners were always apologetic - when you could find them
- and would come retrieve them. It seemed they could only jump one way.
It was a terrible experience. I would never have another pool.
When we were shopping for houses we saw a few with pools, and most of the pools were in need of some work.
Keep in mind that I've never owned a pool before, but I'm pretty handy and I think I could have had all the pools I saw up and running within a month or two.
In my case, if I had made offers on any of these homes I would have used pool repair costs to haggle the price down.
That said, my suggestions are to list at close to the price you want to sell for, stating the condition of the pool, but stay pretty firm on your price. Or you could ask a high price and assume that people will really want to haggle it down because of the pool.
FYI, we didn't buy a house with a pool because we found one with something more useful and just as controversial. A pole barn.
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