Pools...Cool Dive? Or Are They All Wet?

As a father of five children living in Florida, I would side with the crowd that says pools are great.  Now, the Realtor in me may say something different.  When I am asked to value a home that has an inground pool (not an above ground), I am usually faced with a problem.  What is the pool worth?   I have a good rule of thumb...take what the total cost of the pool was, and cut it in half.  Ouch!  Let's just say for example you have $35,000 invested in the pool--that means you get a whopping $17,500!  That's almost as bad as buying a new car and driving it off the lot!  We could make it even more complicated by screening it in, but let's don't and say we did. 

A large part of the time, you can find homes that have sold in the last six months, within half a mile, that have a pool to use as a comparable to base your value on. (Do this to see what your home value is BEFORE you have a new pool installed!  Then make your decision.)  I consider myself pretty frugal (my wife and kids would probably use the word cheap).  None-the-less, who out there would like to throw away $17,500?  I will tell you right now--NOT ME!  So how can we solve this problem?  Trade up--buy a home that already has a pool, and let the guy who had the pool installed take the hit, just like the guy who gets the privilege of driving that new car off the lot!  Happy Selling...

Grace and Peace...

http://www.skipgeiser.com/

SkipGeiser@live.com

(850)221-6442