Printable View
Since it's really impossible to quantify recreational pleasure and it's worth to someone else later down the road about the only advice I would give would be not to secure recreational debt. In other words I wouldn't use my house as collateral to finance any recreational activity.
Good of luck on your decision it's not an easy one,
Jo
I think that hits the nail on the head. Based on the pricing we're getting, we would have to take at least a 20k home equity loan (along with the cash from the boat). Not to offend anyone, but we decided it's to much to spend at this point for something that will not provide any financial value in the future. I know. I know the boat doesn’t either but at this point its two years old and I can still get 80% of what we paid. Can't say that about a pool in two years. Thanks for everyone’s input and good luck. We will be pursuing some lake front property instead.Quote:
Originally Posted by bradjo
Thanks again...
If you think a pool is expensive wait 'til you see the price of lake front property.
We already have checked into pricing and yes it is more expensive. The decision has never been about if we can afford it. Its about, is it worth it from all perspectives. The pool most definitely has a very high level of enjoyment. But I'm not sure we can enjoy it knowing we'll get nothing if we had to sell our house. The difference for us is that lake property is a true asset that will appreciate and be worth something if we ever have to sell.
Of course, but if you're concerned with risk the lake house is off the charts compared to a pool. It will appreciate but you're not guaranteed to find a buyer asap if you need to dump it.
We actually looked at the lake house before we decided to put in a pool. Our neighbors just sold one because their kids hated going there every weekend, and after thinking it over we decided our kids would probably get bored too since all their friends are right here in our neighborhood.
Just a thought. Good luck with your decision.
Interesting thread, especially being an ex-boater and current ig pool owner.
The thing about boats, the best TWO GOOD DAYS of boat ownership are the day you BUY it and the day you SELL it.
Hope this helps, Tony
I've owned two different boats over the last 8 years and the best days are when I'm on it. We love boating. Some of the best family memories we have are from boating trips.
Sorry it didn't work out as well for you Tony. I hope I like my pool as much as you do, but I'm still at least a week away from completion.
Sounds like you've already made your decision, but you may want to try to obtain a pared down quote, leaving some features until later. No one says you have to have a 5' deck around the pool right away, no one says you have to have a water feature right away. A number of things can be planned, plumbed and wired for the future - IF you would choose to have them in the future. Your basic pool and its finish and perhaps that retaining wall need to be decided upon at the outset, but other items can wait. Although in Michigan, maybe a heater would also go on the original construction list??:D
Not sure how Michigan taxes property, but your property taxes will probably go up having a pool and will obviously go up with the addition of lake property. I think some states may tax boats as well????
In addition to talking to real estate agents about how much your pool influences your home's value, talk to real estate appraisers!! Our agent, as nice as she was, gave us outdated info for the neighboring city where she was based. When I talked to the appraiser who actually did our appraisal and works in this area, I got different information and much different numbers!
All in all, go with the pool for the enjoyment of it, not for how much it may or may not add to your property's value. I live in a hot climate and even the most modest of homes here seems to have a pool of some type. I just thought that at least once in my lifetime, I wanted to have a pool and this seemed like the place to do it. I'm in the pool AT LEAST once a day and love it. DH is not the water baby I am, so this is a real indulgence, something we rarely do otherwise.
pools and boats are not financial investments but rather a financial drain. I have had 2 boats and just recently sold a ski boat I had for 10 years. I actually lost very little money on that boat, it cost 25K new and I sold it for 19K 10 years later, that's very unusual for a boat.
You will not get your money out of your pool either when you go to sell the house. If the new owner of the house is looking for a house with a pool then it may help make the sale but you will not get anything close to what you pay for the pool back.
So the only question is will the enjoyment of the pool or boat be worth the cost to your family ? Only you can answer that question.
I would take a pool any day over a boat, in the just the usage difference alone. Feel lucky with your pool quotes. I am looking at a base price of around 70k with my soil work I need for the city dealing with my slope and the retaining wall I need to put in to get near my slope running somewhere around 10-13k additional. With the heat in Socal I am dying without my pool which has been delayed a couple of months now with problems with the homeowners association and the city.
For myself living in Socal my family will use the pool all the time. The money pit of a is worth it, we purchased a house that had room for a pool and more.
Good luck with your decision.