10 turnoffs for potential homebuyers

[Isaac-1]

It is also important to remember appraisals have different purposes, and sometimes it has little to do with accurately determining the value of a property, and sometimes the price a piece of property sells for is unrelated to the appraised value. I know of an example around here where someone from out of town (rancher from texas) was looking for a few hundred acres with a reasonably nice home on it near here for a seasonal house, there were none on the market that fit his need (300+ acres, etc.), so working with a local real estate agent they started scouting properties with owners that might be interested in selling. After a few weeks of searching he ended up finding an acceptable but smaller than he wanted property with elderly owners only about 200 acres, appraised at around $750,000 a few years ago, long story short he ended up paying almost double that appraisal for the place.

 

[Divin Dave]

Well apparently the property tax man definitely belives a pool adds value to your property. Just try building on in my town and see what happens to your tax bill.
So someone is not telling the truth. The real estate folks or the tax man. Or both!!!!

 

[BoDarville]

If you try to talk to someone about it who isn't ready to listen, you the response will be either 1. argumentative, or 2. a thousand-yard stare.

I've seen lots of those thousand-yard stares, especially when I tell them I use bleach as the chlorine source.

I saw this article and think it is extremely difficult to suggest that such blanket statements can be applied nation-wide. In warm-hot climates, a pool is more highly-prized than it would be in the north. Even within a given locale (including in the north), there will be variations among specific neighborhoods and specific houses. Case in point...before moving into our current house, we considered having a pool built at our former house. We got opinions from several real estate agents and they all advised against having a pool built at that house due to the price-point and local comps for that size house. We decided that we did not want to stay in that house that badly because it was on what had become a busy street, plus we had outgrown it since my wife now works at home the majority of the time. So we opted for a larger house on a quiet street that already had a pool. In this particular neighborhood (only a couple of miles from our former house), a premium is placed on having a pool.

I must admit, if I lived in an area where I could only get 3 months use of a pool, even I would have second thoughts. But here in DFW where I can get 6 months use of a pool (in a bad year), it's an easy decision for me.

 

[PoolESQ]

Realtors are almost as bad as Lawyers for wanting to put their own spin on things.

Tsk, tsk, Charlie_R.

 

[Charlie_R]

Tsk, tsk, Charlie_R.

Have you ever tried working for either as a handyman doing the small jobs contractors won't normally touch?