Buying a house located next to the community pool/center?? help (Houston: neighborhood, to live in)

[aggieplaya]

I'll tell you what *I* think is wrong with it not selling yet....it has white walls and WALLPAPER. Anyone who wants to buy a half million dollar home isn't going to want those two things. The carpet on the stairs is hideous as well. I suspect potential buyers end up focusing too much on those negatives to the point they keep on looking elsewhere.

Just my opinion of course.

[longnecker]

Originally Posted by cully

The one I'm talking about doesn't have a lifeguard either but the teams bring their own.

Sorry off topic but this brings up a question. Why do they have lifeguards at swim meets?? The coaches should certainly be qualified to jump in and save someone. I live in a beach resort area. We have many pools and beaches. My son was on the H.S. swim team. The coaches were beach life guard patrol officers many of the team members were beach or pool lifeguards yet at practice or swim meets they were required to have a certified lifeguard on duty????

[Appleisafruit]

Only reason you are getting a half acre house in a nice neighborhood with Soutlake schools at thus price is that they are oddly located and lack updating. You can fix cosmetic atrocities with paint and flooring but location is what need to be analyzed. If you can live with it, can't afford other homes in this neighborhood and don't expect to make a fortune on sale then go for it.

Most buyers lack imagination, they want turn key and can't see beyond wall paper. If you ever watch HGTV then you must remember stupid buyers who reject homes for carpet, furniture, decor and appliances but jump on worst homes for their shiny appliances and decor. Look past superficial stuff.

[dblackga]

Originally Posted by longnecker

Sorry off topic but this brings up a question. Why do they have lifeguards at swim meets?? The coaches should certainly be qualified to jump in and save someone. I live in a beach resort area. We have many pools and beaches. My son was on the H.S. swim team. The coaches were beach life guard patrol officers many of the team members were beach or pool lifeguards yet at practice or swim meets they were required to have a certified lifeguard on duty????

Because, during a meet, the coach is focused on the swimmers, both in the water, and also strategizing and giving pep talks to the swimmers coming up. Their attention is not solely focused on what is going on in the pool 100% of the time. It seems ironic, doesn't it? There's dozens and dozens of people watching the pool avidly during an event. However, no one is paying attention the warm-ups in the deep end, the clowning around kids too close to the edge, etc., etc.

It's an extra set of trained eyes. And, more importantly, it keeps the insurance rates manageable.

[cully]

Originally Posted by dblackga

Well, a couple of things.

1. Check and see if the pool is even BIG enough to host meets. A lot of these smaller neighborhood pools are too small for meets.

2. If they DO have meets, you're talking summer swim league, which is usually between 5-8 meets -- 1 a week during the summer. Half of those are away. So, basically, 3-4 evenings a year. That wouldn't be enough to stop me.

3. If half of the homes already have pools, then you're probably talking about a pretty small membership. Ask about the membership, swim team, etc.

4. If you have kids and they are old enough, you'll probably love having it right next door -- all the convenience, none of the maintenance.

I'd certainly hope that the price of the home reflects it's location.

The pool I'm talking about with all the meets...yes one giant one a year. But other than that until last year now that I think about it...and could be the ADA requirements or neighbor complaints of noise and not being able to use the pool...several times a week that pool took it's share of the meets and serious practices several times a week. PA system, whistles, shouting from coaches, yelling from kids, snacks on the lawn, canopies set up by various groups and families. I passed often and wondered how people living around that area stood it. I wondered if they had really checked it out before buying. btw, several for sale signs up there as they seem to be up every couple of years, and this is not an area where people move out very quickly.

[cully]

Originally Posted by dblackga

Because, during a meet, the coach is focused on the swimmers, both in the water, and also strategizing and giving pep talks to the swimmers coming up. Their attention is not solely focused on what is going on in the pool 100% of the time. It seems ironic, doesn't it? There's dozens and dozens of people watching the pool avidly during an event. However, no one is paying attention the warm-ups in the deep end, the clowning around kids too close to the edge, etc., etc.

It's an extra set of trained eyes. And, more importantly, it keeps the insurance rates manageable.

That reminds me of the whole insurance issue. Our last community had a monitor, not a lifequard. This was intentional. It was percieved that with a lifeguard there would be certain expectations...such as saving a life...and it would be safer to just say swim at your own risk-no lifeguard. Safer and therefore better on insurance risk. I guess they took this to the extreme by having the monitor being an obviously elderly gentleman who would be less likely to save a life, as nice as he was. He had his own health issues and one day had a heart attack while sitting watching the pool and died.

[May-be]

Thanks for the advice, everyone!!!

[May-be]

Originally Posted by Rakin

And that's against TOS if I recall correctly.

Okay! Have a great day, boss!!

[dblackga]

Originally Posted by cully

The pool I'm talking about with all the meets...yes one giant one a year. But other than that until last year now that I think about it...and could be the ADA requirements or neighbor complaints of noise and not being able to use the pool...several times a week that pool took it's share of the meets and serious practices several times a week. PA system, whistles, shouting from coaches, yelling from kids, snacks on the lawn, canopies set up by various groups and families. I passed often and wondered how people living around that area stood it. I wondered if they had really checked it out before buying. btw, several for sale signs up there as they seem to be up every couple of years, and this is not an area where people move out very quickly.

I guess it depends on the area. Around here, most of the practices are early in the morning, starting at 8 and over with by 10:30, when the pool opens to the membership. So, yeah, a little whistling, but mostly, the kids were in the water swimming back and forth and not making much noise. :-) PA groups, picnic groups, etc. are definitely NOT the norm -- in fact, parents aren't encouraged to stay at practice. The summer swim league only lasts 6 weeks around here. *shrug* In our case, it's not a big deal. The people that lived close by really enjoyed being able to walk to the pool and not have to park during meets. :-)

[TheOverdog]

Looking at this place again, I love how backwards TX development is. There is a grass buffer on SouthLake Blvd (no sidewalk of course) and a then a gargantuan parking lot, and then the stripmall chainstores (or whatever they are) are pushed right up against the backyards of the neighboring homes. The street gets a bufferzone but the houses don't! I'm pretty sure you could jump the back fence of this house and land in the cement parking lot of the building behind it.

I count almost 100 parking spots for the building behind the house, a few of which I guess are necessary because there is no link to the other giant parking lot for the stripmall. And would you really want to live in a place where 100 people drive to and from regularly? But 100 people probably don't drive to it regularly - just like the stripmall parking lot, the parking lot for that building is probably overbuilt by about 200%. So 20-30 cars regularly park there. Of course the map shows 7 cars in the lot.

"There's a freeway running through his backyard, but he thinks he's got it so good"

And this is the low-density wealthy area - but it's designed and built like the ghetto.