pool value

Does anyone have any resources regarding the true cost and benefit of a pool in a condo complex? Our group is considering decommissioning our pool and/or passing on the cost of the pool only to owners who use the pool. There are strong opinions on both sides (both who want to keep and those who want to get rid of the pool). It is difficult to quantify the value of the pool - those who want to get rid of it have a clear outline of the costs of maintenance, etc. There are very few pools in the local area.

Thoughts?

Thanks.

Yup. Agree with Donna 100%.

Plus, those who don't use it now and want to "opt out" of "maintenance" for it just don't get that luxury.

They knew the pool existed when they purchased their unit, they knew the maintenance of the pool was part of their "fees," whether they used it or not, so changing it now just because the cost of maintenance is higher is neither equitable nor appropriate.

It would be disingenuous of the non-pool-users to claim they never, ever expected maintenance fees to go up.

That's just living in la-la land!

Clea - Your idea isn't crazy. We're raised assessments drastically over the last 3 years and the freight train, just keeps gaining on us. Where do the fuel surcharges and vendor increases stop. I would check your docs very carefully or consult an attorney on this matter. If you put this up to a community vote, you may get a lot of buy-in, since that pool is a huge part of your budget. I've noticed that some HOAs have voted to close the pool for one year, just to get their reserves back up. YOU ASKED ABOUT POOL COSTS. For a community of around 300, we have a small pool (no diving board or swim lanes) and the contract for maintenance and lifeguards is $30,000. There every other year, we seem to be dropping 15,000-18,000 for new pumps, bathroom equipment, new furniture, pool cover, awnings, pool house doors, pool house painting. This year it was $17,000 for White Coat and now they say that we need a new pump that costs $5,000. Altogether, with all of the above, supplies, pool chemicals and everything; it's costing us around $60,000 per year for the pool. That's about $190 per household per year. We might have a riot on our hands if they suggest closing the pool, but it's like having an old wooden boat. It's a maintenance nightmare. Yes, we've even solicited outside memberships. About 5-10% of the community use the pool and most times that you go down to the pool, there's vitually one or two people there. If I was looking again for a home in a community to purchase again, I would definately find one that didn't have a pool. Unless you live in a huge community, with many more homeowners that we have, it's just very expensive to support the pool. I noticed that in some states that the pools do not have lifeguards, but in VA, there is a law that says if you have X people, then you need X lifeguards. We live in a very litigious area, so NO,.. we have to have lifeguards.

It will interesting to see where this goes in the future, as fuel prices and commmodities continue to skyrocket in cost. Where will it all end up and what's the financial breaking point for homeowners and their ever increasing assessments?

Thanks, all, for your comments. We had an owners meeting and the group decided to table the decision until more information can be gathered regarding the costs and benefits of keeping the pool operational vs. decomissioning the pool. Many people had very strong opinions about their preference, but most of the group agreed that making an informed decision was important. It was a record turnout for an owners meeting! We will revisit at our annual meeting in October.

This is the first time to ever do this, so forgive me if I don't do this correctly.
Two years ago a majority of homeowners in our 1000 unit neighborhood voted to keep our three 35 year old pools open. Then 2 weeks ago when the pools opened on memorial weekend we arrived to find the diving pool had been filled in.
I've been going over our cc&r and bill of rights and from what I can tell the board was in the wrong . Now what do I do? I feel If something isn't done, then what is to keep the board from selling off or destroying the rest of our assets. Any comments would be helpful since I don't want to have to hire an attorny on my own, but nor do I want to have our value to decrease.
By the way our assessments 35 years ago were $60.00 and today they are only $113.00 and the board member who closed the pool thinks $113.00 is still too high .

Thanks,

LizW1

Wow ... I'm surprised at the figures.

We just did a estimated cost for our pool expense, averaged over the last five years. We have 499 homes and the cost was 1.05 per month per home.

It's an outside pool open during summer months only.

And if you don't want a car with crusie control, why do you buy one? Probably because it comes as part of a package and it's available. You can get a car with almost exactly the things you want and only the things you wnat, but you would probably have to special order it.

Same with condos. You may not find just the amenities you want and only the amenities you want at the price you want and with the fees you want. You make a tradeoff and take the best choice.