On the Market: Five Indoor Swimming Pools to Stave Off the Northern Winters

× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Wednesday, January 4, 2012, by Rob Bear

Now that the cold temps have finally hit the Northern U.S., we've hunted down some indoor swimming pools that keep the summer going deep into winter. This one, in Stratham, N.H., is just 10 miles from New Hampshire's Atlantic beaches, but the inspiration for the indoor pool came from much further afield...like Polynesia. The lagoon-like pool features a waterfall, rock walls festooned with plants, and bamboo ceiling. It's a pity this paradise is tucked beneath a "contemporary" home built in 1989, one that looks more like a condo complex. At least the four-bedroom manse enjoys 300-feet of river frontage and a ten-car garage for the $1.8M price.

? One of the craziest deals we've seen in a long while, this Hailey, Idaho mansion measures 12,000 square feet, includes six beds and seven baths, and features this stunning swimming pavilion, yet it's listed for just $1.6M. This ultimate short sale—the brokerbabble claims $7M was spent assembling this estate—lies a twenty minute drive from the Sun Valley ski resort.

? This waterfront home in Medina, Wash. might not measure up to some mega-mansion neighbors, after all billionaires Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates both live nearby. The 9,500-square-foot, six-bedroom spread is nothing to sneeze at though. For one, it's listed for almost $10M and features that all important indoor lap pool in the basement.

? Greenwich, Conn. has been drawing the super-rich for ages, so it's no surprise that even a home built here in the '40s would feature an indoor swimming pool. The rest of the house is mighty impressive, with a stately brick facade, elegant landscaping, and almost six-acres of elbow room. It comes with a price to match: $14.5M.

? Situated on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan, Benton Harbor, Mich. will probably see more than a few blustery, bitterly cold days this winter, but the owner of this $5.75M lakefront mansion can wait out the storm in the comfort of a heated indoor swimming pool, all while watching the snow fall through an adjacent wall of glass doors.

· 34 Raeder Dr [Zillow]
· 717 S River St [Zillow]
· Medina, WA [Zillow]
· 11 Meadowcroft Ln [Zillow]
· 3300 N M 63 [Zillow]

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Northern Virginia Real Estate in the 2000-2010 Decade

The first decade of this century has certainly been a roller coaster in terms of world events and real estate value! The Northern Virginia local Sun Gazette newspaper prints a chart each year that shows the average sales price of homes and number of transactions, as well as the percent change over the previous year. The previous decade closed in 1999 with 22,715 total sales and an average sales price of $238,496 for a home in Northern Virginia.

Looking back over the dawn of the new millennium, I recall the concern that the roll over in digits from 1999 to 2000 might bring. All the preparation led to what turned out to be a very smooth transition. Perhaps due to the effort expended for the new technology, there was a corresponding build up in market value for tech stocks, leading to the dotcom bust which began in March of 2000. Northern Virginia does have the Dulles technology corridor which was impacted some by the bust in tech stocks, but the biggest headline at that time had to do with the Presidential election and the "hanging chad".

Then, who could forget 9-11-2001. For Americans, that date is permanently burned into our psyche. Living close to Washington, DC all of a sudden wasn't perceived as a benefit once people in a very real way saw a plane intentionally flown into the Pentagon. It was like a bomb dropped! Being inside the beltway took on an entirely new meaning. Now, for safety reasons, many people wanted to be as far away as possible. Commerce effectively stalled, including real estate transactions. Honestly, it was like a ghost town in the halls of our McLean real estate office. But slowly people realized that life had to go on, and a new sense of normal came into existence. The Washington, DC metro area real estate market subsequently benefited because in response to the 9-11 attacks, Homeland Security was created.

Those events began the uphill ride of the roller coaster in real estate values, with 5 straight years of double-digit appreciation in sales price from 2001 to 2005. Then as the saying goes: what goes up must come down. In 2006 the market lived off the fumes of 2005; in 2007, the market lived off the fumes of 2006, and in 2008 there were no more fumes. 2008 brought the entire nation to its knees with a financial crisis brought on predominately by the crash of the housing bubble. This market crash, which went from 2007 to 2009 has been primarily attributed to the credit crisis and housing bubble. Interestingly, the peak average home sales price in Northern Virginia occurred in the year 2008 at $538,463, but the peak number of transactions of 32,735 occurred in 2004.

The Sun Gazette chart stated that the average sales price for a home in Northern Virginia for 2009 was $431,018 and that there were 19,035 sales. What will 2010 say? I believe 2010 has shown a year of recovery and that we are a couple of years away from returning to peak value. From 1999 to 2009, there was an average of 8% appreciation on home values, which is still very respectable. As a Realtor who is active in the marketplace, my perspective on 2010 is that it was a fairly normal market. Good properties priced correctly for the current market conditions sold in a reasonable period of time.

If you are a Purchaser waiting for values to go down, for most of the market area, I believe that you missed the bottom! Now is the best time to buy! If you are a Seller of real property in Northern Virginia, know that being in a normal market is still a very good time to sell. The present conditions will probably continue for several more years at least.

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