What can I say about Ponds

What can I say about Ponds

By Bridget White Realtor

Many of you know that I manage communities as well as sell/buy real estate and flip properties for my own purposes.?Many times, I receive calls from frustrated owners who don’t understand the concepts of what detention ponds are for and only have a vague idea of how they have been utilized to improve a property’s value i.e., “water is pretty”.

Ponds are generally thought of fondly and in a land locked state like Indiana, it’s a nice way to incorporate a water feature into a community.?Water features do increase property value by a minimum of 5% up to 15% on average depending on the lot size.?Ponds that incorporate fountains tend to offer additional purchasing power to adjacent homes over those that are “close, but no cigar” locations.?Apartments that incorporate ponds and fountains also tend to charge higher rates.

What does it mean to a community to have a pond??The feeling of affluence, elite entitlement, or it just means they must maintain a pond.?On the base level a detention pond costs a minimum of $30K to build (yes, a big hole with water costs $$$), It must have a water source and in some cases for a fountain it must have an electrical source, all that cost’s money too.?

To maintain a pond for one year is at a minimum of $3500 per pond to clean, chemical treat, and general landscape maintenance, add a fountain that adds another $500 per month.?Should that fountain need to be replaced you are talking roughly $15K or general repair being $1500.?The lovely rocks that surround a pond – depending on size can cost as much as $25K per pond, incorporate a retaining wall and rock or “rip rap”, the price tends to go up.?Signage, liability, and insurance all add to the price tag. So, a pond means higher HOA rates.

When a pond needs to be treated and by in large they always need to be treated because everything in nature needs to be treated so it can be enjoyed by the masses.?Regardless of chemical treatment or the lack thereof the pond will grow algae.?Fair readers, I will tell you regardless of the chemicals we toss into a pond to maintain its very delicate PH, no matter what you do, algae will be in a pond, why? Because algae are the natures defense for ponds, it grows the algae to protect the bio-organisms in the water, it is a food source for fish if the ponds are filled with fish for fishing and other animals, it is also a natural result of what happens to water in rising temperatures.

There is no good way to keep a pond perfect as it is a living breathing entity in a community. However there are things one can do to make a pond less of a hassel – do not place decorative grasses, reduce your budget, and use native plants around the pond if needed but in general keep it free from anything that might fall into a pond.?Make sure any plants are not so close as so they can grow into the pond.?Make sure your landscapers do their best to maintain the banks and not use too many chemicals close to the pond, like fertalizers or weed treatments – although better said than done in most cases and mostly impossible.

Finally, understand that the best defense is a good offense when it comes to pond maintenance make sure there is a good team to handle it.?Keep trash out of it and make sure the inflow and outflows are clear.?If you live near a pond, please don’t yell at the people like community managers and vendors, we are doing our best to maintain the spaces of which you live.?If you have a management company for your space, I guarantee that manager knows that the pond needs work, has said something to the powers that be and for whatever reason has been shot down.?What it comes down to is patience, time and sometimes money to make the needed changes – not everything is about how much you pay, sometimes it comes down to need verses want, and what can and cannot be done at any given time.

Ponds will do what ponds do, and for most a pond is there to retain the water from the back yards of properties, so instead on flooding, the water has a place to go.?