would a large pond effect a sale?

[Deleted User]

It would put me off. I would rather grow plants. I used to have two aquariums and wouldn`t want the hassle of looking after a pond.

Jet

I rented a house for a short while when my son was 5. It had a lovely pond with goldfish in.

Unfortunately, nobody told me not to feed fish daily in the winter and it wasn't until it was too late and all the fish started to die, that I found out what I was doing wrong. Luckily, I didn't lose my deposit!

If I was buying and the house was otherwise perfect, then I would still buy with a fish pond but if there was a comparable property without the pond, then I would prefer that.

I suppose, like anything, it's all down to personal taste.

finlay

We've always had a pond in every house we have had and after digging them all out a house with a pond ready dug would be a big plus point for us. We rented one house out for a while and drained it and covered it with a wooden board.(transfered the fish elsewhere) Fish keeping is very popular and as others have said it can always be drained for a sandpit if there are small children. It is relaxing and great for wildlife. Another thing is we are on a water meter, have a pond about the size of yours and our bill is still less than my mother was paying for a one bedroom flat non metered supply.

margaretclare

Hi

You mean 'affect' not 'effect'.

Sorry...

We had a wildlife pond made for us the autumn of 2004. No fish - we didn't think they would go well with the frogs, toads and newts that we hoped to attract. The pond was made for us by a professional wildlife/water-feature gardener and surrounded by native plants - marsh-marigolds, ragged-robin, all those type of plants (but not too many, because they do grow).

It has been an absolute joy to us, always something to look at. We never even saw the frogs last spring, but frog-spawn arrived! A grey heron arrived one day but he seemed a bit disappointed because no fish.

An ornamental pond with fish like koi carp is a bit different from our pond. The whole garden is a 'wildlife-friendly' garden, and although we don't like things like the sparrowhawk and the heron, you can't choose which wildlife will arrive. I sit at the breakfast-table and watch all the goings-on - starlings splashing noisily, the young ones learning to walk into the water using the paving-stones provided, and not stepping on to the plants and falling in...

This is a 2-bed bungalow and we've been told that they're of interest to 2 parts of the market - young couples or singles, and 'downsizers'. So not a family house. You asked about the 'first-time buyer' market - well, it depends if they've got kids and how they feel about it.

But may I make one very strong point? Frogs and other amphibians are on the edge of survival, with so many ponds on farmland disappearing. I've been told that it's garden ponds which have enabled these creatures to survive at all when their other natural habitats have disappeared. Many common birds also are struggling to survive - even the once-common house sparrow - and birds as well as everything else need somewhere to bathe and to drink. I'm glad we're helping just a few other creatures to survive, and if I'm around when this place finally goes up for sale then I'll make that point. I don't think I'd want to sell to someone who didn't want our pond - it's a lifeline for so many creatures.

Aunty Margaret

AMILLIONDOLLARS

It all depends on the pond, if its a koi carp pond or a natural pond, koi carp pond are normally between 4-6ft deep so filling it in would be quite a task, plus it would have all the equipment associated with this type of pond. If a shallow liner pond there should be no problems filling it in if they so wished. I think on balance if they lovedthe house and garden I see no problems, unless they have children and are concerned. Leave the pond for now and monitor the feedback from viewers.

Good luck

margaretclare

AMILLIONDOLLARS wrote:

It all depends on the pond, if its a koi carp pond or a natural pond, koi carp pond are normally between 4-6ft deep so filling it in would be quite a task, plus it would have all the equipment associated with this type of pond. If a shallow liner pond there should be no problems filling it in if they so wished. I think on balance if they loved
the house and garden I see no problems, unless they have children and are concerned. Leave the pond for now and monitor the feedback from viewers.

Good luck

Ours is quite deep in the centre. It has to be, so that the frogs have somewhere to go. Apparently they breathe through their skins when the pond surface is frozen over! Then there are the shallower edges for the water-plants, then an area at one end with broken paving-stones for the birds and other visitors (foxes, hedgehogs etc) to drink from, and to get out if they happen to fall in (hedgehogs are not very intelligent and they can easily drown in a pond with no escape access!)

A photographer came here to take pictures of me for an article about age-discrimination - he wanted to be in the garden, he kept stepping back, and back: I just shouted 'Don't take another step backwards or you'll be in the pond!!' He was just about to put one foot on the paving-stones and he'd have overbalanced.

There are kids live next door to us, last year we invited them to come round and see the tadpoles, but they never bothered to.

Aunty Margaret

Joannaclaire

Personally I'm not a fan of ponds, as we have a cat and he would be fishing in it ;-) Plus we plan on startign a family so would be worried fro that angle. But it certainly wouldn't put me off buying a property as it could always be filled in and if the house ticked all the boxes and there was a decent sized garden, it was in the right location and in a quiet street, then I'd certainly put in an offer.

mad&jon

Thanks for all help. I've disscused this with my OH and we've decided to leave the pond and see what feedback we get from viewings.

It is a deep Koi Carp pond and the fish are fairly big, we might sell some of the bigger fish as they're worth a fair amount of money. But thats a whole other discussion!

Once again thanks!