Standing at 10 stories tall, a tree house in Tennessee is estimated to have between 10,000 an 14,000 square feet.  Built by a man who received a message from God, the house is titled the Ministers House and took 14 years to build.  Frankly, it’s taken me 14 years to clean out my hall closet so this is quite a feat!

Photo from Oddity Central.  HT Les Jones.

The value of a swimming pool is priceless during the hot summer months when the kids are home from school bored, after you’ve mowed the lawn and are covered with sweat, or when the family comes for a two-week vacation visit.

The value of a swimming pool - as told by pool salesmen - is about $15,000 to $50,000.

The value of a swimming pool when you’re spending hours cleaning it, spending dollars on the chemicals, or spending money on liability insurance is a whole different story.  The value of a swimming pool when you’re selling your home is also another story.

Kitchen and bathroom makeovers add the most to the resale value of a home.  A swimming pool is may be nice to lounge around in the summer, but for resale it’s a perk that just doesn’t always add up.  I’ve looked at homes with buyers who sometimes love them, sometimes hate them.  One buyer mentally calculated the cost of filling in the pool before deciding to NOT buy the house.  Another fell for the salt-water pool immediately and made an offer on the house.

Depending on your location, adding a swimming pool could be one of the worst investments a homeowner can make.  Massachusetts agent Bill Gassett says,

Swimming pools often times can actually end up being a detriment when selling a home. There are many buyers that flat out will not buy a home that has one no matter how beautiful it is.  Are there times where a buyer is specifically looking for a pool? Sure…if you are lucky you may find a buyer that will pay a little more for a home with a pool. Just don’t expect that it will be anywhere close to the money you have sunk into the ground.

If you have a pool, enjoy it now.  You may not so much when it comes time to sell!

Photo by my Mom. The kid on the right? The cute one? That’s me. 

Via Inhabitat.

Photo by Justin Ruckman via flickr creative commons.

I love Fall just knowing I won’t have to mow the lawn for another five, six months.  Just because the grass is going into hibernation, however, it doesn’t mean yard work is done.  Take a nice, sunny autumn day to complete some chores around your yard to get it ready for winter.

The Greater Hartford Real Estate blog gives some pointers on what you can be doing right now for your yard.

- Taking in the hoses and turning off the water to the spigots.
- Cleaning out the pots and planters.
- Bringing in the outside furniture.
- Removing the grass from between the sidewalk slates.

One of my friends keeps saying he’s going home to aerate his yard … again this is a great time for that chore.  Given the beauty of today, I may be up for walking my acre to do this too!

Photo by doortoriver via Flickr Creative Commons.

One reason I love living in a house rather than an apartment is that we can break out the grill every summer and feast on burgers, chicken, steak, and hotdogs.  I’m sure there’s more, too, but those four items are about the extent of my grill mastery.

This weekend, however, I took up the challenge of grilling kabobs … both veggies AND meat.  I wrote a guest post for the gals at Home Ec 101 and am posting here as proof that I do sometimes cook at home!

I just wrote about my experience this week with a tick on my company blog-site and what you should do around the yard and house to avoid them latching on to you and taking a big bite.  I shouldn’t obsess over it so much, but now I have a rash on the tops of my hands and on my legs.  So upon the urging of my friend Katherine Coble, I called my doctor’s office.  Lo and behold, my doctor’s office wants to see me immediately.  Not tomorrow.  Not next week.  Today.  I’ll let you know how it goes.

Meanwhile, my neighbors to the east in McMinnville have already begun finding ticks on them when they come in from the outside.

Ok everybody, today we worked out in the yard getting somethings done on this beautiful day and of course…..I found FIVE ticks on ME! I did not think anything about ticks being out this early, especially with all of the cold weather we have just recently had, but…..everyone, please, please, please check your children and yourself after being outside. These were in the grass of our yard.

For anyone who has a house - rented or owned - or for those who go outside to play in the park, hit a golf ball, or other activities - please check for ticks.  It is the season.

Make sure you check both yourself and your clothes when you come in from outside.  If you find that you have a spotted rash on your hands, legs, wrists, or ankles, seek medical help!  Other symptoms of a tick bite gone bad are sleepiness, flu-like symptoms, confusion, weakness, nausea, vomiting, and again - the rash.  My only symptoms are a bad case of the sleepies (which I’ve been attributing to travel) and the hand and leg rash.

I’ll keep you posted.