Pools! Pools! Pools! What's Trending and Scams To Look Out For! | The Golfi Real Estate Show

On this week's Niagara edition of The Golfi Real Estate Show, Rob Golfi and iHeart radio host Tim Dennis make it all about pools! Special guests Jake Smith and Vicki Dillane from Narellan Pools hop on to talk about the pool industry, what to look for when buying a property with a pool, what's new and trending, permitting, and potential scams to look out for!

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This is Rob Golfi with the Golfi team. Welcome to the Golfi real estate show. Niagara edition with host Tim Dennis come in for a kind of a chilly weekend. But we've got some, some warmer news to talk about in segments two and three coming up a little later on, we're going to talk about swimming pools and put you more in the mood, but let's says start off.

The program by talking about, something that's equally as hot, which are the numbers and, how the Niagara area is holding up this week. Right? The Niagara numbers are kicking butt, and, , you know, you think, you think there's an end to this, but there isn't you think it's going to level out, but there's some areas that, that may have, leveled out, but not that much.

By for instance, Pelham, Fonthill Pelham. In 20, in 2020, they sold 24 homes in February in 2021, they sold 29. So it was a 21% increase. So more homes are selling, but, but the crazy thing here is that, the average sale price is gone up, quite a bit. I th you know, it up to 921,900. So at 922,000 almost.

Fonthill Pelham in 2020. It w last year in February was 718,446. So the average sale price year over year in Fonthill Pelham is up 28% incredible. Like, like I, you know, I fond Hill in, in, in, is a beautiful area. There's no doubt it it's the second highest. Average sale price in the Niagara peninsula, the second highest.

And it's a, it's a gorgeous area to live. It's a, there's some beautiful, beautiful properties out there that increases not the biggest by any stretch of the imagination. It's the biggest increase. There were other areas that have gone up even more. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. And now, now going to Fort Erie right now.

So, last year there was 43 homes that sold in February. This year in February, there was 55 homes. So 20, 28% increase now. Last year, the average sale price in 40 Erie in February was $440,302. This year, $590,123. A 34% increase year over year, last year. I'm telling you, if you bought in Fort Erie, you did very well, because I mean, Fort Erie was, was a tough, a tough place to, sell homes at one time.

But now, it seems like, just because of the pandemic, people are looking for a second place. Maybe that's crystal beach, that's bringing those numbers up. But, they're up 34% in, in, Fort Erie. So that's incredible. Like, it's just like, like the inventory is not the lack. It's just, there's the demand is far greater than what the D inventory cause last year inventory was a lot lower than it was this year.

So inventory, like they're selling more homes this year, Grimsby, but not as much as some of the others. So Grimsby, in, in 2020 they sold 44, in 2021, February, 2021, they sold 69 homes. 57% increase in a number of units sold, but in 2020 Grimsey, last year in February. There was 650, $3,186. This year, $754,000.

15% increase in, in Grimsby. Chrissy. Chrissy is probably one of the lower mounts in Niagara. That average sale price is gone up just because I think it's. It's already, like it's starting to hit to a top point where it just, there's not much more room to go, but, and, and that's, it usually it's like that.

And these small little, areas like Grimsby. And I know, just depending on the population, I think, the population there is 18,000, so it's just a small population, but, and right next door in Lincoln, big increases. Oh, huge. So last year 41 homes sold in Lincoln this year 47 homes sold in Lincoln in February 15% increase in unit numbers.

But last year, the average sale price in Lincoln was 591,956,000. This year, it's just like incredible. Some high end homes are selling. That's what that's what's caused in this 820,800, $4 39% increase. So that $820,000 may change next month, due to the fact that there was probably some big high-end homes that sold in February in, in Lincoln.

So that's what caused that one to jump a jump like that. But, but it was a 39% increase. That's incredible. Onto the falls, Niagara falls. Okay. My hometown, last year, 127 homes sold in February. This year, 161 homes sold. So 27% more increase. So last year, the average sale price in Niagara falls was $478,144.

This year, $632,184 32% increase year over year. Now, when we're talking about. The increase. So last year February, there was no pandemic. It was just going on to a normal market. Right. So things were just going along and things are starting to pick up that the market was just, you know, but this year we're we're, this year is a pandemic market and it's still, and it's, and it's up, from last year.

So, so it shows that, a 30, 32% increase from year over year. Incredible. All right. Let's say head to port Colburn, Waynflete, interesting numbers here, all holes Waynflete. So last year, 318% in unit sales they're down, but last year, the average sale price in, in port Cobra, Waynflete was 425,000 $7,790.

This year 35% increased. So, so there was. Home sold this year, just because maybe inventory wasn't there. And, and, but, but, average sell price is up 35% pull Cobra Waynflete. A lot of people are starting to move out that way. I know there was a, a large, three, I think three and a half million dollar house that's sold.

That just closed. I guess last week in port Colburn, Waynflete, and you don't get too many of those, selling that way. So let's move to the place where the, the prices really took a big jump this time around, for lots of reasons, Niagara on the Lake, Niagara on the Lake. It's the winner winner chicken dinner there, boy.

So last year there was 29 homes that sold in February and aggravation. This year 49, 70% increased almost in number of units that sold a Niagara on a Lake. So Nagar and a Lake is very popular and a lot of high-end homes are selling there. So last year, the average sale price in Niagara and a Lake was 686,000.

You're not going to believe this, but there is a lot of high-end homes selling a Niagara, a Lake we've sold quite a few, high-end homes out there. So the. The average sale price in, February of this year is $1,188,961 73% increase in average sale price. Unbelievable. So the demand I'm telling you, like.

Tim, I I'm out there and we we've sold some high-end homes out there and we're there for all the showings, especially on the high ends. And we, the buyers are coming from all the GTA. They are coming from there and they're buying a Niagara and a Lake, and they're making that their new home and, and they're spending the money.

They've got the cash to do it St. Catherine's the number of homes is not much different from February of last year, but the prices are up. The prices are up. That's right. And, so, so we're at last year in February, the, in St. Catherine's the average sale price was 466,000. This year, $635,723 36% increase in St.

Catherine's and, and it's just a, it's just incredible. Now, St. Catherine's is almost tied with, Niagara falls. Niagara falls is 632,000 St. Catherine's 635. Seven 23. So Niagara falls is catching up to St. Catherine's and it's just because of the demand. A lot of people are, are moving towards, the GTA also in, Niagara falls St.

Catherine. So Niagara falls is picking up the pace to catch up to St. Catherine's numbers, the other two regions, the other two areas in the region. Thorold a good, good number here in Thorold. Yeah, 44% increase in unit numbers that sold loud February. Last year, Thorold sold for a $474,644. This year. Thoreau is almost $600,000.

A 20% 26% increase in average sale price. Incredible. Thorold. Great place. A lot of, a lot of people that were born and raised in Thorold Lake, moving back there, it's kind of like their little, little niche, little kind of area. Like I find a lot of people that grew up there, want to stay there.

They want to move back there. If they happen to, if they're coming back from the GTA, coming back there, some pretty good deals and pretty hot prices in the Rose city in Welland. Oh, well, and yeah, 20% up in a unit numbers. So last year in Welland, it was $418,805. This year, $543,212. 30% increase in, Welland.

Wellins, is, is, is. Work very strong right now. They're doing really well. And, yeah, it's the whole peninsula is just, just rocking out there and, people are coming out that way. We got an immigration happening in a Niagara, that's a, that's going to really benefit Niagara for business and everything else with all of this talk.

And it's been in the news a lot. It's been all over the place in terms of the number of homes that are selling for record prices, et cetera, et cetera. You did have somebody. Reach out to you that said, well, you know, and I, and I've heard this argument from people that, that, you know, you're the reason that the home prices are so out of control and he can't afford a house.

You know what we did get a, an email that someone indicated that, it was because of the golf team that, was, that, that the market's gone up. Well, I wish I had that, control because I be a rich man today, but, but it's the consumer, but not only that. And I, and I feel for this guy that wrote this letter, I feel for him, he is probably a first-time buyer and he can't get a house cause it's always a multiple offers and, and, and he's struggling.

And, and a lot of times, you know, you know, the house is listed at four or 500,000 and it's selling for a hundred. $150,000 more you, and he is can't compete against that. And, but I it's, but in any way, it's just the way the market is. There's more people that are buying there is people selling, so, and people need a house.

So they're willing to. Come up, come in with a higher number, but the problem there is in Niagara, they can't compete against the GTA buyer because the buyer in, in, in the, in the GTA GTA's again has got the tr has got the GTA salary and has got the, you know, the income and, and they're, and they're moving back to Niagara.

And so they're there. So they got high wages and if they sold something in, in Toronto, moving this way, It's it's easy for them to, to, to afford anything. So that's why they're able to throw more money on the, cash, to the, to the deal. And it's not just Niagara where this is happening to I it's it's happening in the GTA.

It's happening in Montreal. It's happening in Halifax and Vancouver, record prices. The markets are hot right across the country. It's not just a Niagara thing. It's not an anger thing. It's not just in Canada. It's happening in the U S I have I D I I'm on a, a group that, of top agents across the United States and Canada, they're all going through the same thing.

So, so the whole, all of Northern Canada, United States are experiencing the same, same. Inflation of these homes, this frenzy that's going on right through County United States. I mean, one of the big banks said this week, they're expecting cooling measures from the government, in the, in the spring budget.

Are you expecting that? I think there's going to be, it's going to cool off a bit, but I'm going to tell you, Tim, as long as inventory's down, It's just going to continue. There is buyer fatigue out there right now. There's a lot of buyers out there. They're very fatigued. They're getting upset and, and, and they're, and they're just wondering in, sometimes they're missing the deal by maybe 5,000, 2000, and it's just frustrating for them.

And, but, it will, it will settle a bit. We're finding inventory slowly, creeping up right now. So that's good news for the buyers. For the sellers. I mean, it's, I mean, they're not going to see any difference. It's still a strong market for the sellers. Well, we've been talking about the prices who have been, they've been an incredibly hot when we come back on the Golfi real estate, show his story about something that we want to be hot for the longest time.

It's just the weather. It's been cool this weekend, but people are talking about pools and we're going to be joined by a couple of experts who can tell you the ins and outs of buying with a pool or putting one in yourself. That's when we come back. Welcome back. You've got the Golfi real estate show and RobGolfi is here.

I'm Tim, Dennis. And we, we have a couple of special guests in a very crowded studio this week to talk about an issue that you and I Rob have talked about a lot over the past six months, which is, you know, what's, what's very important to people in real estate these days. And you've got a couple of guests that are really at the heart of that.

Who have you got with you? I've got a Jake Smith project manager and Vicki Dillane from, Narellan pools in Niagara and, talking about pools. We know that in the past year, houses with pools have, gone up in value and it's been more in demand. And, so I have, I have an in ground pool, but it was put in many years ago and, I didn't know, Jake and Vickie.

But, if I've known, about, their pools system, I would definitely gone the fiberglass system and that's what they have. And, because if, if I can, you know, like if I'm going to put another pool in, definitely I go with one. Fiberglass it's easiest. They just drop it in with a crane. But anyway, back to the real estate, part of it, of the pool situation is, there's been such a high demand in the past year because of this pandemic and people want a, an Oasis and that's, that's, what's driven the luxury market up and that's, what's driven just the regular homes up with pools, because that's what people want.

They, I mean, what do you do literally? What do you do now? And now summer's going to be around the corner. Two three months, what are you going to do? Like, all you can do is just drive around, you know, and, and, and, and just look at the scenery, go on hikes or whatever, but you cannot really do anything. So there's nothing better than having a pool in your backyard.

And so I called Jake and Vicky. I said, you know what? You guys got to let people know what's going on. How are, you know, w w costs the pools and everything. And, they've, and I've seen their work and, and they're truly amazing, but, but. Real estate has a lot to do with pools. And, so guys tell us, so Vicky, I mean, you guys are busy, right?

Yeah, we sure are. It's been a, it's been a year. People aren't traveling ROV as we've talked about. And, there's really not a lot of places to spend your money. So we're finding a lot of people are saying, you know, it's. We've always considered putting a pool in our backyard and I think this is the time to do it.

So, yeah, there's, it's just very, very busy and, we're excited to be helped bring as many clients as we can. Awesome. So, so I, I'm not sure Tim, you, you, you guys have a pool. Do you have a pool by any chance? Well, I live in a condo complex that has a pool, but, I had a pool in the house that I grew up in.

For many, many years, mind you, that was, that was a period where people were beginning to say, maybe the pools were more trouble than they were worth. We went through a short period of time where people said, I don't want a pool. It's too much. It's too much hassle. They get old, too fast, et cetera, et cetera.

But then that's changed a lot, Jake, right? I mean, the technology has changed. It isn't, it isn't constant maintenance citizen. Every year. I wonder whether I've made the right decision. No, that's right, Tim. Basically with, especially with what we do, we, I I've done, vinyl liners in my history, but now that we're with, Narellan doing fiberglass, the gel coat is a nurse, so you don't get algae growing on it.

Maintenances is cut. I'm going to say in half, if not more chemical use is down because once the liner and a vinyl pool starts to degrade, It will alter the, the water chemistry in your pool. You don't get that with a fiberglass pool. They, they just fiberglass allows people to enjoy their pool versus working five hours a weekend on their pool.

This may seem like a really naive question, Jake and Vicki, but is this something like taking a, a super big, hot tub, digging a hole and putting it in. Yeah, pretty much. I mean, it's like what? I try to compare it to, for people to get their head around. It is, you know, when you go into, a basement and there's the fiberglass surround in the bathroom for the shower, it's basically like that, but it, yeah, it's like a hot tub as well.

It just, you put it in the ground. You a there's no concrete in the ground, so there's nothing to pull the heat out of your pool. And, and yeah, it's, it's, it's a great system. It is. Every industry that I know has had a rough year in terms of, even though they may be popular there they've maybe had a hard time getting parts, getting materials.

The supply chain has been a bit of an issue. What about your business? Well, we're, we're definitely not without issues. Supply chain is, is critical. We found that, pumps and heaters and stuff like that last year were tough to get ahold of. So you had to buy in bulk, which was fine. But we're already being told this year that there's going to be shortages on everything to do with pools, not just.

From a fiberglass standpoint, but vinyl liner, steel walls have gone up immensely. So it's, it doesn't come without challenges, but, we're lucky that our manufacturing plant is in Kingston. So we don't have to pull pools from, you know, Florida, Tennessee, you know, West Virginia, everything we build for the most part is in Canada.

Rob, what are you telling people when the home that they're really interested in the home that they want to put. A big offer in on this week has a pool, or they've been looking for a house with a pool. What, what is it that they, the sellers should look for when they're coming across one, a house with a pool it's in big demand.

And when they come up for sale, they are like multiple. Like, I mean, we're getting multiple offers right now, but it's, there's a bigger increase for those, for those homes that are going up for sale. And, and now years ago, you would say to people, you know, if you put a pool in the, the, increase in the value property, would it not go up as much?

I mean, it, I mean, your property would go up, but, but adding, let's say you put a hundred thousand dollars in your backyard putting a pool in or whatever, with landscaping, it might add maybe, you know, 10, 20, 20% value to the house now. It's far greater than that. And so, and that's, and that, and there's a demand for that.

So right now I know there's a waiting list to get a pool in your house, in your backyard right now. So, so we have a big demand of people looking for houses with pools, also a big demand for houses that can accommodate putting a pool in. So, so w you know, a lot of times when we put a, an, That thing together with a listing together, we'll say pool size law so that people know that, Hey, we have a property that if you're looking at putting a pool in it, this law is ideal for that, or, or they're looking for a house with a pool.

So, there is a big demand and we're coming up to the, you know, the one year. Anniversary of this pandemic and it looks like we may have, I'm not sure what the summer is going to bring, but I mean, this is going to be a second summer for, for all of us going through this. And I mean, we're going to have cat, we have cabin fever this year already, but you know, I mean, our, our summers are so short that, and if we don't have any kind of enjoyment of anything, like if you have a cottage, that's fantastic.

If you're on a Lake, but. The majority of the people don't have that. And so what do you do? You know, you sit in the backyard and, you know, people want to sit by a pool and enjoy a pool. So it is definitely a big demand and it is increasing values of properties. There's no doubt about that expert Vicky and Jake, both.

If I'm looking at a house, that's got a pool, what questions should I ask? Because a lot of people it'll be the first time they've ever owned one. What, what should they look for when they're looking to buy one? That's already existing. We'll talk about the new ones in a second, but if it's already existing, what should I ask?

Yeah. Well, what you're going to want to know is how old is the pool? You're gonna want to know when was the liner last replaced, is all the equipment in working order? I think one of the things that, Rob we've talked about is, is, you know, This is a real sellers market. So, you know, we're not seeing a lot of conditions going in on the houses right now, but you could ask the seller to perhaps warranty that the pool is in good operating condition.

Especially in the winter time when you're buying a house with a pool is all you see as a, a cover. On there. And so you're really kind of dependent on what the agent listing agent and the, the sellers are giving you their information. So, so a lot of the questions that Vicky was going to say is like, how old is the pump?

How old is the filter? How old is the liner? You know, and you know, you want to take a walk around sometimes if there's no snow, you can almost lift. A quarter, a little corner of the, of the elephant liner as they would call it. A lot of people have that and just get a look at the liner and see what condition it's in.

But, again, when it comes to a pool, what we find is I always tell my clients that, like, let's say your pump is sitting outside, you know, in a corner back corner of the property and it's exposed to the, elements of the air. And so it's obviously it's going to see all different weather. Those.

Pool pumps usually lasts sometimes six to seven years. And if you get more out of it, that's fantastic. So I always tell my clients, listen. I I've never had any problems with people when they bought a house in the, in the winter time. And they opened up in the spring that there was any issues, unless there was a true out, you know, the, the seller was lying.

So I tell him, I tell him, I go, look, this, this pool pump is five years old, six years old. I says, you, there could be a high probability. This thing may not crank up in the springtime. So just be prepared for that. And it's not because the seller, it did this on purpose. It's just that. Over winter when things are, are not running.

Sometimes when you try to crank them up again, it just doesn't have it. Right. You know, the bones, it's like, you know, people have arthritis, you want to get out of bed. They got to move it around. So, but, but we're not w what it is is though, we try to get as much information. When, when we're selling a house with a pool and, but right now people don't care.

They just want a house with a pool. There's a say, if he needs a new liner, they're just going to do it. But right now people are throwing money at houses. Like, like it's like, like it's nothing Jake. Here's a question for you. If you take a look at a Google earth picture of Hamilton or Niagara, and all you can see are the little dots of, of baby blue pools in people's backyards.

There's a lot of them. But that's not always the new colors right there. It's they don't all have to be that color. Traditionally. They've all been blue. What are some of the new trends when people are buying new pools this year, Jake? Well, Tim, I mean, the blues they're always going to be around, but we have found that they're getting their attention is getting less and less.

People are actually our most popular color worldwide for Narellan is what's called gray quartz. It is a light gray liner while it's a light gray gel coat. And it, it turns the water a, an icy blue are our gel coat is proprietary. So it's sprayed with three colors. And that's what makes the water change color.

We're also finding, our dark colors are becoming, especially in Canada. Right now. I saw a black one a little while ago with a completely black. And, and that's, that's what people want to go to. Now. I will tell people if you have little children that have never swim in a Lake before you may want to rethink a black pool, just because if they can't see the bottom and they've never been in a Lake, they're going to be cautious about swimming in there.

Is there any advantage to a black pool guys did in terms of keeping the water a little bit warmer while for, for fiberglass, especially because like I said, there's no concrete in the ground. So if, if you swim at, let's say 85 degrees and you have a black pool, your heater, you set your heater at 80 81 and the sun will do the rest.

What's some of the other trends. We were funding pads, like a resort pool. People can put a lounge chair in it, put a table on it and have a coffee, have a glass of wine and just enjoy the sun in like 12 or 16 inches of water. And then just hop right into the pool. Another thing that has become popular in Canada are, sun pods with bubblers.

So it's not really, there's no depth to it. It's tiled. But the bubblers just give a nice water feature that everybody's, you know, the age old water feature of either a shear dissenter or a grotto style, Armour stone waterfall. Those are slowly working away and the new, you know, bubblers and things like that are coming, coming along.

What about the, the water conditioning? When I was growing up, you had chlorine or you had nothing now there's, there are options for you. It doesn't that, that traditional chlorine smell doesn't have to be what you get. Right. Absolutely. I mean, with the pools that we've installed in the last three years, we have not done a chlorine pool.

I mean, salt's going to always be the most popular right now. What's come along in the last couple of years is a, a mineral ionizer, and also UV. It's popular UV and mineral are, are immensely popular in Australia and they're light years ahead of us with regards to, you know, the pool development.

And, the UV, I mean, in country estates, that's, that's how you, Cleanse your water, right. That you're drinking water. So those two things are coming up and we're selling lots of those. We're going to come back in a couple of minutes and talk some more with, Jake and Vicky from Narellan pools. And Rob and I are going to talk a little bit about.

Okay. You're looking to buy a property and install a pool. Rob will tell you what we should look for. And Jake and Vicki can tell you the things that you should probably ask before, starting to put one in yourself. All of that. When we continue on the golf real estate show, when we come right back,

it's the Golfi real estate show for this weekend. We're talking about. Something that'll make you feel a whole lot more springlike we have some special guests with us, both Jake and Vicki are from Narellan pools in Niagara. And I guess Vicki, it's not just Niagara. How big, how big an area do you cover?

Well, we do cover the whole Niagara area as well as Hamilton, Brandt, Norfolk and Haldimand so, yeah, it's, it's a lot from a space perspective. We're driving a lot. Rob, when somebody comes to you and says, I K I M I'm looking to buy a property and I want a property that's big enough to put in a pool.

That's where I want to be. That's what I want to do. What's the first thing that they should look at, what first thing they should ask. Well, size a lot size of law is very important and, and you have to make sure there's no easements on, on the property in the backyard. So that's a key thing. So, so a lot of times, when we're looking, we have to see it, is it, is there easy access to, the backyard, for them to get a Bobcat to dig all the water?

I mean, sorry, not the water, but the. All the dirt to make the hole in the backyard. Now, if you don't, if you have a neighbor that maybe can help you with that access, and hopefully you get along with a neighbor, then he might, he might give you access with a Bobcat to get back there. But if not, then you're pretty well, pretty well stuck.

But most of these, a lot of homes they have, their property, their house is four feet from the property line, if there's a fence there. And so as the neighbors, so a lot of times people will. You know, take down a fence and, and then, and put it back up, you know, just to, so that they can get a Bobcat, a Bobcat back there to dig the hole.

So that's, that's one aspect of it. The other aspect of it, you know, how big the backyard is, if there's any, swales in the backyard that need for running water. So we had, I remember having a house for sale in, in Grimsby. It was on, bell Avenue and they had a swale. In the backyard and, you couldn't put a pool there that swell needed to be there because the water running down from the escarpment needs to flow someplace.

So w what was difficult about this house was. Is that it was a big, beautiful house, four bedroom. I think it was like 3030 200 square foot home, but we had, there was a little bit of a struggle selling a house like that, just because of the fact the backyard was small and it had a swale. So you couldn't really put a pool in.

So, so this is, you got a big family house, but you don't have a place to put a pool in. So that was a big factor. So that's sometimes hurts a house, a sale because of, you can't put a pool back there. Another, another aspect of it is when I'm going in the country. A lot of the older properties have their septic system in the backyard.

And, so, and so a lot of times, you know, if you people want their pools in the backyard, not in the front or the side, so, the older homes are in the back. So you have to make a decision, you know, do you want to redo the septic system and put a pool in, so that can add another. Twenty-five to $30,000 to your cost of re digging up your backyard.

But most houses, I think, built in the last 30 to 35 years, septic systems were put at the side of the, rural properties or in the front. So people know now that, you know, put the septic system in the front of the property, the front of the house so that it leaves them the backyard to do whatever they want.

So that's another factor. So you've gotta be careful age of house. You pretty well will know. Where your septic system is in the rural properties. Another thing you look at is, power lines. Another thing you look at is, easements. You gotta be very careful. I sold a property one time. And it did have a pipeline running through the backyard and the people that were looking at buying this property, we're looking at putting a pool in and, the easement didn't really describe how big the easement was.

So you really, really gotta be careful. So if you are buying a property, to put a pool in and it does mention there's an easement, you better find out how big that easement is because this property, when we originally listed it, And it said had an easement, but it didn't really say how big the easement was.

So we had a lawyer look it up and he said, you know, Rob, this is like a big pipeline running through the backyard. Like there's no way that these people can put a pool in. So thank, thank God. We found this out before that, you know, conditions were met or anything like that. So there, there, there was a lot of factors.

A lot of factors involved in, in, in buying a house that has a pool size lot, or, and then hopefully the pool that, if you buy a house with a pool, hopefully everything was put in, with all the right applications and permits and everything like that. But, and then there's a lot of reputable pool companies out there just like Narellan.

Pools, they go through the right steps of putting the permits and everything in, so that, that when the next homeowner is buying it, everything is all legitimate and legal. Here's a question for Jake. And for, for Vicki, you talked about the fact that your company Narellan pools covers the Niagara region Hamilton area.

Is there a big difference if you're putting a pool in, depending on what municipality you're in, are the rules very much different between city to city? Yeah, they sure are. I wouldn't have said last year, Tim, we found that so much, but this year we're really seeing a change of every municipality has different bylaws with setbacks.

So, you know, we typically use five feet from any, lot line as our standard, but you'll go to some areas and it could be four, four. For two, it could be six feet as, as an extreme in some other areas. So you really do have to do your homework. We deal with all the misspellings within the regions of which we work.

And so there's there numerous, like I think there's 14 or 15 and each one of them has a different application. Cost has a different application process. So, to be the homeowner, do a little bit of, information, searching on that. But we also do that for our clients. So we're happy to help the process.

Jake, somebody comes to you and says, I, I'm not going on vacation this year. I'm not going on vacation next year. I'm putting a pool in my backyard and I'm looking for the people to do it. If you've got them on the phone, what should their questions to you be? What do you find that are the most important questions that should come up when you're looking at putting a pool in your real estate?

It used to be cost now for COVID it just people aren't even asking that question anymore. What we're finding right now in a COVID times is can you do it like when can you do this pool? Because we know pool companies in Niagara are booking for summer 2022. The nice thing about fiberglass, not just us, but fiberglass in general is it's a very short turnaround, so we can be in and out in a week without any landscaping.

We have four install crews, so we do four pools a week. So we have a little bit of luxury that way. Vinyl liner guys, you know, if you're, if you're doing 30 pools a year, you're you're, you're working hard. So. We people will always ask. The very first question we get is, are you guys booked up for this year?

That's that? And that never used to be the question, but that's that's COVID. Now what about, what about care afterwards and maintenance? I mean, it's a, it's a big learning curve. I remember that when, when we owned a pool, it was a learning curve. Do you, do you offer people the, the maintenance training to make sure that they can maintain it?

Everybody. When we hand over a pool to a client after we've completed what we're doing, we teach them what we call pool school. That's in depth on, on everything that they need to know about their pumps, skid, like their equipment pad. And how to, how to maintain the pool. Fiberglass is a lot easier to maintain.

From a chemical standpoint, you require much less. It's also easier to clean because nothing, nothing sticks to the sides, everything slides to the bottom. So you're basically vacuuming the bottom of the pool. But yeah, when we leave, when we leave, everybody understands how to maintain their pool.

We're also working on, tutorial videos for anybody, because we always find that, you know, three months down the road, a client will say, Hey, I can't remember how to do this. So we're going to put videos together and then just send them straight to the client. Rob, are, are you finding in your experience that.

They're going to hold their value. Because two, three years ago, maybe pools, you know, if your house had a pool, maybe it was, a detriment. Maybe somebody said, I love the house, but I don't want the pool these days. Are you finding that? That is a real advantage. It, it is an advantage. Years ago I used to, I, I would never put, S you know, you put the for sale sign.

It says a pool underneath the sign. I would never do that because a lot of people years ago, would, not buy a house with a pool, not, but usually what happens is when people fall in love with the house, And the house has a pool. They'll buy it, but definitely is big value. Now with a house, with a pool, there's no doubt about it.

We find that it's going to get more and more, becoming a lifestyle and, and people are willing to spend the money, refinance their house or borrow the money, or if they have the money they're gonna, put pools in or they're going to be looking for, helps with pools. The first step, a lot of people do.

Is, they look for a house with a pool and if, and, and they, they struggle trying to find one. Then the next step is, do they have a house? If their house could accommodate a pool, if not, then they'll look for a house regardless that has a pool size lot. But definitely there is big demand, for houses, with pools and, and, and bigger houses.

So, it's just a, it's just funny, like the whole world's changed, you know, in, in different countries that now there's different things changing. So now life is more important to people. And lifestyle. And, so, it's just like, you know, cycling, like people want, people are cycling more. Now people are doing, people want leisure.

People are doing more things outside because we don't have a big, long, summer. And so if we're going to have, if we have three months without doing anything, we want to make sure we have an Oasis in our backyard and having a pool is fantastic. And I like. Like I've had, I've had tools, probably for, the, my first pool, I think I put in.

Was 2003. And so, so in the last 17 years I've had a pool, but I didn't grow up with a pool. And I just want to say one, one thing, Tim, like if you grew up with a pool, not many people back those days had pools. So you lived a pretty good life growing up by that. Amen to that. I mean, I have, I have no complaints, but it was, it was a liner pool.

And I remember how long it took to put in. And I remember all the maintenance that happened afterwards and. You know, even, even some of the stuff that went with the, with the liner, when we went to replace it, it wasn't made anymore all of those hassles. Because I remember my friend, I grew up, I grew up across the street from, a very close friend of mine still today and, on Brittania Crescent.

And, my. My friend across the street, the parents, they put a pool in and I'm like, wow, like, this is, that's how I learned to swim. Like, if you didn't have a pool, I don't know Tim, if I could, I don't even know if I'd be swimming today. I don't even know if I could, you know, but, but anyway, but, but it's, in the seventies, it's a big deal to have a pool in your backyard.

It really was. You're like the King of the castle and your neighborhood. Believe me, the most popular kid in school. And it had nothing to do with me. Jake and Vickie, last question about this though, a friend of mine got a call before Christmas and because they were looking at buying a pool and somehow, somebody got wind of it and they got a phone call one day from somebody who said.

We can get that pool in for you after Christmas, give us a big deposit and we will ensure that your pool goes in. They, and somehow they smelled a rat here and they didn't do it. And I've heard some stories, some horror stories of people, being cold called and demanded that they came up with big, big, down payments.

There are scam artists out there right now. You won't do that, right? You won't call somebody and say, give us money. And we'll put a pool in. In the middle of winter. No, go ahead. You know, we, we don't cold call anybody. We have, because Narellan is global. We have a CRM system, so we, we get all our leads, but brought to us via social media, whether it be website or Facebook or whatever.

What I will say about, about the deposit structure and. First off, you're always going to ask for references to any pool company, to anybody, whether they're putting in a roof on your house or whatever, you're going to ask someone for references. And we ask for a deposit, every pool company does, but if you're getting into like, Close to double digit figure deposits.

You turn and walk away because there's no reason to take that much money from a client for a deposit. It doesn't, you know, a deposit is necessary for sure. But. But, you know, I mean, if it's anything over five, $6,000. Yeah. It, it shouldn't be can checkout companies too. So you've gotta be very careful out there.

So just make sure that they ha like Jake said, just check out the references that they have most scam artists don't have, any, references and, and they'll give you, You know, maybe a, a line, like all there's a, you gotta be careful. We it's a privacy act don't believe any of that because people, when they put a pool in, they love to show it off and references and, and, and, and references is not a problem usually for pool companies.

The other thing Rob is, it's important that, you look and make sure they have a physical address where they're located. And, and try to be able to see them in person and talk to people that's like you said, that's really important. Jake Vicky from Narellan pools. How can people get ahold of you?

You can reach us by phone at (905) 746-4609. You can also see us on the website. It's our global website on our own pools.ca. Or you can reach out to us via email. NiagaraHamilton@rolandpools.ca. And that alarm tells us it's time for the Golfi real estate show to come to a close for this week.

Yeah. Rob, thanks for, thanks for all of this and we'll chat again next time. Thank you.

The Golfi Real Estate Show

Pools! Pools! Pools! What's Trending and Scams To Look Out For! | The Golfi Real Estate Show - Niagara Edition (March 6)

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