I am currently in the process of purchasing my first duplex and the property comes with an inground pool. It is not functional so instead of fixing it I plan on removing it completely and filling in the area with grass. I was wondering if anyone could help me estimate the cost of property taxes and insurance after I remove the pool. I recently got a claim for $1200 a year for insurance (which I thought was high) and about $3400 a year for property taxes with the pool. Will removing the pool have a significant impact on these prices?
Rental Property Investor · Everywhere, USA · Member since 2012 · 689 posts · 525 votes
8y
Hi @Anthony M. - I have never done this before, but I think the impact on the property tax value would be negligible. And even if it did affect the value, I am not sure you could get the county to reassess the value just based on removing a pool. I have found getting tax values lowered tends to require a big fight, and they don't like doing it outside of their assessed year.
As far as an insurance quote, just talk to your agent. The agent I work with is really good about running different scenarios for me. In this case I would ask him to also quote me if it didn't have a pool. That would be more exact that me estimating how much I think the premium would be reduced.
Insurance Agent · Cleveland, OH · Member since 2013 · 206 posts · 98 votes
8y
Hey @Anthony M. removing the pool from your property will give you a lower annual insurance premium. There is no way however for any of us to give you an idea on the savings. Every insurance carrier uses different rating factors in their pricing. The only real way to know is to ask you agent to run you some example quotes.
As for the city assessment value. I think you will need to speak with an attorney to see how much they will charge to take care of this and then figure out how much it will actually reduce your taxes by. Could be a lot of hoop jumping for little saving.