This is one of my fun real estate stories. I was thrilled a couple of years ago when one of my clients gave me a Jacuzzi. She had twin boys, about 18 months old, and was concerned about safety issues. I, of course, insisted on paying for it but she would have none of it, so eventually I conceded and ended up with a Jacuzzi on my back patio. That was the start of it all.

Anxious to get it hooked up, I consulted with an electrician who promptly informed me we would have to upgrade our electrical service before he could install the Jacuzzi. That was OK. We had an older home and an electrical upgrade would almost certainly be a good selling point if we ever did decide to sell it.

While we were waiting for the electrician to finish the job, we started visiting Spa stores. We made a lot of amazing discoveries, like the importance of having a good, solid pad for the Jacuzzi to sit on, and the possibility of having it surrounded by a large gazebo, large enough, that is, to house all of our exercising equipment. Of course, my husband would settle for nothing less.

This presented a problem, as it would mean the Jacuzzi would have to go on the opposite side of the house to where I had planned… the side with no access, rather than walking almost entirely around the house to get there. I questioned the wisdom of this, but hubby assured me that would not be a problem. Working out would be such fun that he would make the walk, rain or shine, even after dark in the winter. And so we proceeded.

I am not one to say I told you so, but as I predicted the Jacuzzi was rarely used and there was only one solution. Knock a door through the wall on that side of the house to make access easier. So, we got the permit, hired a contractor to install the door, the landing porch, the exterior light, and everything else that was required to comply with the building codes and get our permit finaled.  And finally it was done! We had our beautiful glass door, our beautiful gazebo, filled with exercise equipment and the Jacuzzi.

But there was only one problem. We had never used that side of our property. In the interests of conserving water and also our own energy in terms of maintenance, we had fenced off that part of the yard and left it fallow. Once a year we would hire somebody to cut down the weeds and rototill it. But now that we had this fancy new door and this fancy new gazebo, we really needed to landscape that part of the yard and integrate it into the rest of the setting. And so we did it.

But there was only one more problem. Hubby still refused to use the gazebo, much less the Jacuzzi. After much probing it became obvious. We needed a TV in the gazebo, with a satellite feed. Then he could watch all of his favorite sports events while working out in our fancy new home gymnasium. So, for Christmas I bought him one of those fancy new TV to go wireless televisions. And he bought himself a membership in one of the local fitness clubs.

Ah well, about $20,000 later our free Jacuzzi all set up and ready to go. If and when we ever do sell the house, I am sure the new owners will just love it!!

©2006 Lynne Mercer