John Reynolds was thrilled when he bought a three-bedroom home for just $19,000.
Admittedly, the property in Texas was very rundown and needed a LOT of improvement but John was determined to turn it into a family home he would be proud of.
The property had been earmarked for demolition but savvy John knew he could make a tidy profit by renovating the home and selling it on - so he set to work.
Three months after beginning his mammoth task, John was left puzzled by the bog that seemed to be a constant feature in one are of the garden.
He’d noticed that even when it hadn’t been raining, the area would be boggy, but with such a huge job on his hands, John just put the garden out of his mind and carried out with renovating the inside of the home.
Life on one of the UK's cheapest streets where homes sell for just £25,000
(Mercury Press & Media Ltd.)
(Mercury Press & Media Ltd.)The previous owner was a hoarder and every room, and the outside space, was filled with junk. There were even 20 feral cats living on the property.
But during a heavy storm, the nurse was stunned to receive a call from one of his neighbours, who told him to check out what the rain had washed away in his garden - a swimming pool.
John said: “I said ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about, I don’t have a pool’, and she said ‘yes, you do.”
The rainwater had revealed a massive 32x17ft swimming pool - and John couldn’t believe his luck.
John could see a small amount of concrete edging but because the garden had been so overgrown, he assumed it was simply the edge of a flower bed.
(Mercury Press & Media Ltd.)
(Mercury Press & Media Ltd.)Luckily for John, the bottom of the pool had no cracks and he sent about the painstaking job of restoring it to his former glory.
He said: “I thought ‘whether I live here or sell the house, I can’t leave it like this’.
“It took 11 months just to do the clean-up process and as the shell started showing, I was waiting for a huge crack to surface but that never happened.”
John spent $9,500 restoring the pool and had to pull a raft of rubbish from its depths, such as furniture and even car parts.
But to build something so stunning from scratch would have cost him $150,000.
Mum films woman throwing poo and boiling water on her car in furious parking row
He said: “It feels like I’ve stumbled across a winning lottery ticket. Never in a million years when I bought the property did I think I would be swimming in my own pool.
“I bought it as a bit of an investment with the intention to do it up and sell it on, but it has yielded so many surprises I don’t know if I can let it go.
“My friends and I are in it every day for hours on end now. You couldn’t wish to find a bigger reward in your back garden.”
And after all of his amazing discoveries, John has shelved his plans to sell the house, which is now worth $210,000 and has now made it his home.
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
