Heath Boddorf, Vice President of Pool Works + Latest Real Estate News

Heath Boddorf, Vice President of Pool Works + Latest Real Estate News

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hey, I'm Michael Blaize. Welcometo Your Home three sixty, presented by
pool Works. Pool Works is theonly authorized dealer of the Little Pool Company
line in the Low Country. Checkthem out at my Poolworks dot com,
Mypoolworks dot com and as a matterof fact, I have the vice president
of pool Works, Heath Bodorf,waiting on the line. We're going to

(00:21):
talk with him in just a minuteand find out all about the Little Pool.
If you've been thinking about getting apool, you don't want to miss
this segment, so stick around forthat and coming up a little bit later
in the show, I have thereal estate news for you, including a
story about the level of affordable homeownership. Do you think home affordability is getting
better or worse for the American consumer, for the American HomeBuyer, We'll find

(00:45):
out. Don't forget to check outthis episode if you miss part of it,
or if you can't stick around forthe whole thing, or past episodes
of Your Home three sixty. Ihave the podcast up online. You can
find it at ninety four three WSCdot com or just look for Your Home
sixty with Michael Blaze on your iHeartradio app and you can listen to all
of the past editions of your homethree sixty for free. And I have

(01:08):
to slip my own shameless plug inhere. Don't forget about my website,
Michael Blaze real estate dot com.Michael Blaze real estate dot com. Hey,
jump on in. The temperature isjust right and it's mighty refreshing.
On the line with me as HeathBotto or if he's vice president of pool
Works and Heath. Before we getinto it, let's explain. You have

(01:32):
a unique and exclusive product called theLittle Pool. Why don't you explain to
our listeners what the little pool is? Okay, first of all, it's
a it's a fib less pool thatwas actually built in manufacturing to be installed
in the ground. And then througha patented process that's taken that pool and
added a GRP exoskeleton framework, whichGRP is a glass reinforced polymer or plastic

(01:57):
so it's non corrosive. And thenif they've adhered that to the sides of
the pool so that can be completelyfree standing. It can be sunk in
the ground, but it's designed forfree standing, in other words, sitting
on a concrete pad or paper pad. Now, the pool was originally designed
in Australia, which you know,Australia is known for its quality swimming pools

(02:19):
and being technologically advanced. Are theyactually yeah? And I know that they
assemble them here in South Carolina,but where are they manufactured of? They
manufactured in Australia. So the poolshell itself is manufactured in Australia and then
it gets shipped over comes into theCharleston Fort and then it is manufactured in

(02:42):
Bridgeville, South Carolina into the littlepool. So basically it's assembled and it
is an assembly. It's it's moreof an assembly of parts to turn it
into the little pool, Yes,sir, And what about the cost of
a little pool versus traditional swimming poolor other types of plunge pools. Well,

(03:02):
as far as plunge pools go,it's it's comparable. So basically a
pricing starts in the thirties and that'sall inclusive. That's everything ready to swim
that they have arrived, and thenthey go up from there. But compared
to an end ground, you know, prior to COVID, a cost of
a swimming pool, you could geta decent swimming pool even a gun night

(03:23):
when starting in the fifties. Youknow, vinyl liner and ground started in
the twenties, five glass started inthe forties. Of course, everything goes
up from there, but it's COVIDprices have gone through the roof you're looking
at, you know, between eightyand hundred thousand dollars entry level into a
custom pool today, and that's wherethe Little Pool really takes off. Yes,

(03:45):
it is a smaller pool, butit's you know, plunge pools.
You look at the size of neighborhoodstoday, they're they're becoming kind of a
thing, mainly because of space hasbecome a medium and you know, the
plunge bowls they started at good pricepoint compared to the other one, so
there are an affordable option. Andyou know, the Little Pool is very
comparable as far as pricing. It'sactually cheaper in some aspects than its competitors.

(04:09):
Well, even though it's called alittle pool, it's substantial. But
so I'm looking for the right wordto describe it. But it's somewhat portable,
isn't it. It is? Itis So if you said it like
it's fully on ground and like sayyou had a raised deck coming off the
back of your home. I meanyou set this on a pad or even
pavers, and you know, andyou built your deck around it coming to

(04:30):
the level of your home. Ifyou decide to leave, you know,
you could basically take that out,remodify your deck so that you know,
you have steps and it's finished looking, and basically take it with you.
So, yes, it is portableas far as it fits on a standard
trailer once it's empty. I thinkheaviest one is thirty two hundred pounds,
so you know you can pull itout with a lall or a telehandler out
of your backyard and very affordable tomove it to your exti location for sure.

(04:55):
Yeah, and then also goes forinstallation too, right, it makes
it a whole lot easier to install. What about this site prep for the
little pool? How fast can yoube swimming? I know sometimes you can
miss a whole season while you're waitingfor say like a gun night pool to
be constructed. Yeah, sure could. And you know your typical fiber last
pool they start you know, threeto four week project from start to finish.

(05:17):
Some of them go longer and atjust weather delays and stuff from ground
water. But the little pool,I'll give you an example, there's a
dealer in Chicago that sells little poolsand he sent us a video as a
timeline video from the moment they dugthe ground and this one was fully in
the ground. They set paper baseon the ground in that pool was done

(05:38):
in the ground with He used astroturf as a temporary gacking around the pool.
But basically that pool was swimmable thatday I think in four hours time.
In that time laps they had topull, dug the paper, set
in the pool in the ground.Wow. Yeah, So by the end
of that day that pool was fullof water and they had backfilled and done
everything. Now they still had topour deck. I think he did a

(06:00):
stamped concrete deck. So they letthe pool settle for a few days while
the customer use it, and thenthey came back and they poured deck deck.
It's pretty amazing little little, littletime to get these pools installed.
And if you set it on theground, it's even even quicker. Yeah,
that is amazing. And the versatilityof it too, so it can
go in ground or it can justsit on top of the ground. And

(06:21):
as you said, you can connectyour it's strong enough to connect your deck
right to it, right, youdon't know any kind of other support structures.
It is actually they there's a wherethey where the GRP framework is.
You can actually bolt directly to thatand set your deck off of that,
so you basically you don't need postsor support structure of the deck on the

(06:42):
side of the pool that can actuallybe supported by the pool. And it
doesn't affect the warranty or the structureof the pool. So you know,
it reduces costs as far as decksbecause you're not having to set those piers
of those islands close to the poolthat can't leave your deck over to the
pool. Yeah. I mean themore and more I hear about it,
the more I want one. Mywife and I have been discussing. I've
got some land that's in a floodzone, some vacant land, and you

(07:03):
know, one day we plan onbuilding a house there. And one of
the concerns was the swimming pool becausethe groundwater level, I mean it's almost
like right at surface level, andyou know, I was trying to figure
out a way to get around that, and I mean, this sounds like
an excellent choice. Oh, itis actually one of the last pools we
just built here in Utahville. Thatone was right on the lake and we

(07:26):
poured a pad for her and setthat pool, and she was, you
know, she had the same thing. She had a crew come out and
I can't remember where the company wasfrom me to Columbia, but they come
out and they looked at it andthey were like, you know, we're
gonna have to d water this.So that it added quite a bit of
cost to that project, and soshe backed out of it. And then
she found us and she was like, you guys are the perfect solutions.

(07:47):
Though she got her fool and wasswimming the night it delivered, So well,
that's great. You know, wetalk about all these different types of
pools. Why don't you explain thedifference between, say, what's considered a
swim spa versus a plunge pool.What's the difference? Okay, So a
plunge pool is a small pool thatcan be installed in ground. It can

(08:07):
be either a concrete like gunnites orshot crete. And there's a manufacturer out
there that does make one just likethat. And there's another plunge pool that
is made out of old shipping containersthat they basically take shipping containers cut them
in basically lying the inside of them, and so it's basically a free standing
pool. And then there's the littlepool, which is a traditional fiberglass pool

(08:33):
that has been modified to stand onthe ground. So those are your plunge
pools. There are a small pool. You can even have a plunge pool
custom build on your side out ofgunite, but they're considered small, very
minimal space pools. The other poolsyou're gunite in your concrete. Those are
those can be built on site.Those can be you know fully in the
ground down in Kiwa and Seabrook placeslike that. Those ones are up above

(08:54):
the ground working because a lot ofthose homes are on stilts. Lots of
engineering involved with them, lots oflots of money and costs involved with them.
And of course time certainly, andtime is a huge consideration. As
they say, time is money andit also costs you enjoyment too. So
let's talk about pool accessories. Whatabout pool heaters. You hear about this
new inverter technology, What does thatmean? Does it mean that gas heaters

(09:16):
are outdated now? It's really dependenton the size of the pool. So
if you had to, like saya big gun night bowl that was you
know, twenty some thousand, thirtythousand, forty thousand gallon pool. Then
really to effectively heat that pool,especially you know, not covering it,
which most people don't cover their pools, then really gas is the way to

(09:37):
go. It's you know, youget companies out there that are run in
ninety six ninety eight percent efficiency ontheir heaters. Now, so in other
words, of the propane or thenatural gas that is used, ninety six
or ninety eight percent of that thermalenergy gets into the water, it's not
just going out the exhaust. Sothey have become come a long way as

(09:58):
far as efficiency, and so whenyou're heating that volume of water, you've
got to have them them thermal beefused to heat that water. The electric
heat pumps with that inverter technology aregetting close, so you can get you
one hundred and fifty, two hundredand fifty up to four hundred thousand btu
electric heat pumps that if you don'tif you live in the area that doesn't

(10:18):
offer gas or propane, you knowyou don't want to tank in your yard,
then that might be the way togo. They are becoming more competitive
with the propane or the natural gasby Peters. Well, sure, it's
interesting because you know, as weknow, if everything, including a specially
energy, costs are going up,So that's an important consideration. What are

(10:39):
some other long term costs that areassociated with pools that most people don't consider.
That's a great question because a lotof people they look at their pool
and they say, okay, wellthis is going to cost me forty thousand
dollars installed this full, and thenthey think they're done. And what a
forty thousand dollars full if let's sayit's a gun night buol. Well,

(11:00):
in twelve to thirteen fourteen years,that surface because it does have even though
it's a fool, it's got aplaster or some type of aggregate surface on
spread on top of that can becourts, aggregate or whatever. That'll wear
out, the chemicals, eat atit, the you know, just people
walking in and eat at it becauseit is a cementitious product and it just

(11:20):
wears out. So in twelve fifteenyears that's going to need resurface. Typical
cost on a renovation is going tobe anywhere from a quarter to a third
of the costs of the original pool. You know, renovations down in Florida
are considerably cheaper than they are uphere, but that's because there's so many
crews down there that have the capabilityto be that we're up in South Carolina.
North Carolina, there's three four fivepeople or companies that actually resurface pools

(11:43):
of the prices at premium. Butvinyl liners, whether that's an in ground
or an above ground vinyl linery,six to eight years before that liner is
going to need replaced. And youknow liners today they change it out at
sixteen by thirty two. In groundliner you're looking at in more from five
to seven thousand dollars. So that'sa considerable cost to take into effect,
and it's going to be repeating everyten, twelve, fifteen years. If

(12:05):
you bought your home and you saidthis is our forever home, well you
live here until we die, thenyou're going to go through several of those
those payments considering how long you livethere. Where fiberglass, typically your fiberglass
pools they'll last twenty five years ormore before they need any type of work
done to them whatsoever. So andagain there's different grades of fiberglass. But

(12:30):
let's let's say you buy a topshelf type of fiberglass pool, you don't
really have to do anything with thatfor twenty five years or more. Most
most companies warranties are anywhere ten totwenty five or some of them offer lifetime
warranty. So you know, that'sprobably where your biggest costs. The other
costs are chemical usage. You know, a gun night pool is a porous
pool. It's it's got a pooroussurface, same of the shot creatos that

(12:52):
are cement product and for us,so that absorbs chemicals, absorbs algaes,
we have to treat it and stilllike that. So there's those costs.
All all kinds of costs are associatedthat people don't take into effect. Even
a standard chlorine pool, you're goingto use several hundred dollars worth of chlorine
in the year or just maintain.And that doesn't account for ma traine we've

(13:13):
had this year, and everybody's dealingwith aw to add that cost thing too.
But those are the extra cost wellsure, and it seems like even
the cost of chlorine is probably goingup. I went to buy some of
the other day and I noticed thatthere's a shortage again. There is there
is I think there's only right nowin the US. I think there's only
two plants that are manufacturing chlorine.Yeah, I was. I was wondering
because you know, it seemed like, you know, a year or two

(13:35):
ago, you couldn't find it anywhere. And then that problem seemed to be
solved. And I went to getsome liquid chlorine the other day and nobody
had any and then I went toI'm like, okay, I'll just use
some bleach, and everybody was outof bleach too. Yeah. Yeah,
So that shortage you're talking about acouple of years ago, that was when
I believe Perkine Matthew came through andcaught that one plant down and leading on

(13:58):
fire, and that one much burntto the ground. I'm not mistaken.
I might be long, but Ithink it was Hurricane Matthew that did that.
So that's when the real shortage hit, because then you were left with
one company basically manufacturing coine products anyless. That's a good point because it
seemed like, you know, maybeyou care less when you have a cheap
product that's so abundant, but whenit's hard to get and gets more and

(14:20):
more expensive, it becomes a bigconsideration for your budget. That's correct and
correct. That's why a lot ofpeople go with salt. You know,
salts are readily available. You canyou can even use that your water soft
and your salt and your fool ifyou had to. Takes longer than dissolve,
takes weeks to resolve, but itdoes finally dissolve and adds that salt
to your fool, and then you'remaking your own coin, you know.

(14:41):
So there's that option too, andso and that's an option that you can
use with no problem in a littlepool, right converting it to salt,
yep, sure can. A matterof fact, one of the standard packages
that come on that fool is asalt system. They also use a mineral
system, which it's like copper andmanganese is a base to repel algae until

(15:03):
algae in the pool and then youjust dose it with small amounts of chlorine.
Yeah, so there's alternatives out therethat are cost effective. You know,
chlorine goes back up, which itwill, you'll know, there are
other alternatives. And you can putan assault system on a fool even ten
years after it's built. You canput a mineral system on a fool ten
years after it's built. It doesn'tmatter what you currently have. You can

(15:24):
always change it over sure, andit saves you a bunch of time in
your maintenance of the pool. Inone final question for you, I hear
a lot of people say, well, you know what, I'm going to
design the house and I'm going toworry about that first, and then we'll
come back and we'll add a poollater. Why should you consider your swimming
pool in the original design of yourhome if you're building a new house.

(15:45):
Oh great question. So if you'rebuilding a new home, let's look at
an example here. So somebody decidesthey want a pool on a house that's
already built. There. So onethe disruption during that time, and this
is probably the biggest one, isthe amount of time you've got your You've
already you're in your house, you'vegot your thoughts that you've got you know,
everything with your backyard looking nice.And then you have a pool built.

(16:06):
Whether it's an in ground pool oreven a little pool, there is
some amount of site work that hasto be done. An in ground pool
is much more destructive. You've gotheavy equipment and they're digging a big a
hole in the back of your yard, you've got dirt. People don't realize
how much dirt comes out of theground when they put in an in ground
pool. That has to be dealtwith. It has to be either spread
out on site if there's enough room, or taken away, so it adds

(16:30):
a bunch of costs. Whereas ifyou design it into your home from the
beginning, there's there's several options.There's several benefits of that. One is
it can be incorporated into the homedesign. It doesn't look like an afterthought,
and it can it'll save you moneybecause if the construction company has better
access, then that's money saved.In other words, if I've got to

(16:51):
hire a crane to lift a fiberglassbowl over top of your house, that
can be several thousand dollars. Whereasif if there's no home there and I
want to put that pool in,then boom, I can actually run it
in the back with a piece ofequipment that I've already got on site.
So that's an option. That's that'sways to save money. The other thing
is you can if you build itinto the cost of the home, you

(17:12):
know you can you can take thatthat financing and extend it out over the
course of your home loan. Sothere's options. It's just pointing to saving
you money in the long run becauseit is disruptive weather. Doesn't matter what
type of pool it is, you'regoing to have a disruption in your yard
and there's going to be a lotof damage, especially if it's an in

(17:33):
ground pool. Yeah, well that'sa great consideration, so a heat.
If people want more information on alittle pool or they want to order one,
what do they need to do,Well, they can go to our
website that's just www dotworks dot comand there's a place on there that can
show out a questionnaire form and thenwe'll get that in the email. So
that's probably the best way, andthen the other ways. You know,

(17:55):
we do have a phone and itis eight four three six nine five eight
three five. Yeah, so mypoolworksdot com or give the phone number again
please eight four three six nine fiveeight three five five. Heath Bodorf,
Vice president of pool Works. Iappreciate all the great information and your time
today. Thank you, Michael,appreciate it. And now the latest exciting
news from the world of real estate. Let's check the latest real estate news.

(18:21):
These stories are compiled by wr EWeekly Real Estate News. The level
of affordable homeownership in the United Statesis declined to a depth not seen in
more than three decades. That's accordingto the new Real House Price Index published
by First American Financial Corporation. TheReal House Price Index, known as RHPI,

(18:41):
measures the price changes of single familyproperties adjusted for the impact of income
and interest rate changes on consumer housebuying power over time. Because the RHPI
adjust for house buying power, italso serves as a measure of housing affordability.
First American determined that real house pricesincreased two percent between June and July

(19:03):
of this year, and soared bysixteen point nine percent between July twenty twenty
two and July twenty twenty three.During July, consumer house buying power,
defined is how much one can buybased on changes in income and mortgage rates,
dipped by one percent from June,but dropped by eleven percent year over

(19:25):
year. The five states with thegreatest year over year increase in the RHPI
are Main at twenty seven point eightpercent, Connecticut at twenty seven percent,
Indiana at twenty five point three percent, Alaska twenty four point six percent.
In Virginia at twenty three point ninepercent. There were no states with a

(19:47):
year over year decrease in the RHPI. Now I try to look it up
for South Carolina, and I justgot lost in all these data sets,
and after about a half hour,I gave up. I'm sure it's in
there somewhere, but I could notfind it as measured by percentage year over
year. But nationally, your homebuying power has dropped by eleven percent.

(20:12):
And my guess is, after seeingwhat's going on in Maine, Connecticut,
Indiana, Alaska, in Virginia,that South Carolina year buying power dropped by
more than the national average of elevenpercent. I'll continue to try to get
my hands on that data and shareit with you. Not only is the

(20:33):
home buying power of all consumers beingdiminished, but two National Association of Realty
reports reveal the difficulties home buyers arefacing across racial and ethnic lines. Elevated
home prices, soaring mortgage rates,and limited inventory or three major hurdles jeopardizing
homebuyers plans. This year, manywould be buyers have decided to wait out

(20:56):
the market for conditions to improve,a trend particularly noticeable among certain races and
ethnicities. That's according to two newresearch reports from the National Association of Realtors
the NAAR. The studies, whichwere conducted in partnership with Morning consult show
that of prospective buyers who say theyare waiting for home prices to decline before

(21:18):
purchasing, twenty seven percent are Asian, twenty four percent of Hispanic, twenty
percent are black, and fifteen percentare white. Survey respondents across racial demographics
also say they're waiting to buy ahome until mortgage rates decline in more homes
that fit their budget become available.Home buyers faced the most difficult affordability conditions
in nearly forty years due to limitedinventory in rising mortgage interest rates. That's

(21:44):
according to Jessica Lotts, National Associationof Realtors Deputy Chief Economist and Vice president
of Research. The impact is exacerbatedamong first time buyers, who are more
likely to be from underrepresented segments ofthe population. Lot said current housing costs
and credit card debt are limiting wouldbe buyer's ability to save for a downpayment.

(22:06):
The reports show awareness about down paymentassistance programs remains low. A third
of perspective buyers across racial and ethniclines say they were unaware of such programs.
Downpayment assistance programs often fly under theradar for potential homebuyers. Lot says
using programs like FHAVA or USDA loanscan make homeownership more attainable. I always

(22:30):
tell everybody's start with a mortgage broker. So if you called me and said
I'm looking for a home, thevery first step I would tell you is
to talk to a mortgage broker,and then you can figure out what your
budget is. You can see whatprograms are out there and compare costs and
monthly payments and all of those things. And yes, FHAVA and USDA loans

(22:52):
can help. Discrimination is still aproblem. The reports show an additional hurdle
to home ownership. About one insix perspective buyers across races and ethnicities report
facing discrimination. More than half ofblacks, sixty three percent Asian sixty percent
in Hispanic Fifty two percent of buyerswho report facing discrimination say they believe they

(23:15):
were targeted because of their race orethnicity. The bulk of their complaints are
about steering, or requirements for qualifyingfor a loan. So steering is where
a mortgage company or a real estateagent or anybody else for that matter,
steers you away from a certain neighborhoodor steers you into a certain neighborhood.

(23:37):
There's also something called redlining, wherethey won't write mortgages or insurance companies won't
write policies within the red lines ofa certain geographic area. Those are normally
financially depressed areas, and honestly theirareas where more minorities live. I think

(24:00):
I've shared this story with you before. I'll tell it real quick again.
I still feel bad about this.I had a pretty elderly lady give me
a call. She listens to theradio show and hello, if you're still
listening, man, I hope youare, and I hope you're doing well.
But she had called me and said, my insurance company just dropped me.

(24:21):
And I've been living here a longtime and my house is in good
shape and just out of nowhere theydropped me. And I said, well,
what was the reason they gave fordropping you? And she said,
well, they said that the shrubs, you know, the landscaping. The
shrubs were too close to the house, and so they dropped her insurance.
Now, of course, that's apretty simple fix. I don't know why

(24:42):
the insurance company would be so concernedabout your shrubs. Now. I know
that they say, maintenance wise,you should trim the shrubs back away from
your home. But certainly that wouldn'tbe a reason for an insurance company to
drop you right or at the veryleast, and to send you a notice
and say, trim your shrubs backaway from your house. And you know,

(25:03):
I told her, I said,I think they just don't want to
write that policy in the neighborhood thatyou live in. And she agreed,
and so I said, you know, you can make a complaint about this,
but this may be an uphill battlefor you. And that's a pretty
awful thing for them to do tosomebody who's elderly, who has lived in

(25:25):
their house for a long time andlives in a house that's been maintained.
But you know, they they decidedthey didn't want to write a policy.
And my guess is in that particularneighborhood anymore so that would be a instance
of redlining, steering redlining. Imean, these are practices that have pretty

(25:45):
much been outlawed since the sixties,but there's still some companies that have found
creative waves around it looking for otherthings like blame it on the shrubs,
or maybe I'll give them the benefitof the doubt and say, you know,
they don't even realize they're doing that. They're they've just become much more
stringent on their enormous amount of standardsand rules. But I still think they

(26:11):
were redlining after the conversation that Ihad with her, and I do hope
that everything turned out okay for her. She sounded like a very sweet lady.
Of the fewer home sales that arehappening lately, more of them are
falling apart. Nearly sixty thousand homepurchase agreements were canceled in August. That's
equal to fifteen point seven percent ofhomes that went under contract that month.

(26:33):
It's according to new data from Redfinn. August percentage of canceled deals is up
from fourteen point three percent one yearago, and it's also the highest percentage
since October twenty twenty two. Newlistings rose by zero point eight percent from
July to August and dropped fourteen pointfour percent from one year earlier. High

(26:55):
interest rates are causing many homeowners notto sell and the few were amount of
sellers that are putting their homes onthe market is because they have to in
some cases due to divorce, familyemergencies, or return to office policies.
So, in other words, peoplewith low interest rates that are not compelled
to sell for any given reason arenot putting their houses on the market,

(27:19):
and the majority of houses that arefor sale is because those people are compelled
to sell for one reason or another. If you know of somebody that recently
bought their first home, or maybeyou're a realtor that deals with first time
home buyers, this would be agreat gift. Chicago based Good Stories Publishing
has released Welcome Home by Marlene Byrne. It's a ninety two page hardcover coffee

(27:44):
table book that provides a collection ofhome maintenance tips, recipes, and stories
designed for new homeowners. Young couplesdo not typically have the maintenance knowledge that
their parents and grandparents did, saidBurne, a former advertising executive. I
wanted to provide simple tips to remindthem of important things, like knowing about
how to shut off their main watervalve or switch a circuit in their electrical

(28:07):
box. The book also includes spacefor new homeowners to record their stories and
document the first few days in theirnew home. This is the first of
the company's Life point Books line,which is designed to celebrate significant life moments.
I'm going to go celebrate a significantlife moment because I'm out of time.

(28:27):
Thanks for tuning into Your Home threesixty Today, presented by Pool Works
Little Pool. Check it out onlineat mypoolworks dot com. You can download
the podcast of My Home three sixtyat ninety four threewsc dot com, or
look for it on your iHeartRadio appJust Punch in your Home three sixty with Michael Blaze