Selling a house with a built in aquarium

Q

quahreef

New member
So we are considering buying a new house. One issue that I'm worried about is what happens to the reef aquarium in my current house. It's a built in wall buildout with a refugium and life support plumbed out to the garage, so obviously can't take it with, plus the aquarium is custom built for the existing space.

In the new house I want to do another built in but would be a couple of months at least before I could get contractors arranged and all the support work done.

So now the questions

Anyone sold homes with built in aquariums what was it like during the sales process / handoff. Did you include equipment and livestock in the sale?

I don't mind including the aquarium and all the equipment in the sale but would want the new owners to be able to take care of it. Anyone have experience with this?
 
As a homebuilder, having built and sold dozens of homes my best advice is to remove your tank and repair any traces. I can promise you that it will turn off 99 out of a 100 buyers.
 
I actually removed mine before putting the house on the market. The house we have now is currently under renovation and i have knocked a brick wall through to fit an in wall tank. If we ever decide to sell this house i will leave the tank in, but give any potential buyers an option for me to rip it all out and have the void repaired.
 
Remove and fix it.

Unless I liked the system I would have you remove it before buying the house.
 
You will have better luck selling the house without the tank in the wall. If I ever get the chance to have a house with a fish room the tank will not be built in, but back up to the wall of the fish room.
 
Built in

Built in

I agree with Mark, you'll get the best price on your home by removing any trace that the tank has been there. Its very frustrating, because we feel like its a selling point but its not for the vast majority of people.
 
You can try selling it with the house.
You won't get extra for it but it could be a selling feature for the future buyer.
Or you stipulate that if the buyer is not interested in the aquarium, you will have the wall returned to normal.

That said, you will do better financially and probably have an easier time selling the house to sell it all off before putting the house on the market. Tuck that cash away for your new build in the new home.
 
Put the house up for sale in the RC marketplace. Seriously, if it was a nice setup, it would totally be a selling feature for me, but us hardcore reefers are a very small percentage of the population.
 
I think it will Turn Off buyers before you even get them to the table. I had two regular tanks and it was already a problem to show the house. To many peoe don't care and if it is built in it raises concerns with buyers.
 
we moved a few years ago from Connecticut to Wisconsin. The house showed much better once I broke down my tanks. All people saw was my tanks in the room, it was tough for them to picture their vision of the room. Good luck.
 
Yep. I am even going as far as upgrading my Biocube lighting to hold SPS, and breaking down my 125 to remove it before we show it. I have to give away a ton, but I am keeping frags of everything and all of my Yumas. It is a very painful thing for me to do, and I will have to start from scratch once we build, but I know it can be a turn off to even have a large tank in the living room built in or not.
 
Just like a swimming pool will appeal to only a small percentage of buyers (outside of SoCal and Miami), the tank will do the same.

I was happy to buy a house with a pool knowing that I actually got a better price on it because of the pool..... oh, and ya know having kids it's nice to have a pool.

I would rip it out and sell it.
 
Nobody is ever satisfied with somebody else's rig---not big enough, etc. Pull it, sheetrock and paint. Sell it. What fits one house won't fit another. Advertise the fish room as storage.
Sad to say.
 
I would say that a large built in tank would be a turn off even to those experienced with reef keeping. The simple cost for upkeep of the system might be a turnoff even for an experienced reefer. So as unfortunate as it is -- probably should remove it and if planning on having a tank in the new house maybe move as much as you can into a temporary smaller system -- a small investment but in the long run this would save you from having to buy all new equipment. This would also buy you some time when you move to your new home. You could still have a reef system just on a smaller scale until you can get your new system up and running. Keep all your equipment and just plan to use it in the new home. You have to consider that you will get very little in the way of your investment in all the equipment that you have purchased. Good luck on the move!!
 
I sold my home with a built in 125gal tank a couple of years ago. At that time, most homes in my area were selling in a matter of days (even trashed & short sell homes). It took my home 3 weeks to sell. The feedback that my agent received from prospective buyers was that they loved the home but didn't want to deal with the tank. I ended up getting a full price offer, but if I had it to do over again i would've removed the tank.
 
Yeah I think tanks would really turn off buyers as well.

Remove, Patch and sell the tank :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

SUPERSTOCKRACER
Framelwss aquarium
Replies
2
Views
295
kharmaguru
kharmaguru
B
Setting up My 300 gal tank.
Replies
7
Views
537
Vinny Kreyling
Vinny Kreyling
J Crew
Apex - equipment list for complete automation?
Replies
14
Views
507
griss
griss
P
LF: mp10 dryside housing
Replies
0
Views
176
psidriven
P
Miguel.RS
[Project] 120 l Reef aquarium
2
Replies
27
Views
838
Miguel.RS
Miguel.RS
Back
Top