Need to purchase a hot tub

[dis2cruise]

We are building a rental house the realtor said we would get more income if we put in a 4 person hot tub. Does anyone know of any good hot tub companies they could recommend?

 

[tvguy]

Hot Springs brand has been around forever. We had one 25 years before it gave up the ghost.
I recently say a brand called Tuff Tub. It operates on either 110 or 220, and it has an attached hard cover. That is the big on going expense with a hot tub with a soft cover, those $250 covers need replacing every 5 years or so.
Our Hot Springs spa was 110, but most these days are 220, which can be expensive to have wired up.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

1) I would not install a hot tub.
2) We have 17 properties (singles, duplexes, fourplexes)
3) We have pulled pools and hot tubes before renting units.
4) There is too much liability.

 

[RitaE]

Depends on the type of rental property. If it is something such as would be rented as Vacation Property on VRBO etc then that type of feature is sometimes expected.

Sorry about the thread hijack OP, I really don't know much about Hot Tubs other than you can usually find a lot of them on CraigsList.

 

[sz9144]

1) I would not install a hot tub.
2) We have 17 properties (singles, duplexes, fourplexes)
3) We have pulled pools and hot tubes before renting units.
4) There is too much liability.

I was thinking the same thing- that a hot tub increases your insurance costs and liability.

 

[csharpwv]

Honestly, I would not install a free standing hot tub at a rental property.
The maintenance, liability, and ongoing operating expense will be really high.

If anything, I would consider, after consulting with my homeowners insurance, a plunge pool, or a built in solid construction spa.

I would do a lot more research before making a decision like this - keeping it clean, and assuring that it is sanitary grosses me out a little, I have to admit!

 

[ceecee]

I was thinking the same thing- that a hot tub increases your insurance costs and liability.

Seems like it would cost most than you will get back, renters damage everything. Unless like a PP said it was a vacation rental, then you still have to worry about keeping it clean and adding chemicals etc.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

We are building a rental house the realtor said we would get more income if we put in a 4 person hot tub. Does anyone know of any good hot tub companies they could recommend?

Unless you are renting to a bunch of college students, I can't see how a hot tub would make a rental property more desirable. I think this would be a waste of your money.

 

[clarabelle]

I think our hot springs must be a lemon. It is currently not working. It seems to break down every year. The covers are heavy and hard to handle. You have to have a flat leveled surface and you need extra wiring. Chemicals need to be adjusted/checked fairly often.

If you do wind up buying one -I would ask lots of questions about warranty and service. We have a hard time getting ours worked on. Our Hot Springs dealer went out of business and the other companies in town did not service Hot Springs.

 

[tvguy]

I think our hot springs must be a lemon. It is currently not working. It seems to break down every year. The covers are heavy and hard to handle. You have to have a flat leveled surface and you need extra wiring. Chemicals need to be adjusted/checked fairly often.

If you do wind up buying one -I would ask lots of questions about warranty and service. We have a hard time getting ours worked on. Our Hot Springs dealer went out of business and the other companies in town did not service Hot Springs.

The flat surface, extra wiring and chemical adjustment are going to be the same issue with every brand of spa.
I think what I like most about Hot Springs spas is, when they need service, because they are so popular, there are a number of independent (and cheaper) repair companies around.

 

[sz9144]

Unless you are renting to a bunch of college students, I can't see how a hot tub would make a rental property more desirable. I think this would be a waste of your money.

I would think upgrading the bathtub to a jacuzzi tub might be a bigger draw and better return

 

[GusGus77]

I agree that a hot tub could be a bad idea (unless this is a vacation rental, but even then.) We have a hot tub that came with our house, but the novelty wore off quickly. Chemicals need to be properly maintained or parts will wear (like o-rings) and then you can have leaks. And it is a minimum of once a week. Plus the water has to circulate daily and it has to always be on to maintain temperature and filter, so you have an increase in electricity costs. Once your chemicals are off, it takes awhile (and $) to get them back in sync again. Plus you are going to want to drain and refill it at least once a year. Hot tubs seem neat, but they are a lot of work and an expense.

 

[GusGus77]

I agree that a hot tub could be a bad idea (unless this is a vacation rental, but even then.) We have a hot tub that came with our house, but the novelty wore off quickly. Chemicals need to be properly maintained or parts will wear (like o-rings) and then you can have leaks. And it is a minimum of once a week. Plus the water has to circulate daily and it has to always be on to maintain temperature and filter, so you have an increase in electricity costs. Once your chemicals are off, it takes awhile (and $) to get them back in sync again. Plus you are going to want to drain and refill it at least once a year. Hot tubs seem neat, but they are a lot of work and an expense.

I do agree that hot springs is a good brand if you are going to go ahead and get one. I also suggest that you invest in a good cover for it. It will help lower electricity costs.

 

[4HppyCamprs]

We have had a Great Lakes hot tub for 8 years and have had none of the problems mentioned. We do need to replace our cover this year thanks to my lovely dog. Our added electricity is 8-12 a month. We do not have problems maintaining the chemicals. We followed our dealers instructions to monkey with them as little as possible. We do drain it seasonally and refill. We do have a ozonator. We had warrenty work one time on the motherboard. We have a 5 person Triton. I would not like any smaller. I am not sure I would mess with it for a rental.

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[pandamom]

We have a Sundance 7 seater that we've had for about 10 years. It has an ozonator and requires minimal chemicals and is super easy to maintain. We did have to have the mother board replaced last year (about $800) and the filters are expensive ($75 - $100).

 

[Viva Las Disney]

I've had a Jacuzzi 6 seater for 2 years and I still love it. It requires near daily supervision though to maintain the proper chemical levels, unless you are going to be at the rental every couple of days or have a company that will be there every 2-3 days at the longest I wouldn't recommend it.

It only takes a few days without proper chemical levels before the water becomes murky and requires a chlorine shock which will clear the water but will make the spa unusable for several days. If it's not maintained properly you could get a bacteria that could make people very sick.

I love my hot tub and they are really easy to maintain when they are in your own backyard but I think it would be a huge pain to have one at a rental property.

 

[snarlingcoyote]

The only rental home I've ever stayed at as a vacation house that had a real hot tub was one where the owner lived on the estate, so the hot tub could be taken care of with daily housekeeping. (Come to think of it, when I stayed at Adventure Suites in Conway NH - a hotel - our room had a real hot tub in it - but that place has only a few rooms, so I'm sure the staff looks after those hot tubs on a daily basis as well.)

But I've stayed at several places that had big, jetted two man whirlpool tubs in an en suite style.

Would that work or be too small for the situation? The daily maintenance on those is quite a bit simpler than on a real hot tub.

 

[Bob NC]

We are building a rental house the realtor said we would get more income if we put in a 4 person hot tub. Does anyone know of any good hot tub companies they could recommend?

I guess I would trust the expertise of your realtor if they say this is a good option in your area. In many mountain rentals near where I live a hot tub is very desirable as far as being a wanted option.
Also, rentals in ski areas frequently have hot tubs.

If there are many rentals in your area with pools and/or hot tubs I bet it wouldn't take much research to find the most popular, trustworthy suppliers and service companies of these products.

Maybe ask your builder, or, realtor, or even a neighbor in the neighborhood you will be building.

 

[dis2cruise]

Thanks for everyone's info on what brand of spa to look for and your concerns.
This is for a beach house which will have mature seasonal renter my dh and I will use the home pre/post season. I will contact our insurance company to see financially if this makes sence to add the spa to our new beach house.

 

[kcrew]

We have had a Great Lakes hot tub for 8 years and have had none of the problems mentioned. We do need to replace our cover this year thanks to my lovely dog. Our added electricity is 8-12 a month. We do not have problems maintaining the chemicals. We followed our dealers instructions to monkey with them as little as possible. We do drain it seasonally and refill. We do have a ozonator. We had warrenty work one time on the motherboard. We have a 5 person Triton. I would not like any smaller. I am not sure I would mess with it for a rental.

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I see you are in Indiana, is your hot tub indoors? Our electricity bill went up about $100 a month in the summer and skyrocketed to close to $300 in the winter before I pulled the plug!!