Ocala is often called the horse capital of the world. There are some world class horse farms here. It has to do with the soil which has a lot of lime rock in it making for some of the world’s finest horse pasture. Yesterday was the 139th Kentucky Derby. All of the 6 top finishers had ties to farms here in Ocala. Some were bred here, some were broken here and others were trained here. That’s why Ocala Florida is the horse capital of the world.
As I watch the news and see one storm after another dump snow on my home state of Massachusetts I’m just glad I don’t live there any more. As a matter of fact, I don’t know why I didn’t move south sooner. One of the things that I looked for when I moved from Maine to Ocala was no snow. That’s no snow or ice ever. A recent blog on CNN states that Florida was the only state with no snow. So if you’re sick of the winter. I mean so sick of the winter that you want to move, then Ocala Florida is the place to be. We have the lowest median home prices in Florida. No where in Florida is 100% hurricane safe but Ocala is about as close as you can get. Property taxes and insurance are lower than in other parts of Florida too. The hot and humid summers are a small price to pay for no winters and if you’re worried about the hot summers, I can always find you a nice pool home.
Ocala swimming pool
This is a series of blog posts about living in Ocala Florida. Being from out of state myself I feel the need to try and educate people about various aspects of life here in Ocala. For example I was just talking to a buyer who didn’t want a pool home because he thought pools were too expensive and too much work.
The average Ocala area swimming pool is much like the one pictured above. Around 12 feet wide by 24 feet long. About 6 feet deep just over the drain, surrounded by a cool deck and covered by a screen cage. You do see larger pools but I’d guess that 90% are like the one I describe. A pool like this is about 10,000 gallons.
In Ocala you can use an unheated pool from about early to mid May to the end of October. A heater would of course extend the season. A solar heater is the way to go if you feel the need for a heater. There are gas and electric heaters but they are expensive to operate. The solar heater has only a small circulating pump.
Chemicals aren’t a big deal or all that expensive. I put a 3″ tablet in a floating dispenser once a week. Eight tablets cost me $17.99, that comes out to $117.00 per year. I also dump one half a jug of liquid chlorine shock treatment in every week in the summer and I slack off and only do it every few weeks in the winter. A whole jug of liquid chlorine costs me $4.50. I’m also supposed to put in algaecide but I seldom remember to and my pool never turns green. If you followed the directions a bottle of algaecide is $20.00 and you’d need 2 to 4 a year. I get my water tested for free at Pinch a Penny. The only other expense is the electricity to run the pool pump. Being in Florida you don’t winterize your pool.
The screen cage keeps leaves of of the pool. The screen cage also cuts out a lot of the suns rays that give you a sun burn. I don’t know how it works but you can spend 2 hours in the sun under the screen cage and just get a little pink but if you were in the full sun for 2 hours you’d get a good burn.
If you don’t want to vacuum, like me, then you need a pool cleaner. They aren’t cheap at around $400- but all you do is plug it into an outlet in the pool and it drives around vacuuming all day. I do this once a week in the summer and every few weeks in the winter.
The 55+ communities have large community pools. You will find very few 55+ homes with a private pool and f you do it will be in the upper price ranges by that I mean over $200,000.00
There are plenty of pool homes in the Ocala area but be aware of the following. Most newer foreclosures do not have pools. Most pool homes below $100K will be smaller older homes with a pool and no cage. Most 55+ homes (98%) do not have a private pool.
If you’d like to see listing of Ocala area pool homes call me, email me or use my Ocala Dream Home Finder.