Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Does a pond add property value?

I ran across this post "12 acre lake 1 1/2 NE of Dallas for sale $110k" I decided to open up the conversation again about weather or not a pond adds to the value of property. There were some interesting view points about the subject in this old post. This might make a good article for Bob to cover in PB. I would like to share from my on experiences on this subject and get feed back from others. I realize all us pond meisters that bought raw land and built our on pond masterpieces are bias about this subject because we live and breath the stuff. Lets here from Pond Bosses out there that purchased land with an existing pond. Did you buy the property because it had the pond? The original post discussed that the appraised value of property is the same weather it has a pond or not. This for the most part is a true statement. Bankers & official appraisers don't add much if any value for having a pond when it comes to them setting the value. I ran across this when I built my pond and home. The appraisers use the Fanny May rule which is nothing more than determining value based on what has sold in the area in recent time period. Another words if you move somewhere and build a mansion and a 10 acre lake and there is not any thing in the area that the appraiser can compare to then you will most likely get a reduced appraisal value. I know this because I went thru it building our place. I build a 21/2 story cedar home rap around porches metal roof 30 foot ceilings setting on 22 acres with a 1.5 acre pond in the back yard. I designed and built 99% of the home myself. The only cost I had in the property was mostly materials. When it came time to close I was 20 k upside down based on the appraisal value. The property was compared against same square foot homes on 1& 2 acre tracts. These houses where all just brick tract homes. I protested of course and hired another appraiser. During the time the first appraisal was done and the second, a 10 acre tract with a very small cedar cabin metal roof sold for a good price about 10 miles away. Over night my property value went from being 20k in the hole to having more than 45 % equity in the property. So from a bankers stand point it's not what the property has more what are the masses willing to pay for a given property in the area. The bottom line is the value of a pond or land is what ever someone is willing to pay for it. If nothing else a pond adds a lot of curb appeal when it comes time to sale. As the original post points out just drive down any back road in rural America , if a property has a nice pond, the house 9 times out of 10 is built near by. What are YA's thoughts on this subject.