RT,
You've posed a good question. I would say the short answer, at least in our case is yes. But that doesn't apply in every case. We bought our present house and pond from my wife's parents; part of a house swap of sorts as our family outgrew the previous home. They had placed the house on the market and been unable to sell it for the reason you described, there was nothing similar in the area to compare it with and establish a realistic market price at least for normal folks that have to borrow from the banks. Fortunately we were able to roll equity from the previous house over onto the new house and the bank was willing to work with us.If it hadn't been for the pond I doubt we would have paid as much for the place but it was here and we wanted it. A lot of people don't want a pond and for them I don't think it would add any value to the home.I notice that if a property is listed and it has anything that will hold water on it now they always advertise it as "with pond" so it must have some added value from a real estate standpoint. Just my 2 cents.
Chip
