A man who bought a 'fixer-upper' house for just $20,000 (£15,000) was shocked to find a fully functional swimming pool hidden away in the overgrown back garden.
Nurse John Reynolds, 35, bought the detached three-bedroom property two years ago, after it had remained empty for a year following the death of the previous owner.
John originally planned on doing up the house and selling it on, but just three months after he made the purchase, he was left speechless when some heavy rainfall revealed a 40,000-gallon, 32x17ft pool hidden under junk and debris in the back garden.
Advert
He's spent the last 18 months clearing out and renovating, and has since decided to keep the house, which is now worth around $220,000 (£165,000).
John, from Mineral Wells in Texas, said: "It feels like I have stumbled across a winning lottery ticket.
"Never in a million years when I bought the property did I think I would be swimming in my own pool.
"I bought it as a bit of an investment with the intention to do it up and sell it on, but it has yielded so many surprises I don't know if I can let it go.
Advert
"My friends and I are in it every day for hours on end now.
"You couldn't wish to find a bigger reward in your back garden."
The house, which was built in 1955, had been lived in by a hoarder for 20 years and was then vacant for a year following his death. The property was filled with junk and 100 feral cats, and the garden was an overgrown mess.
Until John bought it from the local authority, it had been set to be demolished.
After snapping up the house for $20,000, John noticed that an area of the garden seemed to be permanently 'boggy', even when there had been no recent rainfall. However, the garden was lower down on his list of priorities, so he didn't bother to investigate.
Advert
It was only when some heavy rainfall filled the old pool to the brim, shifting some junk in the process, that he was able to see what was underneath.
He said: "When a huge rain storm finally came, I got a call from my neighbour asking if I'd seen my pool.
"I said, 'I don't know what you're talking about, I don't have a pool,' and she said, 'Yes you do.'
Advert
"When I went out you could just see the water line tile and the water was standing right up next to it. I was in shock.
"I thought, 'Whether I live here or sell the house, I can't leave it like this.'
"It took 11 months just to do the cleanup process and as the shell started showing I was waiting for a huge crack to surface but that never happened.
"When we got back down to the bottom of the pool. I realised it was still in really good shape."
Advert
John says he's spent around $10,000 (£7,000) on repairing leaks, plus refilling and repainting the pool.
"I used to drive past the house all the time and it always caught my eye because it had so much potential," he said.
"When I finally bought it, it was so dilapidated you could smell it from two blocks away.
"Transforming it has been a labour of love, and I've decided it's going to be my home now."
Featured Image Credit: Mercury PressTopics: Interesting, US News