simplified the as_start_path function and remove the #todo as it it ca…

src/pyprojroot/root.py

@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 """
 
 from pathlib import Path
-from typing import Union, Tuple
+from typing import Union, Tuple, Optional
 
 from .criterion import (
     as_root_criterion as _as_root_criterion,
@@ -15,13 +15,19 @@
 )
 
 
-def as_start_path(start: Union[None, _PathType]) -> Path:
-    if start is None:
-        return Path.cwd()
-    if not isinstance(start, Path):
-        start = Path(start)
-    # TODO: consider `start = start.resolve()`
-    return start
+def as_start_path(start: Optional[_PathType]) -> Path:
+    """
+    Returns a Path object based on the current working directory or the optional input
+    provided. If the input `start` parameter contains the '~' character, it will be
+    expanded to the home directory before being returned.
+
+    :param start: Optional[str or Path], the path to start from. Defaults to None
+                  which sets the starting path to the current working directory.
+    :return: Path, the Path object based on the starting path.
+    """
+    if start is not None:
+        return Path(start).expanduser()
+    return Path.cwd()
 
 
 def find_root_with_reason(
@@ -39,7 +45,6 @@ def find_root_with_reason(
     # Prepare inputs
     criterion = _as_root_criterion(criterion)
     start = as_start_path(start)
-
     # Check start
     if start.is_dir() and criterion(start):
         return start, "Pass"