DOES ADDING A POOL ADD VALUE TO YOUR HOME?
I get this question a lot from my clients who are moving here from other places all over teh country.
The experts are split on how much a pool can contribute to a home's value if you look at a national level for comparison. One HouseLogic study suggests an increase of 7 percent, at most, under ideal conditions, while HGTV reports that the average inground pool can up your property's value by 5 to 8 percent. I am not so sure that is true for our market today though here in Texas.
I remember in 2005 to about 2010, if a property had a pool, it was important to remind my seller clients that it was going to take longer to sell because about 75% of buyers did not want a pool. Having a pool was going to be an automatic negative targeting a smaller percentage of the market because of
Maintenance and upkeep
The stigma of kids drowning and safety concerns
Depreciation item that did not hold value
BUT, what are we seeing here now in 2021? Pools are highly desirable in Texas and everyone wants one, why?
Here are 3 reason pools add value in today’s market
People are moving to Texas from places like Florida,Arizona and California, where it is more the norm to have one where they lived. The culture here in the Austin surrounding area has definitely changed a lot in the past 10 years or so. Young families want more privacy and are not interested in crowded public pools, growing families want their teens to be home more with their friends, entertaining with friends with an out door living space is more popular and seniors want a pool for therapy and rehabilitation. Everyone wants a pool these days!
Buyers are more open to a new pool construction since they are not as able to get one in this tight resale market. The average of homes with pools is steadily increasing and becoming more the norm. Market values have gone up and pools are not as much of an appraisal issue anymore.
Supply and demand. As soon as a home with a pool goes on the market and it has a pool everyone wants it and the price is driven up making the pool value higher.
Adding a pool can be a great value to your home in this market, which means you can get a good return on what you invested. It would still be better to already find a home with a pool, but again, they don't last and the price war can go up 50k- 100k in some cases to have it. I think buyers are just more willing now to get a new one. That doesn’t change the things that are a pain in the neck about a pool. Due to the increased demand for pools right now there are major delays on supplies and trades so the process of getting a pool can be very backed up. Maintenance of a pool is always a continuing thing but the good news is new pools have better equipment with better technology. They can offer more automatic systems and do not require as much attention.
