Does Adding a Pool Add Value to a Home?

Should You Add a Pool to Increase Your Home Value?

Does adding a pool to your home in Los Angeles actually increase the value? Hey there, it’s Scott Himelstein with the Scott Himelstein Group and Park Regency Realty here in Los Angeles. And in today’s video, I want to talk a little bit more about the value of a pool. 

Now let’s just get this out of the way first. 99% of the time, you are never going to get the value out of a pool as to what you put into it. If you put a $200,000 pool in, you’re probably not going to get $200,000 back out. I don’t care where you are or how nice a pool is, it’s probably not going to happen. I’m just going to like burst that bubble right out of the gate. Now let’s figure out how much value it does add. First and foremost, it’s going to depend on the area that you live in Los Angeles. Los Angeles is very diverse. And we’ve got areas that are right up against the ocean where you have coastal cool climates. 

You could also be going inland where in the summertime, you’re in the 90, 100 plus degree range every single day. Well, if I live right by the beach, I probably don’t need a pool as much because I could just walk down to the beach. Whereas if I live inland where it’s 90, 100 degrees every day for the entire summer, a pool is a little bit more attractive because I don’t necessarily want to drive to the beach. What I have found in my experience is that as you go more inland in Los Angeles such as the San Fernando Valley, you actually see more demand for pools. As you get closer to the coast, you see a little bit less demand for pools, to the point where a lot of times people are kind of indifferent on whether or not a house has a pool. I actually see more people don’t want a pool as we get closer to the coast where they even say, I don’t want a house with a pool because then it’s just a headache. It takes up yard space. I have to maintain it. I don’t even want it. Whereas when I’m helping my clients that are in the San Fernando or Santa Clarita Valleys, I’m seeing clients almost demand that a house has a pool because again, it gets a lot hotter. Keep that in mind. 

You are going to see more demand in these areas. Anytime you see more demand, naturally you are going to see more value. If you have a pool in Porter Ranch for example and you have that same pool in Santa Monica let’s say, the pool is going to have significantly more value in Porter Ranch than it’s going to have in Santa Monica.

The 2nd part of the equation is the quality of the pool since not all pools are not created equal. You could have a pool that was installed in 1960 that is a basic rectangular pool with no hot tub, no heater, and old plaster. That is a totally different animal than what you see a lot of people doing with pools today, where you have an infinity pool with waterfalls and a water slide and different colored lights and different levels and a grotto. These are not the same pool. When we’re talking about pools, we’ve got to figure out, are we talking a pool such as the Playboy mansion pool, or are we talking a hole in the ground pool? That’s going to make a big difference too. A lot of times that old 1960s pool that’s effectively a hole in the ground is going to actually negatively affect the value because somebody is going to look and think, I have a pool, but now I must add a hot tub, a heater, and resurface it. I got to do all this work to it. That pool could actually hurt your value whereas that Playboy mansion pool with a grotto and water slides and infinity pool, that could have a significant lift in the value. Now, are you going to get back dollar for dollar what you put into it? No, but you’re going to get much more of that value back for that higher-end pool. 

If we combine the two things together, you have the killer infinity pool with a water slide in the San Fernando Valley, it’s going to have a lot of value.

You get closer to the coast, maybe a Santa Monica, and you have the basic 1960s pool with nothing, it’s probably going to have little to no value, potentially even a negative value. Just keep that in mind. You’re never going to add a pool to add value. You’re always adding a pool for your own enjoyment for you, for your family, your grandkids, all that to enjoy. If you want to add the most value, just think the further inland you go, the higher quality pool, the closer you’re going to get to your return on that investment of the pool that you put in.

“Having a pool in the San Fernando Valley is usually a plus!”

If you have a pool home in Los Angeles and want to know how the pool affects the value reach to me. I’m happy to give you a free opinion on value and what is happening in our real estate market.