For decades there was a belief that having a swimming pool was a negative when it came time to sell a home.
Whether this was actually the case, or just something that home buyers used as a negotiation tactic to get a lower price on a home with pools (because, hey if you REALLY did not want a pool, would you actually be looking at a home with a pool?) is up for debate. What is no longer up for debate however is if pools are currently a negative when it comes time to sell.
As we write this, homes with pools are now in very high demand!
While there is definitely that group of people who genuinely do NOT want a swimming pool, the number of people who DO want one seems to be on the rise. So much so, that we can unequivocally say that there has definitely been a transition in how homes with pools are perceived, and this transition occurred more than a few years ago.
So what exactly did change to cause all the swimming pool desire?
From what we could tell, the transition occurred a few years back, and came from a few external factors. Factor number one was rising gas prices. As fuel costs rose (and rose, and rose… and then continued to rise), homes with pools quickly became more popular as many people liked the idea of staycations and having access to water without having to drive.
The second factor that changed how homes with swimming pools were viewed was Covid-19.
As we found ourselves more and more restricted to our homes, desire for swimming pools for the fun/ exercise/ family bonding factors that they offered went through the roof. Further to this, something else that came from Covid-19 impacted homes that have existing pools.
Try calling a pool company and see what your earliest install date is on a new pool build. You’ll almost be guaranteed to be looking at 1 to 2 years! All of this combined to make swimming pools (and the homes with them) more in demand than they likely have ever been. So while at one point, you may have been able to make the argument that swimming pools don’t help sell homes, that is no longer the case. Now, we’d probably go so far as to actually suggest putting a pool in to make it sell faster!
