Are you looking for ways to increase the value of your home? Is adding a pool really the best option to get that added value? San Diego realtor Kyle Whissel, the pros and cons of having a pool. As well as the factors that will affect the value of the home with pools.

Should You Get a Pool to Add Home Value?

Does adding a pool to your home in San Diego actually increase the value? Hey there, it's Kyle Whissel with Whissel Realty Group and EXP Realty here in San Diego. And in today's video, I want to talk a little bit more about the value of a pool. Now understand if you're watching this video and you are not in San Diego.

I don't know if any of this information's accurate because all real estate markets are local. And so I'm going to focus on the local San Diego real estate market. I'm born and raised here. I know this market inside and out. I've lived all over San Diego County so I got a pretty good grasp on things. We sold a few thousand homes, so I think we got this down. Here's what I want to break it down to. It's really two key components to help you understand the value that a pool is going to add to a home.

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. If you put a $200,000 pool in, you're probably not going to get $200,000 back out. Like I don't care where you are or how nice a pool is, like, 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 San Diego. San Diego is very diverse. San Diego has 3 million-plus people in it. 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 'cause 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 San Diego, 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 looking as we get closer to the coast, even central San Diego or coastal, where they even say like, I don't want a house with a pool 'cause 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 East County, or inland parts of San Diego, I'm seeing clients almost demand that a house has a pool because again, it gets a lot hotter. Keep that in mind. The more inland you go, the further away from the coast you go, so when you go into North County Inland, you go into East County or you go into Inland South Bay, you're going to see more demand for pools in those areas. And anytime you see more demand, naturally, you're going to see more value. If you have a pool and you are in, let's say Santee, and you have that same pool in a house in Logan Heights, that pool is going to have significantly more value in Santee than it's going to have in Logan Heights.

That's part one of the equation. Part two of the equation is the quality of the pool 'cause 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, 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 like Playboy mansion pool, or are we talking like a hole in the ground pool? Because 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 be like, I got a pool, but now I got to add a hot tub. I got to add a heater. I got to 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 East County, it's going to have a lot of value.

You get closer to the coast, maybe a Claremont, 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. But 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.

I hope that is helpful. If you've got a home in San Diego that's got a pool, you want to find out how is that pool affects your value, reach out to us at the phone number down below. We're happy to give you a free opinion of value and just get you up to speed on what's going on here with the San Diego real estate market. I'm Kyle Whissel with Whissel Realty Group. Thanks so much for watching.

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