home with no pool? northern suburbs (Dallas, Plano: HOA, houses, neighborhoods)

[stargirl007]

Hi all.

My husband and I are starting to potentially look to move into a larger home this year and have started to look at a few homes. We are in a starter home in West Plano that we've owned for a few years now. We love the area for what it's worth.

A couple of our non-negotiables are a 3 car garage, but also we would like a grassy space in our backyard. We are OK with having a pool, but we would have to have enough grassy space for a couple of pets to run around. Preferable would be to not have a pool at all.

It seems in our search in our price point we are basically seeing almost nothing but backyards that are concrete/pool only. We have seen a very select few homes that have no pool whatsoever, but in the photos the realtors are going and literally photoshopping what a pool would look like in the backyard.

We don't anticipate to sell this home for many, many years -- but it begs the question on if we would be taking a severe potential hit on resale to have a home that does NOT have a pool? Are there some specific areas/neighborhoods we should take a look at?

Price range is ceiling 800K, with preference to stay in the lower 700s if we can manage it. One commute to Toyota and other is DNT/PGBT. Prefer to have no more than 30-40 min commute.

[stephwin]

I noticed that the higher price point houses are more likely to have a pool than not, especially in your budget. My neighborhood and another share an HOA and a pool. The other neighborhood is in a different price point than mine (your price point) and I'd say at least half of the houses have pools. About 1/3 of the houses in my neighborhood ($350-550k) have pools.

I do not want a pool and when we were house shopping I refused to look at any houses with pools. I can't answer your question about resale. Some people might want a pool as it's cheaper to buy a house with an existing pool than one without and build a pool. However, some people are really picky about their pools and layouts, so they might like that your home has no pool and they can customize it as they wish. Or maybe they won't want a pool just like you didn't.

[Katana49]

At a $700k price point, pools are kind of expected for TX. I think you should be able to find a house with a pool but with enough yard to satisfy you.

[Rakin]

Originally Posted by Katana49

At a $700k price point, pools are kind of expected for TX. I think you should be able to find a house with a pool but with enough yard to satisfy you.

I was about to say $650 but you are correct. Many people say they want a pool and a nice back yard space to play. In most newer areas you can usually have one or the other but not both.

Pools are common and almost expected in this price range. They tend to kill the backyard for green space.

Also, a 3 car garage can eat into a larger lot quickly.

[JenH1]

I think there are always going to be people who *don't* want a pool. We refused to look at any homes with pools the last time we purchased a house, because we had small children and it was a safety issue that I didn't want to worry about. I PM'd you a house that might meet your needs that isn't on the market yet.

[jiping]

In order to accommodate both pool and enough green space, 0.33-0.4 acre lot size is a minimum. That's where you should start your search.

It would be difficult to find such in Plano, except for some multi-million mansions.
Newer construction is out of the question. There are quite a few built before 1995 but they may not be on the market right now.

If you can't find one in Plano, I suggest you look around Hebron High.

[vailbaby]

I just kinda went through this. I wanted a pool AND a backyard. Having a pool was non-negotiable. Like I wouldn't move to TX if we didn't have one. LOL We had to settle for a house that's basically all pool in the backyard. Zero yard basically (like a couple little strips on the side). It's all very weird to me and definitely will take some adjustments. It depends I guess the area you are looking in. We ended up in Trophy Club. If we were to find a house that was at least 1/3 acre with a pool, it was close to a million- which pretty much started to put us in Southlake prices which we were avoiding. I actually found very few houses in TC with a pool at this price point.

[UnfairPark]

Texas summers sort of dictate adding a pool in luxury homes. You can find ones with pool and yard or just a huge yard for right price but standard practice for affluent folks is to have their own private pools and not having to share public pools with whole subdivision. Its a matter of privacy, hygiene and convenience for most and probably a status symbol for some.

[octo]

Originally Posted by UnfairPark

Texas summers sort of dictate adding a pool in luxury homes. You can find ones with pool and yard or just a huge yard for right price but standard practice for affluent folks is to have their own private pools and not having to share public pools with whole subdivision. Its a matter of privacy, hygiene and convenience for most and probably a status symbol for some.

But what defines “luxury”? To me, a house on a postage stamp lot with pool and no yard is not luxurious. It’s maybe well off middle class depending on area.

[bigbear63]

Hmmm...so many questions I have. So out of curiousity...does this kind of house appeal to you?
https://www.realtor.com/realestatean...7_M81947-32702
Older, original condition, but has 3 car, pool, *some* yard, and a lake. This an easy drive to the locations you mentioned since *essentially* the traffic is in reverse flow. The reason I ask is that I live nearby and would *love* to own something like this but a lot of people on here don't want to be in north Dallas for some reason. This is still Plano school district if school is an issue.