what about an inground pool in a $500K house, worth it?

[abner463]

If you are definitely moving on after a few years, and don't NEED a pool, I would say don't bother. Unless you are going to enjoy it, and put in a decent one w/ a spa and all of the bells and whistles that you would want to see if you were viewing the home as a potential buyer, save yourself the trouble. It costs a lot of money to maintain in the meantime too. If a buyer has enough money for your $500k house (a lot here) they can put in their dream pool after they buy it. HTH!

[expander]

Pool Concepts by Pete Ordaz Inc — South Texas' Premier Custom Pool Builder

[shenane]

You might want to check out the Feb 2008 issue of Money of magazine. It showed where folks redesigned their bedroom and greatly increased the value of their house. Older issues of Money talk about "cost vs value" - what type of things will get you some return on your money. Nothing will get you 100% but a remodeled kitchen is one of the things that get you a pretty high percentage. There is one article that talks about stupid upgrades - things that won't get you any money back. I can't remember what they were.
But look for the back issue at the library. If there is a cover story about real estate, it might have those articles.
Good luck

Originally Posted by snshn3

I come from Florida, where the norm is for 90% of the homes to have a pool, it is expected there. So I am not sure how it is here in Texas.

I live in Helotes and bought a house for about half a million. The house is from a good, reputable builder and is 4000sq ft and we have a community pool.

The problem I have is that the house sits on 1/2 acre and the landscaping is rocky. In other words, it is not completely flat. We know that we are not planning on staying in this house for more than 2-3 yrs and then we will move back to Florida. We want to make sure the house sells well when we are ready to move. We need to fix up the backyard but in a way where we would get our money back. I know pools are not the best ROI option, but in this case, I don't know.....

I am decorating it very nicely and thought that maybe if I put in a basic pool 30x15 (no jacuzzi or anything extravagant) for $35K that it might help sell the house better and faster.
What do you think?

[traficdogn]

Originally Posted by snshn3

I am decorating it very nicely and thought that maybe if I put in a basic pool 30x15 (no jacuzzi or anything extravagant) for $35K that it might help sell the house better and faster.
What do you think?

I think it would be a big No No, especially since you know you are moving.

Here are the pro's and con's. There will be a lot of con's.

Pros:
-You will have a pool to jump in during the summer.
-You might like to use it to invite friends of your children over.

Cons:
-Your are going to have to supervise the construction of your pool.
-If it really is rocky like you say, they are going to be on that jackhammer forever.
-Your landscaping may get destroyed.
-You'll have strangers and possibly a portapotty on your property.
-Higher assessed property values (more taxes for you)

Bottom Line:

By building a pool, you've eliminated the opportunity for a new purchaser to design his/her own new pool, and also eliminated possible clients that don't want a pool at all. There is a good chance that the entire $35k you spend on the pool will never be seen again.

[dendox]

you folks freaking out over a 75k pool have never priced one here in San Antonio - have you?

Kevin was absolutely correct. The cost of excavation is the exorbitant here when compared to most other places. If you life where there is limeston bed rock - basically anywhere on the north side - you can expect to pay in excess of 60k for a pool that is not "bare bones".

I have seen nice pools that were 125k because of all of the excavation. This was in a house that had three kids and the folks planned on living there for 20 years. Probably money well spent for them.

as for the OP - I am in the don't do it camp. I don't think it would be a good investment based upon what you have told us. It make make your home sell a bit faster, but (as mentioned) if you do a rather crummy pool (relatively speaking of course) - it may end up hurting your resale chances.

best of luck

[dendox]

pardon my typing above. Jeebus - it is horrible.

[czarina]

I work for my family's pool business. I also do not yet have a pool! We decided to invest our money in remodeling our Terrell Heights home and to consider the pool down the road, especially since we might build backwards onto our property, we want to wait until we know the exact dimensions of the house first. The people that purchase your home will be better off designing their own pool, everyone has different tastes, and many people actually do not want a pool for many reasons. I would recommend a good landscape architect like John Troy to make the back yard more appealing. Good luck!

[yatmel]

Building a pool and selling in the next 3 to 4 years might not be the best investment in the home that you can make. I would have a CMA (Comparable Market analysis) done by a Professional Real Estate for free. It doesn’t only depend on your home if it will sell for that it also depends on the other homes in your neighborhood. If you are on the high-end of the neighborhood then it might be hard to get what you put into the home back also depends on how long you have lived there. Lots of factors go into this.
I feel that most people get their money back on the home if it is spent on upgrades within the home and landscape. Some people just want access to a pool and some want a pool in their back yard. So it is better to sell a home with no pool than one with a pool due to maintenance cost. If majority of the homes in the neighborhood have a pool that is another story.

Moderator cut: removed
I also think that $75,000 is mighty high for a basic pool. I also am familiar with a pool company who designs pools in a rock terrain.