5 Helpful Tips for Selling a House with a Luxury Pool
Prospective buyers of your home may view your in-ground luxury swimming pool as a relaxing paradise, social focal point, and a great spot for exercise or as a hassle for maintenance. This is why selling a house with a luxury-style pool can be a tricky transaction. You can’t change the mind of a pool hater. Instead, you can target your efforts for selling a house with a pool toward party people–but prospective buyers will turn their nose up at an ugly cement pond.
In this article, we will go through five helpful tips when selling a house with a luxury-style pool.
1. Pool Maintenance Should Be Put on Overdrive Before Showings Begin
When trying to sell a home with a pool, the maintenance needs to be kicked up a notch. Depending on the size of your pool, maintenance of a pool year-round costs anywhere between $900 to $1,500+ annually and the frequency of services. Before listing your property, you will likely want to ensure that the following happens:
- The chemistry of the water is balanced.
- All pool equipment is properly working.
- The basket, skimmer, and filter are all clean.
- The bottom of the pool has been vacuumed.
- The water is free of bugs, plant matter, and other debris.
More common repairs a pool requires include minor cracks in the cement, rips in a vinyl liner, and leaks around lights, pumps, and fittings. It is important to resolve issues early on to prevent costly problems later down the road. If pool equipment has been repaired or replaced, keep your receipts for the home inspection as a possible selling point.
2. Install Safety Measures to Deter Buyer Concerns
Safety measures that have already been installed can be a big reassurance to families with younger children who may be concerned about owning a home with a luxury-style pool. Municipalities require a type of barrier that separates the pool area from the house and yard, like a fence that encloses the whole pool. Self-closing and self-latching gates that open outward can prevent small children from accessing the pool. It is important to share what you have spent on home insurance fees, as a pool on your property can increase the liability of the home. A common homeowners insurance policy will cover a pool structure, but experts do recommend bumping up the coverage depending on your location.
3. List Your House During Pool Season
In year-round warm states, there is usually no right or wrong season to sell a house with a pool as the weather is nearly always warm. If you reside in an area with more seasonal weather, it is important to get the word out ahead of time when people are going to be using the pool. In the south, mid-January to mid-June is a great time to show your house with the luxury pool. In the midwest and northeast, listing your home in the late spring or summer months will provide buyers the best impressions of your hot-weather home amenity.
4. Brag About Your Pool
Provide your real estate agent with your pool’s bragging highlights. A pool will appeal to certain aesthetics and lifestyles, and even if the water is clear, there should be other elements just as important to consider. From cascading waterfalls and fountains to charming gazebos and modern cabanas featuring outdoor kitchens, there are plenty of other features that can act as great selling points to your home.
5. The Deck Should be Staged Like Paradise
A potential buyer will look at more than the pool; the landscaping and furniture paired along with it. Despite a professional landscape designer being helpful, you can easily do it yourself by surrounding your pool with potted plants, a lush lawn, trimmed shrubbery, trees, and hedges. Pool accessories like floats and toys should be put away to keep your pool from looking disorganized. Chaise lounges, recliners, and accent tables can help your pool area appear more inviting.
Bottom Line
Staging your pool, incorporating safety features, timing the sale strategically, and showcasing additional amenities are going to be key to maximizing the appeal of your home. It is important to partner up with a professional real estate agent who has knowledge of marketing homes with pools effectively to help you get the most out of your home sale.