Does a Pool Add Value to a Las Vegas Home?

This question comes at me two ways.

Homeowners who are thinking about building a pool want to know if they will get the money back when they sell. Sellers who already have one want to know what it is worth. Same question, two very different answers.

Almost always, no. Not as a way to add value.

A pool is a big project with a long lead time, and in this valley it comes with permits, engineering, and a contractor schedule that does not care about your listing date. By the time it is done, you have spent a large sum on something the next buyer may or may not have wanted.

Some buyers want a pool badly. Some buyers cross a house off the list the moment they see one, because of the upkeep, the water, the summer power bill for the pump, or a toddler. A pool does not add to the whole market. It moves your house from one group of buyers to another.

Build a pool because you are going to live here and use it for years. That is a fine reason. Build it to sell, and you are betting a lot of money that the next owner shares your taste.

Now it matters, and it can help, with two conditions.

Condition one: it is in good shape. A clean pool with working equipment and plaster that is not chalking reads as a finished backyard. A green pool, a cracked deck, or a pump that sounds like a lawn mower reads as a project, and buyers price projects harshly. The pool that helps is the one that looks like it costs nothing to own.

Condition two: the buyer for your house wants one. In a family neighborhood in Henderson or the southwest, a pool is often the thing that makes the backyard. For a downsizer looking at a single-story in Anthem, it may be the thing they are trying to get away from. Same pool, opposite effect. Knowing who buys houses like yours is most of the answer.

Once a buyer is interested, the questions are practical. How old is the equipment. When was it last serviced. Has the plaster been redone. Is there a heater. What does it cost to run in summer. Is there a leak.

And the safety questions. Whether there is a barrier between the house and the pool, whether the gates self-close, whether there is a cover. Inspectors look at this. Families with small kids look at it first.

Have the answers ready. A service history and a recent equipment receipt do more for a pool than any staging.

Three things I see regularly.

It narrows the buyer pool and sharpens it. Fewer buyers, but the ones who show up wanted exactly this. That is not bad. It is just something to plan for.

It adds to the inspection. Pool equipment gets its own section on the report, and deferred maintenance on a pool is expensive to fix. Get ahead of it.

It changes the photos. A pool shot in the middle of the day with a clean deck is one of the best listing photos a valley house can have. A pool with debris in it is one of the worst. The photos are taken before day one, so the cleanup happens before that.

If you are deciding whether to build: build it for yourself or not at all. If you already have one: keep it clean, keep the records, and let me match the house to the buyer who wants it.

Call 702-881-6562 or email JArendt658@gmail.com. Tell me the neighborhood and whether the pool is in or still on paper. I will tell you what it does for a house like yours, and if you are about to spend money on something that will not come back, I will say so before you write the check.

John Arendt has sold homes across the Las Vegas valley for 20 years, in Henderson, Summerlin, Southern Highlands, Anthem, Boulder City and North Las Vegas.