Selling a Home with an In-Ground Pool

For many people, a home with an in-ground pool is a dream come true. For others, it’s a liability. If you’re selling a home with an in-ground pool, you need to consider both sides. When you do, your sale will go faster and more smoothly than you’d ever thought possible.

Selling a Home with a Pool: How to do it the Right Way

Whether you live in sunny Los Angeles or on the outskirts of Las Vegas, in-ground pools can add value to your home, if you frame them correctly. These five tips can help:

1. Install Safety Gates

For families with kids, an in-ground pool can be a frightening prospect because of the drowning risk it presents. To put some of these worries at ease and save your would-be buyers the hassle, install some safety gates around the pool before you put the house on the market, especially if you’re in a family neighborhood.

2. Provide Equipment to Maintain the Pool

If you’ve already got all the equipment needed to maintain the pool, such as vacuums and chemicals, leave it behind for your new buyer. This makes owning a pool more attractive for people who have never done it before, and decreases the amount of work your buyers will have to do to become pool maintenance professionals.

3. Pass Along Upkeep Recommendations

Have a great pool guy you’ve been using for years? Pass his information along to your new buyers. Not only does this maintain continuity in the pool’s care routine, but it also gives your buyers a head-start on keeping the pool beautiful, functional, and useful.

4. Frame the Pool’s Benefits

In the world of sales, marketers are commonly advised to sell the lifestyle rather than the features of a product. The same goes for a pool. Instead of going on and on about how large or deep the pool is, tell your buyers how much fun you and your family or friends have had in it. When buyers see in-ground pools as a tool they can use to make lasting memories, they’re more likely to bite, despite the new maintenance challenges it might present.

5. Price the Home Accordingly

In the right neighborhoods, an in-ground pool can boost your home’s value significantly.  Before you price your home, be sure that you have a good understanding of how much a pool will affect the price of the home. This prevents you from losing out on money you should have earned or pricing your home so high that people don’t want to bite. If you’re not sure what your home should list for, talk to an experienced real estate agent about what other homes in your area have sold for.

An In-Ground Pool: Your Key to a Faster Home Sale

While an in-ground pool can look like a liability to some owners, knowing how to spin its positive benefits when selling a home can take some of the maintenance concerns off your new buyers can help transform it into a competitive advantage, instead.