Work day by the pool… bit of real estate and a bit of Food Truck Frenzy planning. It is not until May 2027, but we start planning early!

Sitting here looking at the pool got me thinking about a question I get asked quite a bit in real estate: does a pool actually add value to your home?

In Whitby and Durham Region, I would say yes, absolutely. Does that mean you can spend $100,000 putting in a pool and your house is suddenly worth $100,000 more? No. It does not work quite that way. But a good pool can definitely make a home more desirable, and that will affect your resale value.

Whitby is still very much a family market. We have detached homes, decent-sized backyards and buyers who are often looking for a house they can stay in for a number of years. And a lot of those families really do want pools.

Of course, not everyone does. There will always be buyers who look at a pool and immediately think about maintenance, safety and extra cost. But I also see the opposite all the time. A family walks into a backyard, sees a great pool and suddenly they are imagining what their summers could look like there.

A house is not always chosen because it has the nicest kitchen or the newest flooring. Sometimes it is the house that makes people picture themselves living there.

Does a pool increase the selling price of a home?

I would say yes, but there is some conditions to that statement.

The pool itself is only part of it. What matters more is the condition, the size of the yard and so does how the pool fits into the rest of the property.

Buying a home with a pool can make a lot of sense

The cost of putting in a pool now is another reason I think homes with existing pools can be attractive.

A fairly basic pool can easily start around $75,000 once you include the pool itself, landscaping, fencing, decking and all the extras that seem to appear once the backyard is already torn apart.

If you buy a home that already has the pool, that cost is essentially baked into the purchase price and, for most people, into the mortgage. That is a whole lot easier than moving into a house and then trying to come up with another 75 Gs.

What about the cost of owning one?

There are ongoing costs, obviously, but I do not think they are as frightening as people sometimes assume.

You have chemicals, extra hydro, some gas if you heat the pool, opening and closing, and then the occasional repair.

My hydro bill is the one I notice the most. It is normally around $90 a month and in the summer it can be $250 or more. To be fair, once I flip the house over to A/C, I pretty much leave it there until it is time to turn the heat back on, so I cannot blame all of that on the pool.

The worst part is that last big summer bill always seems to arrive after the pool has already been closed.

Repairs are the wildcard. Last year I had a leak in my pool pump and it cost me less than $50 to repair. A new pump can be over $1,000 and a new heater can easily run into the thousands, so those are the expenses you hope do not come up too often.

Stating the obvious, putting in a pool is not the thing you do to sell a home. But if you are buying a home in Whitby or Durham Region and you already know you want a pool, buying a house that has one can make a lot of sense.

And when you eventually sell, there is a very good chance another family is going to walk into that backyard, look at the pool and start picturing their summers there too.