The economics in the Villages with respect to pools seems to be different than everywhere else in the planet. In most places the pools don't add much to the value of a home, because as many people don't want them as do.

But in the Villages its different. If you search listing in either MLS or on thevillages.com you will find asking prices for homes with pools are $100-$150K more than similar homes without pools.

The cheapest home right now on thevillages.com that is at least 1700 SF and has a pool is $750K.

There are also a couple of small 1200SF cottages for sale with small pools for which they are asking $575K.

Also, because there are so few pool homes on the market relative to the total number of listings. They probably sell fast. I only counted 26 pools homes for sale on thevillages.com.

Supply and demand drives prices. There are typically several relatively expensive high end homes available with pools, so a pool in a home like that would tend to add less value simply because of the supply. On the other hand, it is very difficult to find a relatively modest home, at a more affordable price point, that has a pool, especially one with a view and privacy. A pool would most definitely add value to such a home. That’s one of the primary reasons we felt comfortable adding a pool to our very modest home with a private wildlife preserve in the back yard. We searched long and hard to find such a home and it simply wasn’t available, so we bought our modest home and had the pool built. Our home has approximately doubled in value since we bought it 10 years ago, even after taking into account the cost of adding the pool. Also, it doesn’t hurt that the cost of building a pool has about doubled since ours was built.

Do those of you that have a pool know how much that increases your property insurance?

That is one of the first questions that I always get when talking to an insurance agent. I always answer no so I don’t know how much owning one increases your insurance.

New homes, built designed around the pool feature, in increase the value accordingly. Take an existing home and add a pool, and you may increase the value 30 to 50 percent.


As some have stated, the bad news is you now removed your home from consideration by all the citizens who do NOT want a pool. Considering our membership comes with pool rights to over 70 pools, I would think those wanting a private pool would be very limited.

I'd love to see some evidence to support that conclusion.

Having owned a home with a pool before, the last thing I wanted when we moved here was all the work involved in maintaining a pool. With several pools, including an indoor one, just a short golf cart ride from our house, why bother? It was great back when we had kids and then grandkids around but I'll take a community pool any day now.

If you REALLY want to get a understanding on how popular having your own pool is, read the ARC submissions each week for the districts. There are anywhere between 3-5 new applications for a pool each week. The desire for them seems to be pretty steady.

I think the actual number of folks that do not want a pool are relatively small. I think the majority of folks just don't want to pay the additional cost for a home that has a pool...so they say that they don't want a pool. Most people would say they don't want a 4 car garage, but if their lot could accommodate it and it was free they would take it....just like a pool. There are very few that are adamantly against it.

While you are right, there’s a complication. True, a lot of people aren’t interested in buying a home with a pool or in-ground hot tub, so if you have one, they won’t be interested in your house. But there are also a lot of people who WANT a pool and won’t consider your house if you don’t have one. I’ve been told by agents that there are a lot more people who want pools than there are pools to be had, so they keep the price up. I understand that these days a pool (with heat pump, heating tubes on the roof, concrete work, bigger bird cage) can easily top $100,000. I’ve been in a couple here that had to be much more than that. The fancier your house is, the fancier your pool should be.

You should also have enough patio inside the birdcage for lots of patio furniture. A wall to wall pool doesn’t cut it. I had a pool in my first home in The Villages. The sellers probably made a profit because pools were much cheaper when they had it put in. It was 15’x30’. That was long enough to swim laps, but it’s nicer to swim laps in a bigger pool. I had a heat pump installed. That cost $6,000, and it was loud. There was already a tube heater on the roof, but that isn’t enough in the winter. Combined with one of those bubble wrap pool covers, the heat pump could keep the pool at 90° in January. I soon realized, though, that I only rarely used the pool, as I live alone. I only used it with guests, and I rarely had guests. I soon took to heating the pool only when I knew guests were coming who would enjoy the pool. That was cheaper. When guests were there, though, we never swam. We just sat on the concrete benches in the pool or walked back and forth and chatted. I saw an in-ground hot tub here a few years ago what was about 8’x15’. It had benches along both sides. It seems to me that that would be a lot of fun at a party, and it would need a much smaller heater. Ideal. (In my experience, people who don’t have heat pumps don’t use their pools six months a year, and if you rent a home with a pool for a couple months in the winter, if you don’t have a heat pump, you won’t be using that pool.

I found that my pool was costing me $2,000 a year for cleaning and water testing (it was a salt water pool, which I highly recommend), and about $2,000 more for maintenance. Given how rarely I used it, it was costing me about $1,000 per use.

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I agree, just sold our house with a pool in TX and got to TV a week ago. Although I loved the pool and we used it all the time, I won't miss taking care of it. My buddy that's an appraiser said it really only adds around 16k to the house. I'm like yea right, tell a pool builder you want a pool in your back yard for 16k. House was only on the market 15 days, and we got a full price offer.

this is a tricky equation to analyze. Assuming that number is accurate is it applicable to the tv ? Obviously not. There are no definitive answers here. People who spend upwards to 200k a lot and are bidding against a minimum of 50 people for that lot are more than likely going to build a pool without a second thought. People who buy interior lots will see the logic of swimming in the community pool. Neither decision is wrong. Any analysis that says you're going to lose money in tv on a real estate purchase with or without a pool is certainly a suspect analysis .

If you go on to the internet in general states you will never get 100% of the cost back, The Villages might be different. Putting the cost aside you have to decide if you really want it and are going to take full use of it. We had a large pool in Staten Island N.Y., it was great the first year, then I found myself spending more time maintaining it than swimming in it.

Our first house in The Villages had a beautiful pool. We were in it almost daily, and at night in the summer. Maintenance cost was the cost of weekly pool service. Five years ago it was approx $120 per month. When we put the house on the market, it sold in one day, because of the pool.

Count me in the minority that think in Florida it absolutely adds value. At least in the southern, newer areas it does. It seems houses with pools are getting about 200K more and the pools are generally in the 150-175K range.

I am building a pool now and it was mandatory for me when I bought here. I much prefer the convenience and lack of silly rules at my home. Pool maintenance is super easy these days with the salt water systems. I've never seen any different in insurance premiums. My pool in Massachusetts is probably used only 20-30 actual days per year and I still wouldn't go without a pool.

We really need to stop comparing real estate from wherever we came from and applying the logic to The Villages. No one had bidding wars of 40-50 people willing to spend up to $250k on a plot of land just to then build a house of top of that....multiple times a month every month.

I don't know where you come from, but there's nothing special about The Villages Real Estate market. It operates like the real estate market all over the USA, other than perhaps a little more manipulated than most, because of the Developer's interests.

In other words, the market here isn't different than anywhere else, other than for the most gullible, dazzled by the Developer's smoke & mirror show.