Is “Pool Culture” part of your area’s local lifestyle?

Echoing my fellow Phoenix/Scottsdale colleagues, this area is definitely a pool culture area. Our first house did not have one and I used to jokingly say "we bought the only house in the Valley without a pool....." Today is slated to be 105 and we have already had a swim today. Cheers and thanks for a fun post - I have enjoyed reading all of the regional comments.

In Kentucky sometimes a pool is looked upon as a liability. Our team a property listed for sale that has a beautiful inground pool that has been on the market for a year. 

Richard,

Here in Charlotte NC, most southerners are not interested in a backyard pool.  Summertime is for going to the beach.  But most people who move here from the northeast are interested in a pool.  It took me years to figure out why the northeasterners with their relatively short season would want to have backyard pools.  One day when I asked this question of a New Yorker, the response was "we had a backyard pool up north because the beaches are too crowded and it takes hours in traffic to go back and forth."  Northeasterners' love of pools finally made sense to me.

While most homes here do not have backyard pools, there is definitely a market for homes that have them.  I have a nice listing with a pool right now that had 14 showings in the first 14 days and three offers.  That's extraordinary for our real estate market.

Richard: 

Given that here in Oregon we just hit our first 80 degree day for the year yesterday (6/4), it's an understatement to say there is no pool culture here...  Only dreams of a pool culture.  :=}

We didn't want a house with a pool until we bought a house that "happened" to have a pool. Now I can't imagine not having it. We get about 3 months from in here in NJ.

Here in Boise, Idaho we have a lot of subdivisions with community pools but not as many homes with pools themselves.  You can only typically use them for a few months out of the year and then who wants to maintain a pool for the other 8-9 months...Pools are fun in the summer though, and there are some homes, it's just not the norm.

Yes pools are important here and we even made it a mandatory field in our MLS that you need to check off whether or not the home has a pool, just to make searching easier.  

Richard, I'm in Alpharetta and just about every subdivision here has a community pool and a few individual pools. I'm surprised it's not the same in your neck of the woods.

Lots of pools in the Sonoma Wine Country.  It's been an unusually chilly spring.   I'll trade you a few pools for those 90 degree days!

 Richard, now-a-day in The Bahamas, not having a pool is tantamont to not having airconditioning - here it is definitely a standard request for most of our buyers - it's about staying cool! The only acceptable alternative to 'no pool' is "beach-front" or "within walking-distance to the beach", or "ocean front"! Realistically though, everywhere in The Bahamas is relatively close to a beach but a Pool says "great summer-time fun with the kids and grand kids" with no sand in the car! 

Depends on the area.  Denver, Colorado not so much.

As someone who lives in New England (Connecticut), I can say with no small amount of certainty that there is NO pool culture here. In over 10 years in the business, I cannot recall a single client who EVER said a pool was a must have. They would  rather have a POOL TABLE than a POOL! It would be interesting to know what state your client lives in!

Perhaps it is the economy of the area that people cannot afford them.  I personally am not wild about a pool.  I would rather swim in a lake or river.

I have seen only 4 pools up here in the mountains over the years...2 of them are at camps or motels.

With all of our beaches here pools are still a desirable commodity. I do tell buyers to not expect full ROI if they put one in later.

Around here it's not common to see personal pools.  However, we are seeing more and more neighborhoods that have community pools.

Richard - 

Excellent question.  Here in Southeast it is desirable to have a pool, but seems like economics of the maintenance of one limits the number to limited neighborhoods.   Even with the ocean close by, you have to drive there, parking is restricted, fight the crowds, then it's across the sand, into the salt water, when you get out, you're sticky from the salt drying in you.   Then back across the sand, to the car and dragging the sand with you.  Nope, I'll take a pool anytime.

Kenneth

Not so much here but we do have community/neighorhood pools...we don't have many hot months here...summer goes by too fast!

There are only a handful of homes in our community that have a pool. We do have one community pool. Even with as hot as it gets here, usually many, many days over 100...I believe the cost factor is what prevents people from having them here. We are not a wealthy community and the cost of building and maitaining one is not small.

Yes, the purchasers of luxury homes here often want a pool.  

Those who purchase a second or third home often request to be in an area with a private shared pool, but don't want the upkeep if they are gone part of the year .... so it depends.