As summer is in full swing and heating up, there has never been a better time to have a pool in your backyard! From cooling off on a hot day to lounging and reading a book or hosting backyard parties, pools are one of the most enjoyable home features during this time of year. Pools can also be a great selling point of a home when potential buyers are coming to open houses. But how much maintenance, repair, and staging should sellers and agents factor into the equation and remodel project scope before listing the property? And what exactly are buyers focusing on when they see a pool on an open house tour?

I met with Bay Area project director Debbie Lewis to get some of these pool questions answered, as she has extensive history working on these types of projects. She had some great advice from personal experience and from working with clients on budgets. She knows what is really worth a seller's investment—and what’s not. Let’s dive in:

To get started, can you talk a bit about your experience when it comes to working on homes with pools?

My background with pools and pool renovation knowledge definitely began with the first single family home that I bought. It was the first purchase where I was the client, rather than the other way around! The property was on five acres and it had a pool that was in very rough condition, and we did about two and a half acres of landscaping around it. So that was my introduction to learning about all the steps, planning, design, materials, and maintenance measures that it takes to have a beautiful, working pool.

When it comes to my background on working with clients on homes that have a pool in the backyard, I have worked on a handful of projects where that was a factor. For those, I always like to suggest that the clients focus on investing in landscaping to improve the usability of the backyard space.

That segues nicely into my next question: If a home seller is on a tight budget and maybe not trying to invest too much in fixing up a pool, what are some of the key elements that you suggest they focus on?

Safety. For sure, that’s the biggest focus when it comes to pools. ou want adults to have easy access, but you definitely want to keep little kids out of it. I recently worked on a project in Sunnyvale that had metal fencing around it and the agent was suggesting that we remove the fencing to open up the space and declutter a bit. But I really rallied for keeping the fence and repairing it because ultimately, that fence can be a huge bonus to potential buyers. Especially those that have children. And it was!

Some options for safety measures around a pool are a traditional fence or a baby barrier fence, which is the cheapest way to protect a pool’s barrier. You can take out sections as needed and they’re not as tall or as much of an eye-sore. Retractable pool covers are a bit pricier and have to be customized, but less noticeable and more sleek for sure. Other than safety, when I’m working with clients that have a pool but don’t want to invest much into it, I always look to enhance what’s already there, as I said earlier. Make it usable. For example, if you need to replace tile, replace the tile.

Debbie’s project in Cupertino, CA

When working on projects where the homeowner actually wants to renovate the pool, what are the typical steps that are involved?

So the first stage when working on a project with a pool is deciding on the design. That often involves working with a landscape architect on any changes in elevation or plant life in the backyard. Then comes the actual installation of new additions or features around the pool. That goes in phases because you can’t realistically do everything at once.

I find that post-sale projects often involve more of a detailed scope and “heart,” since the homeowners will actually be staying in and enjoying the home. For those more detailed projects, I often recommend getting the water analyzed and chemicals all in check. Then some common maintenance features that you have to get set up include a pool sweep, filter, and heater.

Can you talk a bit about the 5-bedroom Cupertino project you worked on? I saw that home had a pool in the backyard and I’m curious what those clients opted to do. (photos will be included)

That pool needed some major repairs, so the home sellers decided to just sell it as-is rather than pour a lot of money into something that is ultimately not the most important selling point of a home. They had not maintained it while they owned the home, and focused a lot more of our efforts on the home’s interior upgrades.

However, regardless of the fact that we weren’t going to be doing any major upgrades or repairs on it, it’s always important to get a pool cleaned and properly staged. So we did a cleaning on that entire backyard and pool and really focused on staging it well. So adding chairs, plants around the pool, and giving potential buyers the ability to envision themselves spending time there.

Debbie’s project in Cupertino, CA

Do you have any closing thoughts or anything else that you’d like to add on the topic?

I’d say ultimately when it comes to pools and pre-sale renovation projects, I highly recommend cleaning it and enhancing what’s around the pool, rather than investing heavily in the pool itself. Landscaping, staging, safety measures, and an overall tidy look can really go a long way during open houses. And while buyers are often excited about a pool, it's not their main focus, so it shouldn’t necessarily be the seller’s main focus if that makes sense. A pool is a “nice to have” and something that a future buyer can really invest in if they’re passionate about it. Always be honest and transparent about the pool's condition if a buyer asks; you can't really hide the issues anyway, so be straight-up about it.