Let me give you a bit of free real estate advice. Don’t put a built-in swimming pool in your front yard. I know that sounds silly, but since I had the privilege of walking through a house with a front yard pool last week, I wanted to bring it up. Enjoy a one-minute video tour and then I’ll give you some reasons NOT to install a pool in the front yard – some more serious than others. Watch below (or here).

10 reasons NOT to install a pool in your front yard:

1. Buyers don’t want pools in the front yard.
2. There is more privacy in the backyard.
3. Your house may actually sell for less because of a front yard pool.
4. Avoid perverts looking through holes in the front fence to check you out.
5. It’s awkward to try to avoid drowning while walking to the front door.
6. When people ring the doorbell you can’t pretend like you didn’t hear them like you can when swimming in the backyard.
7. Skinny dipping seems much more risky in the front yard.
8. A pool next to a sidewalk begs teens to throw stuff over the fence into the water.
9. It’s a bad sign when buyers say, “what the heck were they thinking?”
10. A front yard pool is really not a common feature. Spend time using Google Maps satellite view and I bet you’ll find it very difficult to find many front yard pools.

Now here are some pictures to help create a little more context. You would never know by looking at the home that there is a pool just steps away in the front yard. Obviously this pool needs some repairs, so it’ll be interesting to see if the buyer fills it in or repairs it.

You may also enjoy 10 signs your pool is too big for the neighborhood or How much is a pool worth in the eyes of an appraiser?

Question: Anything you’d add to the list? What is #11?

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