Hands On The Heartland
Checking The Pulse Of The Kansas City Real Estate Market

Pools are not as popular in Kansas City as they are in, say, Phoenix Arizona, Tallahassee Florida or Las Vegas. Don’t get me wrong, pools are enjoyed in Kansas City. But while many areas of the country get 8 or more months of use out of a pool, in Kansas City and Johnson County Kansas most pools are only open from Memorial Day to Labor Day. This applies to most city pools and subdivision community pools as well. Being able to use a pool for only a few months a year makes them cost-prohibitive in most cases.

Johnson County Kansas Subdivision Pools

Johnson County land developers saw an increased demand for community pools about 20 years ago and, looking back, many of the subdivisions that have a pool are very popular subdivision’s today. In fact it almost became the norm for subdivisions with more than 100 homes to have a pool. Subdivision pools are viewed as more economical than having a private pool in your back yard and more of a controlled atmosphere and convenient than city pools. Having a pool located within your subdivision is certainly convenient. The cost of maintaining the pool will be spread among all of the homeowners in the subdivision in the form of homeowner’s association dues. But if you consider that the HOA dues for subdivisions with a community pool are often around $500 a year, that’s a low cost to pay in most homebuyer’s opinion. Probably best of all is that when you’re done swimming, you dry off, pick up your mess, push the pool chairs in and move on with your life – mainteinance and responsibility of the pool can be an afterthought.

While having a pool in your back yard can be exciting –  for children and parents alike – it also has downsides. A dirty pool is not only unsightly, it’s unhealthy and I’ve seen far too many pools become a breeding ground for insects, fungus (and surely disease). Leaves and debris must be cleaned out of pool on a regular basis.  This may seem doable at first but the majority of homeowners I know who have a pool have ended up hiring a company to take over maintaining the pool. This means getting the check book out of course and, while the pool company  is there skimming and cleaning things,  better also have them balance the pool chemicals. That’s probably the most critical aspect and needs to be done on a regular basis to keep swimmers from getting sick.

The responsibility factor that comes with owning a pool is also a huge consideration. For the same reason that most homeowner’s refuse to have a trampoline on their property, most homeowner’s I know simply don’t want the responsibility that comes with having a pool in their back yard.  No matter how cautious a homeowner is (fencing the yard, use of child-proof pool covers, posting signs to keep out, controlling who uses the pool, locking gates, etc.), someone could still get hurt. It may be just a cut or bruise but broken bones and drowning stories abound too. When an accident occurs, a property owner is going to be heavily scrutinized. For most, it’s just too much to take on.

I’d guess that less than one out of a hundred Johnson County Kansas homes has a private pool. So if you’re looking for a home with a pool, the search could be a difficult one. The best course of action for a home buyer wanting a pool would probably be to keep the pool aspect out of the home search parameters and instead look for the perfect home that has a lot that will accommodate adding a pool later.

Posted by Jason A. Brown

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