Rental Properties W/ Pool
Is there any reason to avoid purchasing a property for the purposes of renting it out when the property has a pool? I guess I have a couple of questions about this:
1) Is a pool more of a liability than it's worth? Do most rental contracts on homes with pools contain some kind of liability waiver?
2) In your experience, how much (if any) does a pool raise the rent over the same home with no pool? Obviously there are a lot of variables involved in determining that, but any general rules of thumb I could use to estimate it?
I would stay away from purchasing properties with pools for purposes of renting them out. We avoid these like the plague, here's why:
1) First, pools are holes in the ground you through money into. Even when you work to take care of them, things break and/or wear out. Tenants rarely take good care of pools. When things break it can be big bucks to repair. Thus, pools can be excellent cash flow killers.
2) Liability. Its a well know fact that people get hurt around pools. Its definately a good idea to have a liability waiver in your rental contracts, pool or no pool. Something to the effect of "tenant agrees to assume all liability for damages or injury that occurs to themselves or their guests while on the property and further agrees to indemnify landlord from any such liability." That will usually protect you from anything stupid your tenant or their guests do. It usually will not protect you from anything stupid you do (like not posting swim at your own risk, no life guard on duty signs or contract clauses). The problem is, there's lots of ways for landlords to be stupid when it comes to pools, and plantiffs attorneys are inventing new ways every day. Definately not worth the hassle in my book
BTW, I've never been able to get a tenant to pay a premium in rent because of a pool. Hope this helps...
I would stay away from purchasing properties with pools for purposes of renting them out. We avoid these like the plague, here's why:
1) First, pools are holes in the ground you through money into. Even when you work to take care of them, things break and/or wear out. Tenants rarely take good care of pools. When things break it can be big bucks to repair. Thus, pools can be excellent cash flow killers.
2) Liability. Its a well know fact that people get hurt around pools. Its definately a good idea to have a liability waiver in your rental contracts, pool or no pool. Something to the effect of "tenant agrees to assume all liability for damages or injury that occurs to themselves or their guests while on the property and further agrees to indemnify landlord from any such liability." That will usually protect you from anything stupid your tenant or their guests do. It usually will not protect you from anything stupid you do (like not posting swim at your own risk, no life guard on duty signs or contract clauses). The problem is, there's lots of ways for landlords to be stupid when it comes to pools, and plantiffs attorneys are inventing new ways every day. Definately not worth the hassle in my book
BTW, I've never been able to get a tenant to pay a premium in rent because of a pool. Hope this helps...
I think pools make sense only in large (50+units) apartment complexes. And even then, it might be worthwhile only in climates where it gets used more than 4 months per year. With large unit complexes, you're at a point, where you're often competing for a slightly different sort of tenant, and also dealing in the sort of cashflow where a pool might make sense. My properties are all much smaller than 50 units, so no pool.
Hey,
I don't think the liability is all the much with a pool. Put a fence up (most likely required by code anyway), add a couple of clauses to your lease, do your quarterly inspections and a couple of signs and YOUR liability is greatly limited. The tenant's liability is a different issue.
I wouldn't WANT a pool because of the maintenance. I haven't a clue what it costs when one breaks, but it can't be cheap.
With that said, if I found a great deal and it had a pool, it would consider buying it. if it was above ground, I might have it removed.