How a Hot Tub or Spa Affects the Value of Your Home

Sacramento home sellers may be asked to remove the spa by home buyers.

I’ve been meaning to write about how a how a hot tub or spa affects the value of your home but lately I’ve been sidetracked by other inspirations in the morning that divert my attention. Like my newsletter from About.com that asks the question how much have you pooped during your lifetime? You can enter your age, and it will tell you. Do you want to know? You know you do. You might be amazed to discover that when you reach the age of 64, you have pooped 23,000 pounds or about the weight equivalent of 95 baby elephants.

But back to whether a hot tub or spa affects the value of your home. In a nutshell, a hot tub or spa can decrease your value. See, I tried to soften the blow there by talking about baby elephants, but it didn’t help much, did it? Geez, I hope you didn’t just spend thousands of dollars installing a new spa in hopes of adding value to your home because that spa salesman said so.

We have a spa in our back yard in Land Park, Sacramento. Its days are numbered. The spa came with the house when we bought it some 14 years ago, and it was at least 10 years old then. Pieces are falling off; the gazebo is deteriorating, losing its integrity. Somehow, I did not notice the spa when we toured the home. Probably because the sellers were sitting at a picnic table stuck in the middle of our back yard, and we were focused on them. Plus, I was excited about moving from Minneapolis again back to California.

The first 10 years or so, I actually used the spa, but not so lately. For one thing, it’s way too hot in the summer in Sacramento to use a spa. The best times are during the rainy season, like December and January, months that I am generally traveling or in Hawaii for my winter wor-cations. We have replaced the cover, the motors, the jets, just about everything in the spa, but it’s probably 25 years. Time for the spa to go.

Not to mention, many home buyers do not like spas and will discount the value of a home due to a spa, especially an old spa, even if it works. They might insist a seller remove it. Spas are also a danger to small children, especially when the covers do not lock, as required by law. Spas are also not a fixture. Spas can be considered personal property, even though they are attached. It’s one of those odd exceptions.

In its place, we’ll probably build raised garden beds for flowers and vegetables. That’s a better use of the available space. If you’re thinking about installing a spa in your yard, talk to a Sacramento REALTOR and assess your plans for selling in the future. If you have no plans to sell, then by all means, install a spa for your personal enjoyment, but don’t do it if you plan to increase the value of your home. The way a spa affects the value of your home could later disappoint.