In Defense of Pools

Re: Ellen James Martin, the writer of “Home Improvements Don’t Always Add to Sales Price” (Feb. 17): She grew up in Minnesota, she lives in Baltimore, she has never owned a swimming pool and she referred only to cold-weather residents in stating that swimming pools are a “turn-off.”

Had The Times used a local writer, they would have realized that swimming pools are just now being recognized for the true value they add to a family’s home.

As the freeways continue to gridlock and as the beaches continue to attract more and more crowds, parking structures, concessionaires, trash and crime, you can be most assured that a personally designed swimming pool in the privacy of your own back yard will become more of a fixture in the California family’s lifestyle than ever before.

There is far less care (and water usage!) required for a back-yard pool than an equivalent area of landscaping.

And as to the value added by a swimming pool? Look at the photographs of homes for sale in your own paper and note how many show only the pool as a selling feature. Not only are they beautiful, fun and healthy recreation but they also enhance marketability and increase value.

BRUCE CONN

El Monte

Conn is president of California Equity & Loan