I guess that is a personal preference. I have never had someone "not" want a house because of a pond. Most people think its a nice thing to have. I even have several high end buyers that are looking for homes "with" a pond and will not look at a home if the pond cannot be seen FROM the house! I will be putting my home on the market in the next few years and we have talked about putting a pond in. (its the type of property that a pond would attract the right buyer).

I'd like a house with a scenic pond now, but it might have kept me from buying when the kids were little. It depends on what you mean by pond. My family has/had a 5 acre pond in my back yard when I was growing up. My younger siblings were born while we lived in that house. The pond wasn't a huge concern because there was a slope to walk in it. It didn't just drop off. Something like that does not bother me. If the pond went from berm to instant 4' dropoff, I'd be concerned.

I wouldn't look at a house with a pool, but it would definitely be a plus if a house had a pond. (I have a little one that I empty in winter)

My brother & SIL recently bought a house with a pond, which they love! It wasn't an issue when buying the house, and they didn't realize how much they'd enjoy it.

We turned down a house with a stream. It ran through the side of the property, was very pretty with a little walking bridge above it. My children were babies and I was afraid it could be dangerous. I would also worry about mosquitoes.

We wound up buying a house with a pool! In my mind the pool was safer. Had a fence around it with locking gates. I could see the pool from all the windows.

To each his own,

Jane

For me, a man made pond would be a negative. Not a deal breaker, but I would factor in the price of removing it.

If this were a natural pond or lake, or even like a farm pond, then no, it would not be a negative. Those require little to no maintainence. If this was something like a large manmade pond with a liner and filter setup that needed maintainence, then yes, that would be a BIG drawback to me in purchasing the home.

There is a four acre pond in our community, with four homes abutting the pond. They don't go on the market often (about twice in 30+ years), and when they do, the sell very quickly. The latest sale was last year and the home was on the market zero days.

It would depend on what kind of pond and how well done or not it was.
Personally I would LOVE a naturalized pond that attracted birds and nature, one large enough for a cooling float would be a plus.
A lot of people put in those small DIY ponds in the small pond craze without doing much research and these often turned into ill-maintained messes. Even better ones can require a lot of maintenance. These I would be a lot less thrilled about.

Funny, but I was contemplating the purchase of a cheap house on over 2 acre.
Space for a pond, maybe, this requires engineering, definitely..
Poorly done, its a negative, well done, with adequate room its a plus and far better than a silly fireplace..
And I agree with Marys1000 100%.

It would be easy enough to fill in if someone really didn't want it. That is about 1 trailer full of sand/fill, by my estimation.

I just put in an offer today on a house with this little pond in their backyard. Sorry it’s blurry. It’s a screen grab from a video that was moving. I’ve never ever dealt with a pond before so I’m not sure what I’m getting myself into if the deal goes through. There’s currently no fish but there was a net covering it. Temperatures right now range from the 20’s to mid 40’s in the winter. It’s not a huge pond but still….it’s there.

A D, that looks like a high quality pond. You might well like it :-) Go to "garden pond forums . com" for friendly advice on all aspects of backyard ponds.

A young boy drowned in this backyard pond of a house we were interested in, according to the real estate agent.

With that information in hand, it wasn't an appealing feature for us.

If there's a net covering it, there might actually be fish (unless you asked and were told no fish). Wildlife don't care if a pond is natural or manmade. They care if there are tasty fishies in it. Hence the net. A little pond like that can be decommissioned pretty easily if you want. You can yank out the liner and use it as a planting bed.

The pond Worthy posted is an entirely different sort of pond. You really have to want it.

A lot has changed in the last couple years what with tight house market. These old posts fretting about things like ponds and no bathtubs seem kind of quaint now. The answer to all of them is, figure out what it costs to make it the way you want it and then make your offer accordingly. The only exception to the rule would be the pond where the kid drowned - that is just awful. They should just fill that in, period. A

"The only exception to the rule would be the pond where the kid drowned - that is just awful. They should just fill that in, period."

Why? Wasn't my kid so wouldn't stop me from buying the property. Especially not with a pond that lovely. It's the same thing as buying a house where somebody died. Eh, it happens. The only thing I think would give me the heebie jeebies would be if it were a murder scene. Does that have to be disclosed? Oh my.

"Wasn't my kid so...." Well I guess that's how you and I are different LOL.

Actually it wouldnt stop me buying the place if I otherwise liked it.... I was just thinking from sellers POV, why would they want to have that be the most memorable thing about their property. I

"...why would they want to have that be the most memorable thing about their property"

If it's something that doesn't have to be disclosed (and I don't know if it does), then how would potential buyers even know? Sure, the locals probably know and it probably hit the paper, but realistically what are the odds that a buyer would have any idea that happened, especially if wasn't a recent event.