If I may, I will add my $0.02. For what its worth, a pond adds value to those people who are looking for property with water frontage or a pond on it. For those who are not looking for any water features it most likely is a liability. For those who do not care then it is neutral.
Where it boils down to is it will be valued highly to a certain population and less so to other parts of the overall buying population. Since we seem to all be from the water valuing population we feel it adds value. For those from other populations it is less so of a value to that of being a liability.
This one can be debated forever based on personal biases. What can help is that a certain amount of every population wants or likes water features. If in your area you have very little properties with water features, then if you put one in, the population that likes water features will pay top dollar for the opportunity to own something that most people in the area don�t have. It is the supply and demand issue.
That is why if you were able to build a pond in the middle of the Sahara you would probably get top dollar for it vs. putting one in the middle of the Caribbean.
