Question for people who have inground pools

[mumom95]

We are thinking about having an inground pool put in. Mainly for a couple of reasons:

1) obviously to swim in
2) our backyard is very sloped and right now is not set up well for entertaining. The pool would force us to change the landscape of the backyard and give us a nice area for entertaining.

We fully realize this is not a financially responsible thing to do. We aren't doing it to someday get the money back.

That being said, I am struggling with spending over $40,000 to put a whole in the ground with water in it. The pool doesn't cost that much, but the removing of trees and creating of retaining walls, etc because of the landscape of our yard really bring up the price. We can afford it, jobs are secure, overly funding retirement and college already, money in savings and only 7 years left on the house and we are only in our late 30's. But, that doesn't mean I don't have a list of other things I would also love to spend the money on: redoing the kitchen, hardwood in the dining room and study, redoing our master bath, multiple cruises a year, etc. Basically my point is we could do it financially but that doesn't mean we also can afford everything we want.

So, do you have an inground pool and are you glad you do? Did you shell out big bucks to put one in and then regret it later? We live in the midwest so we couldn't use it all year. But we would get a heater so we would probably get almost 6 months out of it.

Just trying to get an idea from people who actually have a pool what they think.

 

[Art 1]

I have one and would not do it again especially in your climate. My wife likes having the pool to look at and have parties around it in the evenings. This summer I have gone in a few times. Other than that the last 3 years the only one that has used it has been the dog. When the kids were younger they went in but not as much as you might imagine.

 

[tvguy]

My wife grew up with a pool. When we were house shopping, she said she did not ever again want a pool due to the upkeep. When my MIL died, it took us 3 months to settle the estate and sell the house. Despite paying a pool service, and having a cover on the pool, I was there everyday checking the filters and skimming leaves that somehow managed to get under the cover. So I agree, it was too much work for too little benefit.

 

[Liberty Belle]

I think it depends on how much you'd use it. We have an above ground pool that we use a lot and we go to the Y all the time to use a bigger pool with a deep end. We swim almost every day.

I'd love to have an inground pool.

 

[Boots]

We have had an inground pool for 27 years. Yes it is a lot of upkeep and we figure it costs about $100 a month to run the filter all the time. But we have really enjoyed it. We debated long and hard the last time we had to buy a new liner, but we went ahead. After the children were grown no it wasn't used as much, but our oldest grand daughter who is 7 can swim like a fish and since she stays with me in the summer during the day will go in about three times a day. It does get aggravating because one of us has to go in that much too, but it is worth it. We do not open ours until late May and will probably close it in the next week or two. It is an 18 x 36 and is not heated. So when it loses its heat we close it. DH manually vacuums it about twice a week and we throw in the creepy crawly about every day. We order our chemicals from In The Swim. Let us know what you decide to do.

 

[bellebud]

I grew up w/ a regular above ground pool. My 2 brothers and I (and our friends) were in it all the time. We live(d) in NY. We also fought all the time over who was going to take care of it (vacuum and skim it).

When dh and I built our house, I didn't want a pool yet (the kids were babies). Then when they started swimming, I wanted one, but only w/ a cover.

We love our pool/cover. It's an automatic cover, and is soooo worth it. It keeps the heat in (so you pay a LOT less in heating costs), keeps the water level up and the rain out (so you're not constantly adding water or having rain water added and messing up your chemical balance), and keeps the debris out (leaves, animals, etc). We have an auto vac also, that we only need to use a few times a season, and that's really only when we haven't been swimming in a few weeks (vacations, bad weather, etc).

The pool would be a lot more work if we didn't have the cover, and way more expensive in heating costs. We're very happy w/ it.

 

[Meriweather]

I was talked into putting one in our new house 3 years ago.
the kids......all grown said they would use it and help take care of it.
DD was really good about it until we moved into the house last year, now DH and I do it all.
She uses it a couple times a month......DS and DDIL have only come over one time this summer.
DH and I rarely use it. We need to see about heating it in winter.
Here it is just too warm for us in the summer......feels like a hot tub. I want cooler and more refreshing.
So...........I would not do it again.

 

[SLK1]

I have one but I live in Florida. If I lived anywhere else, I wouldn't spend that kind of money on a pool. We pay $100 a month to have someone maintain the chemicals plus there is the cleaning of the deck. My kids use it all the time but again, we are in Florida. I think in your area, just the idea of winterizing it and then opening it in the spring would be a pain.

 

[luvflorida]

We are thinking about having an inground pool put in. Mainly for a couple of reasons:

1) obviously to swim in
2) our backyard is very sloped and right now is not set up well for entertaining. The pool would force us to change the landscape of the backyard and give us a nice area for entertaining.

We fully realize this is not a financially responsible thing to do. We aren't doing it to someday get the money back.

That being said, I am struggling with spending over $40,000 to put a whole in the ground with water in it. The pool doesn't cost that much, but the removing of trees and creating of retaining walls, etc because of the landscape of our yard really bring up the price. We can afford it, jobs are secure, overly funding retirement and college already, money in savings and only 7 years left on the house and we are only in our late 30's. But, that doesn't mean I don't have a list of other things I would also love to spend the money on: redoing the kitchen, hardwood in the dining room and study, redoing our master bath, multiple cruises a year, etc. Basically my point is we could do it financially but that doesn't mean we also can afford everything we want.

So, do you have an inground pool and are you glad you do? Did you shell out big bucks to put one in and then regret it later? We live in the midwest so we couldn't use it all year. But we would get a heater so we would probably get almost 6 months out of it.

Just trying to get an idea from people who actually have a pool what they think.

We had a beautiful inground pool at our house in Maine (yeah, I know...Maine) and I LOVED it and never once regretted having it installed. It was a big expense (the pool fencing and landscaping ended up costing almost as much as the pool itself) but money wasn't an issue.

Even though we were lucky if we got three months of decent weather for swimming every summer, and despite the fact that I was the primary caretaker of the pool, I felt it was absolutely worth it.

We spent a good part of the summers sitting around the pool, swimming, and hosting numerous cookouts and swim parties. I also loved the fact that our kids (our youngest was 13 when we put in the pool) spent a good portion of the summer in our own yard, swimming and having fun with their friends and other family members.

Now we are living in Arizona and, ironically, I've decided not to put in a pool. See my reasons below!

I was talked into putting one in our new house 3 years ago.
the kids......all grown said they would use it and help take care of it.
DD was really good about it until we moved into the house last year, now DH and I do it all.
She uses it a couple times a month......DS and DDIL have only come over one time this summer.
DH and I rarely use it. We need to see about heating it in winter.
Here it is just too warm for us in the summer......feels like a hot tub. I want cooler and more refreshing.
So...........I would not do it again.

Oh my gosh! I can SO relate to your post! We just had a house built in the Tucson area and for the past few months, my husband and I have been going back and forth on the issue of putting in a pool. He said the final decision was mine, that he'd go either way.

I was set on having a pool installed, but there was a tiny part of me that wasn't 100% sure it was the right decision. Like you, I felt like I was being talked into it by others, and I felt like others wanted or expected us to put in a pool. Our kids are grown (our youngest just turned 21 and is up the road at the U of A) and they were all for the pool, and all of our family and friends back East have been asking if the pool is in yet. Afterall, it's Arizona, right!

Well, we just recently made the decision not to put in a pool. The two biggest reasons- safety issues concerning little ones running around and pool maintenance. We have two very young grandchildren that visit us at least once a week, and I know that I would be a complete nervous wreck with them running around a yard with an inground pool in it. Almost every week there are reports of drownings or near-drownings in Arizona due to pools and small children, and even though I know there are safety fences and pool alarms and pool covers, I'm just not comfortable with the whole idea.

Besides the safety issues, my husband and I aren't getting any younger and I really don't want the work that comes with owning a pool. And, like you mentioned, it is HOT here in the summer! Most people would think, well, yeah, it's Arizona, you NEED a pool! But, like you said, it's TOO hot in the summer and a pool isn't as refreshing here as most people would think!

So, I know in my heart and mind, the decision to not put in a pool is the right one for us at this time in our lives. I am 100% sure of it! Landscaping begins next week on our backyard and in place of a pool, we are having thousands of dollars worth of artificial grass installed. That stuff is not cheap! And on hot days, we'll set up a sprinkler for the little ones to run through.

 

[4greatboys]

Our house came with a pool and we have enjoyed it. If we moved I'm not sure I would have one put in. My 2 oldest are now in their 20's and really don't swim anymore in it. The 2 youngest boys, 9 and 11, go in waves. Sometimes they swim a lot and sometimes they don't swim at all. Add to that we have one of the few non swimming labs.

 

[ksjayhawks]

How do houses with pools sell in comparison to houses without pools? That would be a question I would be asking some real estate agents. While you are not planning on moving, you never know what could happen. I know around here houses with pools take a lot longer to sell than houses without pools.

 

[Nature Mom]

We just tore out/filled in our in-ground pool. It was over 20 years old, there was a sinkhole behind it and in the past 5 years of us living in this house, we used it less and less and it cost us more and more. We paid over double of what a new pool would have cost to have that one taken out and the yard redone to go back to it's natural grade because like you said, with a slope you have to build up to level the ground for a pool.

Take on the fact that we will be moving soon, keeping the pool was not a sound investment. Actually a pool never is an investment in a home. You may need to think about that possibility if you really want a pool. You never really get the money back that you put into it, unless you plan on staying put for a long while. Our n'hood is a swim/tennis and my HOA dues are already paying for the pool that is within walking distance, so even if we were staying here and won the lottery, I wouldn't put a pool back in. If you don't think a move is anywhere on your radar for at least the next 5 years, and if it is what you really want, then go for it. Otherwise, I would say spend your money elsewhere.

 

[MerMom60_94]

We put in an inground pool when my daughter was about 3. When she was young she spent hours on end swimming and splashing around. She is 16 now and goes in occassionally but only for short periods of time. My husband and I still love to go in though. We live in New England, less than an hour from the ocean, but beach parking is $20 and with the price of gas added in it is just too expensive to go to the beach. I am so happy to be able to just walk out into my backyard on a hot summers day and cool off. I also find it to be a great way to unwind when I get home from work. That being said, we have a heater so the water can stay warm and make for a longer season. I only swim when the air is hot, though, so our pool season still only goes from May to early September. We have already called to make arrangements to have it closed sometime in the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, I will enjoy having it just as someplace I can relax and enjoy the beauty of it. I hope if you decide to move forward that you enjoy your pool as much as we do ours.

 

[furb & dez]

We use the pool every day when it's warm enough-basically from the end of April through the beginning of October. It's a salt pool, so upkeep is basically *nothing* in terms of time or money. I brush the pool once a week, and check the chemistry once a month. The pool is unheated, so the only energy cost is running the salt system and the pump, which is minor.

If I bought a house without a pool, I'd definitely build another.

 

[tvguy]

How do houses with pools sell in comparison to houses without pools? That would be a question I would be asking some real estate agents. While you are not planning on moving, you never know what could happen. I know around here houses with pools take a lot longer to sell than houses without pools.

Well, they don't normally add any value to a comparable home. It certainly can make or break a sale if the buyer is looking for, or looking to avoid a pool.
Checking Zillow.com for my subdivision, a house down the street with the same floor plan and a pool is listed as being worth $13,000 less than mine.

 

[mumom95]

How do houses with pools sell in comparison to houses without pools? That would be a question I would be asking some real estate agents. While you are not planning on moving, you never know what could happen. I know around here houses with pools take a lot longer to sell than houses without pools.

We live in a township so there is not community pool. We do have a couple of private swim clubs around us but they are pretty expensive. Because of that houses in our town with pools usually sell pretty well. You don't normally get your money back for them but the houses sell pretty quickly.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

If you look around there are options for putting in a nice above ground pool on a slope with a deck and landscaping that looks a lot like an inground pool, but for a lot less money. I saw pics of some this year when we were looking at pools and almost wished we had a sloped yard! This might be a good option for you for many of the reasons you mentioned. I'd really want that kitchen renovation! I got mine (kitchen renovation) and we got an above ground pool this year with a nice deck and wedding cake stairs that we love. It was a compromise that gave us the best of both worlds and we have no regrets. Good luck. It's great having a pool - we just came out, in fact!

 

[fireflymedic]

I read this post, now the banner add is for inground pools

I find tha amazing, strange, scary...

the only thing that bothers me is I also just read a long thread on taking kids to the bathroom, I'm scared at what adds may be directed at me for that.

 

[jmpurdy]

How about a small 'plunge' pool that has an infinity edge to take advantage of the slope? The landscaper should be able to do this.This way you get the best of both worlds and maybe you could add on a jacuzzi as well which IMHO opinion is amazing year round. This could perhaps cut down the cost and you would get everything you want without the large inground pool. Our neighbors just installed one and it was all in one piece.

 

[Laurabearz]

When someone finds out you have a pool and they say... "Oh you are so lucky you have a pool!" You know for sure they have never had one....