Anyone regret their in-ground pool?

[Katy Belle]

We may be moving back to the States, probably Texas. I have always planned to have a pool when the kids were old enough. Our youngest is 8 and all are strong swimmers. So it seems like the smart thing to do is to purchase a house that already has a pool.

Will I regret it? I'm an overprotective Mom and will tolerate ZERO horse play in the pool. All of children are boys.

How expensive is it to maintain a pool? I'm worried that we will be paying to keep it up and no one will use it!

Beagles and pool? Our dog has never been swimming, I would have to ensure she didn't drown!

Any advice?
TIA
Katy

 

[bumbershoot]

I think it's good to be really thinking about it all ahead of time. Alas I don't know the costs, but I have friends in Texas who could put their pool construction into their mortgage (they had their house built), so they did. But it became a pain (I'm sure they love it now, though) b/c they live on a golf course, and the bylaws of the community state that they can't build a proper fence along the course, it can only be a very low, pretty, ineffective fence. And that means that anyone can just step right over that fence and go into their pool (they were having problems with teens doing just that during their first year there).

So they have to put fencing or something around their pool (pictures I've seen of their pool doesn't show that, but now they have a baby and I'm sure they've done so by now), which added to the expense (and wasn't rolled into the mortgage like construction of it was) of the pool.

So choose your neighborhood carefully!

 

[HM]

Ask around what realtors have to say about reselling houses with pools while you are doing research. My understanding is that they can be a liability when trying to sell, because you are aiming your house at a very narrow group of house hunters (those who want pools).

 

[Donnask8pro]

We bought our house with a built in pool. I love it. It runs alittle costly when we run the heater but I dont feel as though its alot of work at all. We have an automatic vacuum so we don't even touch that.. The only problem are the neghborhood kids. My DS7 can swim (he's also on a swim team) but I really have to watch the other kids.

 

[Melrosgirl]

If it's super hot where you will be living, I say go for it. With that said, yes we did regret our pool. We built it, used it for 5 years and bc we are in the northeast, couldn't use it a lot (even though it was heated). Loved it during the summer, hated it the rest of the year. We moved and will never have a pool again. Got literally zero dollars back on our investment (which we knew would probably happen) bc pools around here are just not something most buyers want. I did sell my house within a week though, but the buyer was from CA and really wanted a pool. We don't miss the pool.

 

[DisneyHumbug]

I love my pool....but it's just too big. We should have gone for a smaller one, but wanted the kids to be able to do laps. Haha they never did laps. We have 17X35 with a deep end and diving board. Wish I had a nice little kidney shaped pool.

 

[raysum]

I have had a pool for 10 + years now. I live in SC so we get swim in it for about 4 months. I do not have a heater but a solar cover which we use at the start and end of the season. We love it! Even before our kids we enjoyed it. Now my children are 7 and 6 and they spend hours in it everyday. It is especially nice to have when it is so hot that you really can't do anything else.
Like we everything, you could better at taking care of it the longer you have it. I know you don't get any value from it when you sell your house, but when we start looking for a new house we will diffently be looking for a house with a pool.

 

[Kickapoo Joie Juice]

We used to have a house with a pool when my kids were 6 and 5. Here's what they don't tell you in the glossy brochures:

Your kids will want to be in the pool ALL the TIME.

Their friends will want to be in the pool ALL THE TIME.

You get to watch them like a hawk ALL THE TIME.

After a few summers where I did nothing but stand there like a lifeguard all summer, I was *over* it.

This house, no pool. We have a membership to the swim/tennis down the street and when we go (a few times a week at most) I have a real lifeguard with an extra eye on my kids so I can actually swim underwater or read a bit without freaking out that my kid might be drowning...

 

[audrabolster]

In texas you will love it! we had one in virginia.

but be aware that the cost of maintence is not cheap. water, chemicals, you have to clean it, etc.

 

[PatsGirl]

Another point: My Mom and Dad have an inground pool and I would never allow my children to visit there without me because I felt they were a bit too sure my kids wouldn't go anywhere near it without supervision My ex wanted to buy a house with a pool but I really did not want one. It is a huge responsibility!!! Sure, your kids can swim (so can mine but...) and they will promise not to go near the pool (but...) and there's a fence so the neighborhood kids and animals can't get in (but...)

Too many buts for me. I would never be considered over-protective with my children BUT pools and neighborhoods/families with kids just don't mix IMHO. I know it is one of my two biggest fears for my loved ones: drowning and choking.

Good luck with whatever decision you make. Brenda

 

[lorilori]

Here in NC we bought a new house and waited a year to put the pool in. It was the longest summer of my life! But, to echo what someone else has already said, make sure you get one that's really easy to manage. Our is a 12X24 fiberglass pool which is quick to vacuum, super easy to maintain and extremely low chlorine use which saves on chemicals. Good luck!

 

[kbkids]

Well, we live in Florida, so pools are pretty commonplace around here. We absolutely love ours and don't regret it for a second. We spent about $30,000 last spring for it. The kids lived in it all summer - I work from home, and moved my laptop out onto the porch when they were swimming. DH and I took many late night dips in the pool.

When trying to decide whether to vacation or not this summer, the kids both agreed they were fine with staying home and swimming all day. Works for me and saves us the money we would have spent on vacation.

Ours is a salt water pool - hardly any maintenance at all - just dump a bag of salt in it periodically. I love it. Your skin doesn't get all dried out. The kids' blond hair doesn't turn green, and their bathing suits lasted all summer without getting bleached out. I would never have a chlorine pool again after having this salt water one.


We've got the Polaris to keep it vacuumed out. I just skim the leaves off the top if I happen to catch them before they sink to the bottom. Very little maintenance required at all. I think we only hand vacuumed it once all summer. The Polaris does a great jump of keeping it clean.

 

[clarabelle]

I don't have a pool -but If I did I would consider a cover like a friend of mine has. It is mechanical- you flip a switch and it rolls out over the pool.
It is not very pretty put it dials down the worry a great deal.
She said it cost about 6K.

 

[Darcy03231]

When we bought our home we had an above the ground pool (largest one you can get). At the time our kids were 3.5, 5.5, 8 & 12. We live in the Northeast and I had a sitter come to the house in the summer when the kids were out of school. The pool was a lifesaver for her! We really used a lot for the first 5-6 years. After that the kids started going to a summer camp program so no one was home all day and we have a lake house we go to on the weekends. Pool really wasn't getting much use so we ended up giving it away to someone DH works with. The two oldest children are out of the house now and the two youngest are14.5 and 16.5. No one has really missed the pool at all (especially DH)! I would say if you have younger children and you are home with them you would really enjoy it. If all you have are the weekends, you might want to look into a membership somewhere that has a pool. In the long run it might be less expensive.

 

[Va-bear]

Another point: My Mom and Dad have an inground pool and I would never allow my children to visit there without me because I felt they were a bit too sure my kids wouldn't go anywhere near it without supervision My ex wanted to buy a house with a pool but I really did not want one. It is a huge responsibility!!! Sure, your kids can swim (so can mine but...) and they will promise not to go near the pool (but...) and there's a fence so the neighborhood kids and animals can't get in (but...)
Too many buts for me. I would never be considered over-protective with my children BUT pools and neighborhoods/families with kids just don't mix IMHO. I know it is one of my two biggest fears for my loved ones: drowning and choking.

Good luck with whatever decision you make. Brenda

Sooooo....true!!!! I was what is considered a "good kid", very consciencious, chicken, etc. and we still would climb over my neighbors fence to swim when they were a way. But then, if I'd have drowned MY parents wouldnt have sued them - these days.....

Good luck either way!!!! (ps - I want one of those pools like they have in Florida, where its in an enlcosed, locked screened porch! )

 

[Katy Belle]

Thanks everybody! I have a lot to consider. I'm so surprised that the houses I'm looking at with pools don't seem to have fences around the pool. they have fenced yards, but not another fence around the pool. I would definitely add that, and possibly the tight cover over the top. I couldn't sleep if I didn't think it were safe.

I just can't decide if its worth it. We will hopefully be there for 10 years, until the kids all graduate from High school. I do think it would be great on the hot summer days.

Many of the houses do have saltwater pools. I will research that!

Thanks all!
Time for bed here. I will read the rest of the responses in the morning.

Katy

 

[nelle]

We put ours in two summers ago and we love it!! My only regret is that we didn't make it bigger it is 18x32 and by the time my four kids my neice and nephew and friends it gets pretty full.
One more regret is that we should of made the deep end deeper and bigger, my kids spend all their time in the deep end diving for things at the bottom. The guy who built the pool said that the standard now is like 5.5 feet we made ours 6 feet deep.
As far as safety they have these nets that you put over a pool that are great just look up swimming pool safety nets.
It does get expensive to run electric wise in the summer we can really see a jump in our bill but thats also when we have the ac on so it's hard to tell which is causing the jump.

 

[kbkids]

(ps - I want one of those pools like they have in Florida, where its in an enlcosed, locked screened porch! )

Alot of my friends have them, and to be honest, I hate them. You've got the added expense of a heater, or you deal with it taking longer to warm up in the spring or too cold in the fall. We're already swimming in ours right now - my friends with the screen, no way - thiers is still 62 degrees.
Secondly, honestly, I don't like feeling like I'm swimming in a room. I want to be outside. I always feel so closed in when I'm swimming at their pool.

I know alot of people like them - to each their own. They say they wanted it to cut down on the maintenance - like I said above, there's little to no maintenance required with ours. The Polaris is amazing at keeping it cleaned out. It's pretty and definitely extends their "living area," but I wanted a pool for outdoor fun, not just leisurely sitting around indoors.

 

[kbkids]

Many of the houses do have saltwater pools. I will research that!

Katy

It only added $1500 to the cost of ours --- money well spent!! We'll save that in chemicals alone pretty quickly!

 

[kathi29]

I love my screened in pool! Love it. It keeps the whole area relatively lizard and frog free. But I will say I don't like the screens my neighbors have. Our screen isn't standard 8' -12' high. It's 14' high to accommodate the huge slide I had to have. You don't feel screened in at all, and it hasn't had any effect on the pool temperature.

We use salt, too. Best investment ever. I like not having green hair, faded bathing suits, and dry skin. Plus we spend maybe $20 a month in chemicals and salt.