Yet again, we are considering buying/building a house. The wife wants a pool.
There is an older neighborhood not too far from us that is finally building on the existing lots. We are considering building a house and having a pool built from new to go with the house.
Tell me why this a terrible idea, or why I don't want a home with a pool.
250$ a month in chemicals / maintenance / insurance increases / water.
The only reason that I considered is that it costs something significant to build that has no value when you sell.
If my house had a pool when I moved in I'd have loved it but writing a check for $80k to buy, install and landscape a pool was just not something I wanted to eat on the resale in 5-10 years when my kids have their own lives and I'm looking to downsize.
So I joined a country club with a pool for less than the maintenance costs would be and I'll quit the first day of the youngest's trip to college. In the meantime - I enjoy letting someone else clean it.
Its a huge berkeleying hassle that adds no value to your home.
Insurance goes way up, even if you don't have kids. But I'm sure that you knew that already
We bought a house with a big pool when I was a kid. I looked after it, and didn't mind it, but I was a kid with little else to do, and didn't pay for any of it.
The wife always wants a pool. Mine was no different. I said, "No problem. If you want one, I will pay for it, and build it. Because I will never use it, everything after that is your responsibility" She never asked again.
If you're looking to build a pool, look at the natural ones. A friend in Germany has one and the water feels so much different. It's like swimming in a stream. No chemicals, either, it's self-regulating.
He also uses it as a heat sink for his roof mounted solar and a few other tricks, but from a swimming standpoint it's wonderful. Makes for a nice addition to the back yard, because it looks more like a pond than a pool. It's basically a well-balanced wetlands.
My girlfriend in high school had a pool. Other than certain late night recreational activities, it never held much appeal to me - and this is from someone who was a swimming instructor. I know she used to swim in it when she was younger, but I never saw it being used much when I was around.
Also, why not a hottub instead of a pool?
All things mentioned plus another point- people mentioned that it adds no value to the home. I would say it's worse, I think it takes value away. When I was home shopping 13 years ago and again 10 years ago we would not even consider a house with a pool. Liability, cost, and the fact that it eats up 75% of a yard in our typical tract home lots.
I say go for it.
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Cone_Junkie wrote: All things mentioned plus another point- people mentioned that it adds no value to the home. I would say it's worse, I think it takes value away. When I was home shopping 13 years ago and again 10 years ago we would not even consider a house with a pool. Liability, cost, and the fact that it eats up 75% of a yard in our typical tract home lots.
The other side to that is people for whom a pool is a draw. It does not add money to the asking price but - if a house I was looking at was needing a few things but had a killer pool it would would bias me toward fixing them myself to have the pool.
I wanted a pool - I just didn't want to pay for it. My country club membership was a better financial move but I'd still rather walk out my back door and take a swim on a hot day than drive 2 miles to do it if I could have found that "right" house when we were shopping.
^I'm OK with it using up the yard. After having a large backyard to push mow in the July/August heat for 4 years, and now paying someone to do it, a large yard doesn't have the appeal it used to. Unless I was out in the country where I could get some real space.
mtn wrote: Also, why not a hottub instead of a pool?
She wants both!
I'll take the opposite view here. I've never had an in-ground pool, but we had a sizable above ground pool in our last house. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Ours was a salt water pool, which required minimal maintenance...as in minutes per week.
If it's in your budget, you're OK with the insurance premium and want the convenience and privacy of a home pool, go for it.
We're not putting in a pool in our new house because the community has a resort type pool, but we are doing our own hot tub. 
Also, what is your actual pool season? The farther north one lives the shorter the season you'll actually use the thing. Year round tie up of the yard for 3-5 months of potential use, high initial cost, days you don't use it due to other commitments...... Before long the exchange is something like $2,500 and 2 hours of work for every hour spent "frolicking" in the water or laying in the sun beside it.
Keith Tanner wrote: If you're looking to build a pool, look at the natural ones. A friend in Germany has one and the water feels so much different. It's like swimming in a stream. No chemicals, either, it's self-regulating. He also uses it as a heat sink for his roof mounted solar and a few other tricks, but from a swimming standpoint it's wonderful. Makes for a nice addition to the back yard, because it looks more like a pond than a pool. It's basically a well-balanced wetlands. My girlfriend in high school had a pool. Other than certain late night recreational activities, it never held much appeal to me - and this is from someone who was a swimming instructor. I know she used to swim in it when she was younger, but I never saw it being used much when I was around.
These look really appealing, thanks for the suggestion.
KyAllroad wrote: Also, what is your actual pool season? The farther north one lives the shorter the season you'll actually use the thing. Year round tie up of the yard for 3-5 months of potential use, high initial cost, days you don't use it due to other commitments...... Before long the exchange is something like $2,500 and 2 hours of work for every hour spent "frolicking" in the water or laying in the sun beside it.
Realistically late April through September. But I'd also consider looking into a heated pool as well so we could use it in the winter.
In addition to the financial costs, there are pretty serious risks to consider.
According to the CDC: "Drowning ranks fifth among the leading causes of unintentional injury death in the United States. Every day, about ten people die from unintentional drowning. Of these, two are children aged 14 or younger. For every child who dies from drowning, another five receive emergency department care for nonfatal submersion injuries."
My oldest daughter nearly drowned in my parents' pool; now that we have a pool, we've had our younger daughter take two rounds of ISR survival swimming lessons so far.
wearymicrobe wrote: 250$ a month in chemicals / maintenance / insurance increases / water.
As a former pool owner of 11 years, become good friends with someone that owns one and will let you enjoy it. Just offer to vacuum occasionally.
I have zero regrets about renting the bobcat and filling mine in.
The coolness factor wears off after a while. I didn't enjoy it as much as I initially thought that I would.
I have a pool, and I love it. I got up this morning and went for a swim before work. Anyway, my total spent so far on the pool this year has been $38. That includes 4 bags of salt to top up the salt water system, and well, that's it! It stays perfect all the time since I installed the salt system. If you get a pool cleaner with the pool, your maintenance goes to almost nothing. Seriously, if I had not done this, I would have filled it in 6 years ago. Before that, I used chlorine, and was spending about 200 to 300 per month.
You will still need other things from time to time such as covers and liners if you go that route, but as a big black hole in the backyard, that's a thing of the past.
We like ours. It's a huge hassle to drag all four young kids somewhere to swim, and nearly every community pool has become a waterpark. We can teach the kids to swim, swim while some kids are sleeping, and the actual cost is in the tens of dollars per month.
racerdave600 wrote: Anyway, my total spent so far on the pool this year has been $38. That includes 4 bags of salt to top up the salt water system, and well, that's it! It stays perfect all the time since I installed the salt system. If you get a pool cleaner with the pool, your maintenance goes to almost nothing. Seriously, if I had not done this, I would have filled it in 6 years ago. Before that, I used chlorine, and was spending about 200 to 300 per month.
We're using chlorine and running our pump nearly 24/7. I'm going to google salt conversion now, but in your experience, is the cost of actual salt vs chlorine the only budget difference?
What kind of pool? Above or below ground? There are a couple of local companies that sell fiberglass pool inserts that gets put in the ground. I think you can actually swim in it the same day they install it.
In ground.
I'm not a fan of above ground pools at all.
I grew up with a creek to swim in, and I miss it very much, I feel that it enriched my childhood in many ways, and I wish my son could have the same experience. 
I have a coworker that says he'd never own a house without one, but there is a clear logic to his seeming madness. He has 4 daughters. By having the pool, his house house is the hub of the girls social lives. He knows who all of their friends are, and most of their parents.
I don't own a pool, but I wouldn't mind, as long as it was not a high maintenance type. A clear Cold Creek would still be better though.
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