Would you buy a house with a pool?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When we were house hunting about 4 years back, my husband would only look at houses with pools (or where we could easily install a pool) -- he grew up in a neighborhood in Montgomery County in a house with a pool and wanted to live in a house with a pool. Not being an at-home pool person myself, I left this decision up to him. Four years later, after living in a house with a pool, here are my thoughts.

A pool is wonderful (particularly in this weather -- in fact we spent most of today in our pool), but, of course it is an added expense. It is not that expensive, however, and th amount of the expense depends in large part on the age of the house/pool. Our kids are aged 4 yearss old and a 2 years old, and we do not worry about them drowning because they are not allowed in the back yard without us (plus we have an alarm on the back door and you can have an alarm installed on the pool to alert you if anyone has "fallen" in.) Obviously, if you live in a house with a pool, you will teach your kids to swim early in life (which is what we are doing) -- again, I do not see this as a reason not to purchase a house with a pool.

We have never experienced what the previous posters metnioned about friends rushing over to use the pool. In fact, we belong to the neighborhood pool, as do most of our neighbors and friends. We love to invite friends over for a BBQ (and a swim) but we do not have people/kids hanging out at our house just because of the pool.

I have to admit that it helps to have a husband who grew up with a pool (meaning that he already knows what to do with maintenance, etc. and essentiallly takes care of everything), but as someone who inititally DID NOT WANT A POOL, I really enjoy it (as do the kids) and I think as they get older it will just get better (cannot wait until they both know how to swim on their own!).

Bottom line - if you will use the pool, I think the added costs are worth it. If not, then the added costs are not worth it.

Your kids zre 4 an 2. Wait till they are 10 and you have lots of kids wanting to hang out at your pool.

[Anonymous]

Not in a million years.
My little sister nearly drowned in my aunt's pool when she was a kid, while my dad and I were in the water. She slipped out of the house and slipped into the water right behind us--for some reason my dad "felt" the water churning a bit behind him and turned around and grabbed and pulled her out by her hair.

We go to the community pool where there are lifeguards, and even there we're vigilant with the kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When we were house hunting about 4 years back, my husband would only look at houses with pools (or where we could easily install a pool) -- he grew up in a neighborhood in Montgomery County in a house with a pool and wanted to live in a house with a pool. Not being an at-home pool person myself, I left this decision up to him. Four years later, after living in a house with a pool, here are my thoughts.

A pool is wonderful (particularly in this weather -- in fact we spent most of today in our pool), but, of course it is an added expense. It is not that expensive, however, and th amount of the expense depends in large part on the age of the house/pool. Our kids are aged 4 yearss old and a 2 years old, and we do not worry about them drowning because they are not allowed in the back yard without us (plus we have an alarm on the back door and you can have an alarm installed on the pool to alert you if anyone has "fallen" in.) Obviously, if you live in a house with a pool, you will teach your kids to swim early in life (which is what we are doing) -- again, I do not see this as a reason not to purchase a house with a pool.

We have never experienced what the previous posters metnioned about friends rushing over to use the pool. In fact, we belong to the neighborhood pool, as do most of our neighbors and friends. We love to invite friends over for a BBQ (and a swim) but we do not have people/kids hanging out at our house just because of the pool.

I have to admit that it helps to have a husband who grew up with a pool (meaning that he already knows what to do with maintenance, etc. and essentiallly takes care of everything), but as someone who inititally DID NOT WANT A POOL, I really enjoy it (as do the kids) and I think as they get older it will just get better (cannot wait until they both know how to swim on their own!).

Bottom line - if you will use the pool, I think the added costs are worth it. If not, then the added costs are not worth it.

Your kids zre 4 an 2. Wait till they are 10 and you have lots of kids wanting to hang out at your pool.

Wait until they are teenagers! My best friend growing up had a pool and any time her parents weren't home- the pool was full of drunken teenagers. The teen-aged years would almost scare me more than the toddler years with a pool. At least when they're little, you have control over when they're outside.

[Anonymous]

I really think there a pool-people, and there are non-pool people. We put in a pool and LOVE it, but I'm a fish. Our kids are 10+ and we live in the pool. When the weather is colder we use the attached spa almost every night. We have a salt water pool and maitenance is minimal and there are no chemicals involved. The biggest expense at this point is opening the pool up in the spring and closing it in the fall. We could save money by doing it ourselves, but we have our pool company come and do it.

Also, regarding neighbors and friends using the pool, you're the owner, you set the limitations. Period. If people take advantage, well, you're the one letting them do it.

And all jurisdictions require a fence around the pool - I forget the required height - but the fence must be there before water goes into the pool. If you have small children, you can install those additional fences that go around the immediate perimeter of the pool to keep them from falling in.

Good luck OP. We absolutely love our pool.

[Anonymous]

Annual cost to maintain runs about $2000 per year and that's with the pool guy doing everything and providing chemicals. We have a locked and alarmed gate to keep kids out, we never allow the kids (ages 9 and 14) to swim without us being present. As for other kids and neighbors using the pool, there's a magic word - it is 'no' - that works wonders. We love the pool and use it a lot.

[Anonymous]

I always swore I wouldn't but the perfect house came up and it has a lap pool. So we have a pool. I didn't even open it this year, too much work and too much $$. But -- I don't worry about safety because we it has an electronic "elephant cover" thing that you can literally walk on. If a kid gets away and falls in the pool it is like falling on a waterbed, not going to drown. The cover was expensive but well worth the peace of mind.

[Anonymous]

I'm a teacher. So my summers are mine. We are looking at homes with pools. I would PREFER having the kids hang at our house, especially during the teen years, b/c I can keep an eye out on them.

So what would you want? for you kid to hang at someone else's pool or for other kids to hang around YOUR house?

seems like a no brainer to me

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When we were house hunting about 4 years back, my husband would only look at houses with pools (or where we could easily install a pool) -- he grew up in a neighborhood in Montgomery County in a house with a pool and wanted to live in a house with a pool. Not being an at-home pool person myself, I left this decision up to him. Four years later, after living in a house with a pool, here are my thoughts.

A pool is wonderful (particularly in this weather -- in fact we spent most of today in our pool), but, of course it is an added expense. It is not that expensive, however, and th amount of the expense depends in large part on the age of the house/pool. Our kids are aged 4 yearss old and a 2 years old, and we do not worry about them drowning because they are not allowed in the back yard without us (plus we have an alarm on the back door and you can have an alarm installed on the pool to alert you if anyone has "fallen" in.) Obviously, if you live in a house with a pool, you will teach your kids to swim early in life (which is what we are doing) -- again, I do not see this as a reason not to purchase a house with a pool.

We have never experienced what the previous posters metnioned about friends rushing over to use the pool. In fact, we belong to the neighborhood pool, as do most of our neighbors and friends. We love to invite friends over for a BBQ (and a swim) but we do not have people/kids hanging out at our house just because of the pool.

I have to admit that it helps to have a husband who grew up with a pool (meaning that he already knows what to do with maintenance, etc. and essentiallly takes care of everything), but as someone who inititally DID NOT WANT A POOL, I really enjoy it (as do the kids) and I think as they get older it will just get better (cannot wait until they both know how to swim on their own!).

Bottom line - if you will use the pool, I think the added costs are worth it. If not, then the added costs are not worth it.

Your kids zre 4 an 2. Wait till they are 10 and you have lots of kids wanting to hang out at your pool.

Wait until they are teenagers! My best friend growing up had a pool and any time her parents weren't home- the pool was full of drunken teenagers. The teen-aged years would almost scare me more than the toddler years with a pool. At least when they're little, you have control over when they're outside.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nope. Never.

+1

[Anonymous]

PP who has looked at houses with pools but passed when the neighbors were seemingly all over that house -eating, drinking and having a ball as if it were their own - all day every day.

Question for the pool owners: WHAT if the prior owner set the (rather awful) precedent of having everyone over, and the lines were never drawn? How do you CHANGE everything that has ever been (as far as the users are concerned)?

I ask because the realtor told us - "oh this is where we make smokes every night..." among other things. I could not (and clearly still do not) believe it.

I am not trying to highjack, as OP could legitimately run into this. I also know people with pools who are very to themselves - almost secretive about their pool - so as to avoid a nightmare situation. But what do you do in the former situation - people with pools?

[Anonymous]

We bought a house with the pool thinking we may use it in summer, and because it looked very charming. A year later we decided to demolish and haven't looked back. It eats up valuable back yard space, presents a security issue, needs money and time, and we live in the climate where we couldn't really use it over a few months a year. Your mental calculus may vary, but that was mine. With two small children, I decided I'd rather have a larger back yard.

[Anonymous]

Here's the thing: didn't the current heat wave have the pool pay for itself, really? What if it is not a huge pool? Not OP.

[Anonymous]

We have an 18 and 20 year old, and 3 1/2 year old twins. Having had the pool since the older kids were in middle school, I did like having the house the other kids hang at. With the younger ones, we have worked hard one swimming skills since infancy. Pool costs vary a lot based on whether you DIY or pay a company to do it.

If I had to choose again, I would choose a pool only if it had a heater. Ours does not, and it really cuts down on usability, especially when the kids are young.

[Anonymous]

Yep, if it was an indoor pool. There was a house here in Ft. Washington on the market not long ago for $500k that had a fabulous indoor pool, tennis court and basketball court near the Potomac river.

[Anonymous]

we did about 5 years ago and love it. Never owned a pool before and its very easy to maintain and really not that expensive either, maybe $$800 to have a company open and close and another $200 for chemicals. we are thinking of going salt water next year which will reduce the chemical costs. like I said, we love having it and enjoy it tremendously, espcially not that the kids are getting older and can really swim.

[Anonymous]

For those of you with pools - How close is the pool to your house?
Does your pool ever have that distinct pool smell that public pools often have?