Never. I almost drowned in a backyard pool (my parents were a few yards away, but I went down to the bottom and no one noticed!). It's way too scary. We go to our community pool where there are lifeguards. Much safer. And I don't want to maintain a pool. If we bought a house with a pool, I'd deduct the cost of removing the pool from the offer. And yes, we'd remove it.

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.

PP - of course the neighbors were delighted - they didn't have to pay for the pool, heating, electricity, food, etc.! Not to mention the liability. What if you are on vacation and something happened because you had a standing agreement?

We are still looking/considering a pool. That baby will have a TALL fence. With a lock, cameras, you name it. It's for us period. Maybe we have run into too many users, but I am over it.

Maybe it is the environment I grew up in (my parents loved hosting other people and our door was always open), but I would love having a pool and having people over (as long as they are your friends and not randoms or in laws) all the time. We initially made it a requirement in our house hunt but there weren't enough, let alone those that were actually nice (landscaped, without jagged edges, not 70s looking) to limit our home search this way so sadly we ended up without one. But I am envious of friends who have them.

Yes, absolutely, if it was in good condition. Obviously it would need to be fenced appropriately. If it wasn't at purchase, that's an easy fix and not too expensive.

We have looked at houses with pools. When we were looking at the houses, some owners were stupid enough to have guests using the pool (during house showing). The guests attitude was that "oh yeah, we're always here". WRONG ANSWER. I'd be damned if I am going to have your sorry a$$es over my house (if I'm home or especially if I'm not) around the clock. In one instance, the realtor (a neighbor) tried to convince us that the neighbors being there was a non issue. There was a poolside fridge where everyone helped themselves. It was unbelievable.

Here is the thing: if I buy a pool or house with a pool it is for me and my family. Not for a bunch of inconsiderate moochers. Period. I am no one's hotel.

Yes, but I would never pay to put one in.

Both of my kids are strong swimmers, as is my DH. I'm the weak link, but I can swim, just not strongly. I would want a very tall fence around it, though, even with the magic pool cover. And I would not let other parents randomly send over their kids. A neighbor of ours with a pool hires a lifeguard for parties in case the parents aren't paying attention. I think this is smart.

No. I'd worry about the kids drowning, as well as possible liability issues.

I wouldn't buy one out here, but if we lived in CA (where I'm from) I would in a heartbeat. Year around swimming outweighs the other fears and costs and honestly, I am so sick of the "pool associations" etc.

Assuming you have smallish kids, just imagine this - every time you are hanging around your house and lose track of where your kid is, what is the first thought that will come to your mind?

Also, it might make other parents think twice before sending their kids to your house.

If you do get a pool, PLEASE don't let your kids wear those water wings or any wearable flotation devices. They don't realize (or forget) that they won't float without them. I've heard that almost all child drownings are because of this - kids jump in a residential pool without their water wings. My SIL had to rescue her daughter from the bottom of a pool just last week because she jumped in while my SIL was digging her water wings out of their bag. I used to get dirty looks from other parents because I never put them on my kids. they only wore life jackets if they were swimming in a lake or ocean.

Anonymous wrote:We had the exact type of set up in our previous house, and NO, I wouldn't do it again. Assuming its newish, the maintenance is minimal & honestly, we had a pool company do everything, but the costs add up. More so, I didn't like the responsibility/liability. Friends always wanted to come over & let their kids swim, people would have a few drinks at a party & jump in, etc. the worst was when people would bring their kids to swim & then step into the house, leaving their kids unsupervised. Now that I have kids, I really wouldn't want one. I trust our nanny but it would scare me for play dates, etc. We had one of those keys for the covers but it still scared me. Finally, we really didn't use it nearly as much as anticipated.

+1

We had the exact type of set up in our previous house, and NO, I wouldn't do it again. Assuming its newish, the maintenance is minimal & honestly, we had a pool company do everything, but the costs add up. More so, I didn't like the responsibility/liability. Friends always wanted to come over & let their kids swim, people would have a few drinks at a party & jump in, etc. the worst was when people would bring their kids to swim & then step into the house, leaving their kids unsupervised. Now that I have kids, I really wouldn't want one. I trust our nanny but it would scare me for play dates, etc. We had one of those keys for the covers but it still scared me. Finally, we really didn't use it nearly as much as anticipated.

No. Too much maintenance, too big of a liability issue. If we lived in a climate where you could use it year round, I'd be somewhat less adamant in my emphatic no. But here, you really only get 3-4 months of use and in the meantime, you have to worry about safety issues with your kids (and one day, possibly reckless teenagers). Even if I otherwise loved the house, having a pool would be too much of a deterrent for me.

Nope. Never.

We're considering buying a house that has a pool. I don't have a good sense of the maintenance costs. Also, I'm concerned of course about safety, though the pool is rectangular and has one of those very strong automatic retractable covers that supposedly holds the weight of several large men. How would you feel about this kind of pool? Thanks.