worth it? Pro's v. con's? What about buying a house without one and building one vs. buying a house that already had one?

Sux, don't do it

We enjoy ours. We use it all the time in the warm months.

We use ours daily during the warm months. It is expensive and can be a pain, but what recreational toy isn�t. It is not for everyone, but we like it.

Love mine

If you plan to fish at least every other weekend or pay someone to keep up with it don�t do it. I know she said she will take care of it but she won�t after a while. Plus there are some things she can�t do so guess who gets the honors? I have spent almost what it cost to build in upkeep chemicals and repairs since it was built.

My backyard would be almost worthless without one. You're not going to get your money back on resell though if you're putting in a new one. I bought my house with one already there. Having a new one installed is still probably a better investment than a $50,000 bass boat.

I spend about 15 mins a week during the warm months on maintenance. Get a good automatic cleaner and it�s easy. All pool stores will do free water tests.

Not that much work. You're doing something wrong or went cheap on the pump/filter system.

Go salt water. Ours is easy.

We are looking at a neighborhood that has a nice community pool with basketball court, tennis courts, sand volleyball court etc. and I am wondering if having your own pool is really worth it when you have access to that. Sure some of the kids will be a pain but when we want to swim, we have access. Just don't know if it's worth it to build one. I have heard both sides of the argument, it's expensive and a pain, especially once the kids are gone which we still have 8 years until empty nest, but I also hear people who love it and their summer time/warm months revolve around it.

If you choose to have one built, I would not take the cheap route on equipment. Good equipment means quality filtration and proper turnover. Swimming pools are easy to maintain. Pick 1 day out of the week and service your pool. Check chemistry, BRUSH it, clean baskets etc. I worked for a friend of mine, for 3 years, that owns a swimming pool company while I was in college. We maintained over 1million gallons a week. People eff with their pools every single day and screw their chemistry up so bad because they can�t stop effing with it...that�s why I say pick one day out of the week.

Public pools are filthy and full of nasty people

I absolutely hate mine, period

You do not have to mess with your swimming pool chemistry every single day. If you do that then you�re doing more harm than good... If you build a plaster pool, the first 30 days are crucial to the proper curing of the plaster. It needs to brushed daily and acid added to help cure it.

I know .......siiiiiiiigggghhhhh

good advice TY

I�d be happy with the community pool. If it�s like most community pools, it will be under utilized because a lot of people will have their own

Owning a pool= all the above and resurfacing every 15years or so. Wife will want to change the deck and/or tile every decade or so. The motor that runs the pool cleaner will likely fail at some point. Plenty of unforeseen expenses

But, yes, the kiddos love it

I don�t like swimming in the neighborhood�s peepee.

Exactly, wee, butt juice, the herp, God knows what else in public pools

Don�t be cheap and get a sand filter either, get a cartridge filter and make sure the builder installs the correct size according to the size of your pool. I would suggest a variable speed pump as well.

Love mine. Let someone else suck up the depreciation, buy a house with one.

yeah, it's an interesting conundrum

That's a $5 word

Love mine.

that's awesome man, that's what we want, just don't know if it's worth it, but I am leaning toward it is.

Had 2 and hate them. House we bought a few months ago had one at some point. Owners filled it in

If you have young kids look at it as entertainment value and family time. It�s not a sound financial decision but the time spent with your family is worth something. Like I said earlier, we really enjoy ours.

She won't take care of it, no matter what she says.

If you have kids, might be a worth it.

I've built two, neither of them my idea. I am currently pool boy at my house.

My wife won't even take a sample to get tested no matter how busy I am with work or whatever.

Also, depending on who builds it, you may have the chance to meet a very dishonest person you get to give a lot of money to.

Lots of work and money and lots of good memories when the kids were younger. We bought a home that had one and after 12 years I still didn't have it mastered. It was gunite and the chlorine caused the paint to fade so we had to repaint it. Not sure if the salt water is a better option or not. I would get another one if it made sense financially.

That is what they call winning. I will never own a pool.

If you don't like swimming, you can drain the water and ride a skateboard in it.

I already do that

NO the rewards out weight the benefits

Said no one ever....

I have a hot tub I�ll sell you cheap also. $1000. Obo

Hayward DE filter. I have a cover because of the trees. Mainly I hate spring and fall opening and closing it. Wait till you have had it 10 years or more. Things will need replacing and updated.

A pool is like a boat--it can be an expensive mistress that can provide brief periods of a lot fun but also takes an investment in upkeep and maintenance. Having had one, it's not worth it, in my opinion.

^^^ If you don't want the expense of having a in ground then get an above ground.. then if you decide you don't want it anymore you don't have a hole in your yard... just a thought!!

Above ground pools and mobile homes are sold as package deals right?

Yep. They give you the pool kit in a box as soon as you take the tail lights off your new house

The ladder can be useful, the rest not so much

If you build one, you will never be able to get the expense back when you sell. Pools are fine and fun when you have kids at home, but mine are gone now.....so basically, pools suk!

If you buy a house with a pool already make sure you get a pool inspector not just you home inspector. My home inspector gave the pool a good once over and found some issues but I did not get the full rundown. BTW its not fun turning a 30,000 gallon pond back into a clear blue pool. The seller or realtor back washed all of the DE out of the filter to lower the pressure for the sale and after the sale they shut the pump off completely. Any stagnant water in spring/summer will turn green so quick it blows my mind. We have not had the house a year yet and I have already replaced my Polaris booster pump due to bad bearings and will possibly be rebuilding my 2-1/2 horse whisper flow pump motor, as well as trouble shooting why my hot tub is not producing bubbles when the air pump is running . My pool was built in 2003 so things wear out and need to be replaced but as long as you spent 5-10 minutes a day looking over things and cleaning out the filter baskets its worth it in my opinion.

People make pool maintenance way more complicated than it need be. The big mistake most folks make is using too many of the chorine tabs. It has stabilizer in it that builds up over time and actually renders the chlorine useless. Most of your chlorine should come in liquid form. I'd just buy the highest percentage stuff I could find at the grocery store and it worked great. I'd say I'd spend a half hour a week during the summer keeping it clean.

The bigger costs come with things that break. Pumps, cleaning robots etc... Still loved mine. You are way better off buying a house that already has a pool.

Covering it may be part of the problem. We don�t cover ours, and the neighbor�s trees drop every single leaf in our pool. What the cleaner doesn�t get I vacuum up with a $20 device I got at Lowe�s, which hooks to water hose. I spend very minimal time with the pool on a weekly basis.

Money wise, think of it as having a second wife without the "benefits".

I've always lived in areas with HOA's and neighborhood pools. I figure I'm paying for it, why have one of my own as well? That said, in the summertime we go to the pool maybe two or three times a month. I know if we had it in our yard it would see daily use. Just haven't justified the expense in my mind yet.

But I'll say this, if I find the perfect house to buy then having a pool or not really won't sway me either way.