Ever put in a pool?

That's exactly what happens, especially when you have young kids. Gets used tons for a good while, then just kind of sits there when they hit 13 or so and have other things to do during the summer.

 

One friend's house was on a hill and they couldn't do an in-ground pool since the back yard was at an angle. So what they did was make the pool part of their deck and it was above ground. Even though it looked like it was below ground and it was also much cheaper, maybe a grand, plus the cost of the deck.
The pool was at most five feet deep, but it was perfect for pool parties. In the winter, they just drained it and the deck was built with a cover for the hole where the pool would have been. So then it looked like a giant deck and you wouldn't even know it had a pool underneath.

 

Young parents moving down here salivate at the sight of a pool, without knowing of which Moddy (mostly accurately) speaks.

They figure that it's one less contracting quagmire to deal with later on.

 

Very, very true.

 

When I was growing up, everyone in my grandparents' neighborhood had a pool. My grandparents did, the next-door neighbors did, someone across the lane did, someone behind us did. It was MADNESS. Also hella fun. All had diving boards, two of them had slides.

We'd play basketball and volleyball in it 24-7 during the summer months, but nothing beat 500. Someone got on the diving board and threw a ball (usually a softer volleyball) to a bunch of kids (anywhere from four to 12) in the shallow end. You got 100 points if you caught it in the air, 50 if you got to it after it hit the water. Person who retrieved the ball got to throw. First to 500 points (duh) wins. That game made you a man, whether you had the proper genitalia or not.

Liability? Lia-what now?

The adults wanted to float around and work on their tan, but fuck 'em, a pool is to have fun in.

Now I'm in my 30s and the diving board has a massive crack in it that makes it pretty much impossible to use. Most of my cousins (I'm the oldest in my generation) are past that point in their lives, too. Oh, I'll get in the pool when I visit my grandparents this year, and we might squeeze in a couple of games of volleyball when two of my cousins from out-of-town come up for their yearly visit. And one year that pool's not going to open; my grandparents will have moved on, passed on or just decided it wasn't worth the effort. And that's going to be a sad fucking watershed moment in my life, because it'll be another nail in the coffin of my youth. The funnest, too.

I just joined the YMCA, so I can do laps in their indoor pool. Just try getting a game of 500 going, though.

Look, there's a zillion reasons not to have a pool. It's a lawsuit or accidental death waiting to happen. It's a shitload of money that results in your house losing value. It takes regular chlorination and vaccuming and ph chemicals and the occasional removal of a mole. Logically, there's no good excuse to install a pool.

Do it anyway. Like there's a monetary value you can slap on a birthday party by the pool.

 

What Moddy has said above. Verbatim.

Parents bought a house with a pool 20 years ago, and are now in the process of trying to get it sold. Mother was all enthused about the idea of a pool in the backyard. Neighbors of mine before I moved discouraged the idea.

Neighbors were absolutely right. Pools pretty much help define the term "overrated." My mother isn't even home very often, and no one else really gives a rat's a_s about much back there. It's kept strictly because it would otherwise turn into a swamp and will be on the market forever ...

Oh, and what S-P said - hurting resale value - also stands. I suspect at least two or three buyers have been scared off by the pool ... or maybe it was the kid in the house now. :-\

 

My realtor gave me information a year ago that said, according to the National Association of Realtors (or something similar), in-ground pools increase the value of the property about 7-8 percent. I'm sure those stats vary according to geography and the approximate value of the home.

 

I shit in a pool once. Turned out to be a Baby Ruth.

 

The GF's having a house built over the course of the next year. The pool costs $20K. She hasn'tcommitted to it yet, and we haven't gotten a good estimate on the monthly maintenance/utility costs.

 

It does depend on location. In Florida or Arizona, I would wager a pool creates more value than Canada.

 

My cousin has a thriving pool design and installation bidness in the OC. He's done some great designs but I hate to think how much that shit costs.

 

I believe this is true in my market. A house with a pool, even a shitty house, is snapped up in record time around here.

Of course, I also think it depends on when you're selling. When it's 98 degrees outside, that sparkling hole in the ground looks pretty sweet.

I do appreciate the advice, folks. Wavering on the pool after this thread.