Buying a house with a pool..people with pools..ADDED pic at bottom

This house we're thinking of has a 20x40 pool on the lower part of the bilevel deck, it's in preforclosure and has been vacant.

Would you keep the pool? Or take it down?

People with pools, how much does it cost you seasonally to run it and maintain it?

Thanks!

Message edited 10/7/2008 2:01:12 PM.

Re: Buying a house with a pool..people with pools

I have an inground pool and honestly I don't think I could ever have a house without one ever again. I absolutely love it and so does company! My husband opens the pool himself but we have someone close it at the end of the year for $200. the chemicals can get kind of pricey I am not sure exactly how much but I would keep the pool!

Message edited 10/7/2008 1:06:06 PM.

Re: Buying a house with a pool..people with pools

You can always make it a salt water pool as well. Environmentally friendly and a lot less expensive because I don't believe there are any chemicals. My parents neighbors just put one in and they love it.

Re: Buying a house with a pool..people with pools

I actually looked for a house without a pool because I knew how pricey they were to maintain. I asked a lot of people with pools their bills in the summer months and just didn't think it was worth it. Most people had their bills triple bc of the pool and we just couldn't afford it. One of my friends is still trying to 'catch up' on her LIPA bill bc it was so high bc of the pool and she could never pay the whole amount at once, so now every month the bill is still so high. good luck!

Re: Buying a house with a pool..people with pools

the part about the house being vacant would scare me a bit. if a pool is not properly taken care of, repairs can be very expensive. if it's lined, a new liner may be needed and possibly a new filter. are you familiar with pools at all?

we just bought a house with a pool this May so i am new to this also. a few things to ask/keep in mind:

-what type and how old is the filter?
-does it have a liner and how old?
-yearly maintenance is not very expensive (few hundred to open and close, chemicals throughout the season) but can be very time consuming. water levels should be taken each day, you will need to vacuum or have someone vacuum, etc
-is there a pool cover? buying a new one can be costly depending on the type you want
-is it fenced in and properly listed on the CO?

not sure if you will be able to find out the answer to some of these.

i don't want to scare you. i LOVE having a pool but there are some things to be aware. i've heard that filling in a pool can be very costly as well.

ETA: someone mentioned electric bills. honestly, our bill didn't go up that much for the few months our pool filter was running. we don't have A/C units, so people may not be factoring in that their A/Cs are running those same months as well?

My post was in regard to an inground pool. If it's an above ground, it may be cheaper to maintain and take down. Sorry for any confusion.

Message edited 10/7/2008 1:26:06 PM.

Re: Buying a house with a pool..people with pools

When I bought my house it had an above ground 24' round pool, we never used it. We used to sink about $100 a month from May through October, maybe a little more around opening and closing times. It was 4 years ago. 3 years ago Ihad the pool taken out, it was the best $400 we ever spent. It was a big pain to take care of, vac, clean, the chemicals, for something we hardly ever used.

I will never buy a house with a pool ever again.

Re: Buying a house with a pool..people with pools

We have a large inground pool at our house and I love it. Our LIPA bill does not go up that much over the summer I think about $70 but we are also running A/C and a dehumidifier.

We have a newer filter on our pool so at the start of the summer we run it for 10 hours a day but after about a week when the chemical levels are good we are able to cut it back to 6-7 hours a day. We use the pucks of chlorine and a bucket of those for $100 gets us through the summer.

I always had a pool growing up. The first summer we had the house my dad came over to show us how to open and close the pool so we didn't have to pay someone for that service. Since all of our stuff is in working order it really isn't that expensive to maintain.

If the pool is in good condition it won't cost a lot to maintain but if you have to replace the filter,pump, liner, cover that is when it gets expensive. If you are serious about the house have a pool company inspect the pool to see if any repairs are needed. When our house was inspected the engineer made sure the pool walls were level and not caving in that can also cost a fortune to fix.

Re: Buying a house with a pool..people with pools

Thanks so much for all the insight and tips!!!!!

The house as no cair, so i figure the pool would get used in the hot summer months and i've always wanted a pool growing up, I love them, but my parents were against them for safety, money and maintenance.

The pool is half inground/half above it looks like to me.

HOpefully the pics will work


Back view


From what my realtor has found out, this house has had mortgage issues since January, the house was put on the market and is now practically owned by the bank and vacant. How long it's been vacant i'm not sure. The people bought this house in 2005 and overextended themselves.

Re: Buying a house with a pool..people with pools..ADDED pic at bottom

Like other posters said, I would be worried what is under that cover. You would be buying that house and not knowing if the filter works, if there are cracks in the pool. You might have to dump a lot of money into a pool like that. I seems that it must be a inground pool, so the pool probably has a cement bottom to it. You will have no idea if it's cracked or not. It looks like they needed to level out the yard, so they brought the ground even for the pool. I have an above ground pool that is semi in ground and it doesn't look like that. I guess if the prices is really good and you keep in mind that you might have to sink a lot of money into that pool, then I would consider it, but if you are really uncertain and don't want to sink that kind of money into it I would pass on that house. If they couldn't take care of their house and it's vacant, then they probably didn't take care of the pool due to not having the money to maintain it. They might not have maintained that pool for a year or so. That would be a mess of a pool under that cover. GL!

Re: Buying a house with a pool..people with pools..ADDED pic at bottom

A pool is 150% worth the time and money IF YOU USE IT - if not, it's obviously a waste.

DH and entertain A LOT and we would LOVE to have a pool - it's in the 10 year plan

Re: Buying a house with a pool..people with pools..ADDED pic at bottom

I was against it but DH wanted one. It was actually hard to find homes without a pool in the areas were were looking.
Like other's posted you could have issues if it is wasn't properly closed (if they didn't blow out the lines then the pipes could burst).
The maintence of a pool isn't a lot once you get it clear and you stay ontop of it. If you decide to go with the house, I highley recommend installing a chorinator if it doesn't have one already. It is about $100 and you put cholrine tablets in it once a week and it releases the chorine through the filter which helps lengthen the life of the liner. Once it gets green then it can get expensive. Since that pool has a loop lock cover (an excellent cover to have, especially for families with children) I think you can open it yourself's so you save some their. You could call around some pool companies and find out how much they are charge for opening and closings. Ask them if chemicals are included. I know by me it ranges it's about $275 for a closing and $240 for an opening.

I will tell you this, we barely used it this year. Our yard doesn't get a huge amount of sun in that part so it didn't get warmer than 78 and that was when we had the heat wave. Our neighbore though has full sun it can get up to 90 degrees but she doesn't go in with her kids durning the week and they are 1.5 and almost 4.

I am all over the place in this post, FM if you have any questions