<p>I think the answer to the OP’s question certainly depends on what area you live in. Here in the ‘frozen north’, a pool is a definite advantage when selling a house. Most houses in our area have them. Ours still gets lots of use even though our Ds are older.</p>
<p>Marian, the safety issue is certainly an important one but if one is responsible when it comes to safety, it shouldn’t be a problem. There are regulations about fences and locking gates, and of course, common sense goes a long way. The difference in insurance costs would probably be very small.</p>
<p>Also, what we’ve found is that people who have pools are more likely to send their children to swimming lessons than people who don’t. Every child should learn to swim.</p>
<p>“Aren’t there significant liability/insurance issues with having a pool?”</p>
<p>You buy an umbrella policy to insure against somebody hurting yourself on your property. I think it is around $500 to $600 a year to insure yourself for $1 million.</p>
<p>we bought a house with a pool last year. We got a lot of use out of it. The house was empty for about a year, so when we opened it, it was pond scum. We started early ( April ) because we were not sure how long it would take to get it clean and clear. We also hosted a graduation party for an international student we sponsored, and wanted it to look nice.</p>
<p>We kept it open until mid-Oct, because we had some very warm days and guests visiting from Europe. We used it until then
We live in NJ , a few miles from the beach…we work in the tourist industry and want to get away from the beach rather than near it.</p>
<p>We’re still very happy with our pool. We put it in when the kids were in elementary school and they (and their friends) used it a lot. Now that they’re gone, I still use it almost every day in the summer. I do swim laps but use it more just to cool off and enjoy a relaxing float. </p>
<p>We have trees, so in the fall it’s a lot of work getting the leaves out but it builds great upper-arm and shoulder muscles! We keep it open all year, even though we only swim from late April to late September, so there’s some maintenance work year-round, but we don’t regret putting it in. It’s hot enough here in the summer that many people have pools and a lot of home buyers look for pools.</p>
<p>Somemom: the neighbors took out the pool, and had the dirt compacted, but not with heavy equipment, before building the deck over where it used to be. The sinkhole was bigger than the size of the pool, but was the shape of the pool. The dirt was just not compacted enough.</p>
<p>When we built our home about 13 years ago (before “The Troubles”) I had a 42’ gunnite pool with a 10’ deep end and then an 8’ spa at the other end. Whie coping with “antique brick” trim. It was very nice. What a great place to be a dad. What a great place to be alone. What a great place to be with your SO. What a great place to be with friends. What a great place.</p>
<p>No problems , no maintenance really. We had a trick. ;)</p>
<p>We used it 8 months of year, almost everyday for the 4 years we were able to live there. We no longer have the pool , nor the home and I miss it horribly. The pool. I couldn’t care less about the house although the stereo was nice. And the flower gardens. The rest of it-who cares? </p>
<p>Someday I hope to build a small poolhouse to live in with another giant pool. With flower gardens and a nice stereo. It’s a happy dream and I smile every time the thought of it comes around.</p>
<p>When I practiced real estate (as my second career) in the Bay Area a half-moon ago, we considered a pool to be a negative in that it reduced your market (some people won’t even look at homes with pools), but a positive for those who would look at the property because they did want a pool and it had some value for them. So, for the general market, we evaluated it as a “wash” and neither added nor subtracted value in our CMA.</p>
<p>There are variations on this theme, of course: how nice is the pool? does it eat up the whole yard? etc. etc.</p>
<p>Here in my part of the “frozen Northeast”, we still do about the same. Pools are way rarer here, of course. I have had clients, several years back, who filled in the pool. Around here, that was a cost of about $5-7000. Betcha it would cost more in California :p.</p>
<p>^^^Agree that it makes a big difference if the pool eats up your yard. That’s definitely a case where it’s worth it to invest the money in eradicating the pool.</p>
<p>I am looking forward to the day when we have the resources to get one of those nice elephant-strength covers that rolls on and off of the pool, rather than having to struggle with the bubble wrap in the summer and the leaves in the winter. If anyone reading this thread is contemplating putting in a pool, strongly consider installing one of these covers during construction!!!</p>
<p>“I am looking forward to the day when we have the resources to get one of those nice elephant-strength covers that rolls on and off of the pool, rather than having to struggle with the bubble wrap in the summer and the leaves in the winter. If anyone reading this thread is contemplating putting in a pool, strongly consider installing one of these covers during construction!!!”</p>
<p>Do they make these elephant-strength covers for odd shape pools? For pools that are built into a hillside so you only have access from one side? The other three sides are surrounded by brick walls. </p>
<p>I haven’t looked into this for twenty years. Twenty years ago, these covers didn’t exist for pools like mine. I wonder if things have changed. If I could get a cover, that would solve a lot of problems.</p>
<p>“Do they make these elephant-strength covers for odd shape pools? For pools that are built into a hillside so you only have access from one side? The other three sides are surrounded by brick walls.”</p>
<p>…in combination with one of those big pool covers, sounds butt-ugly to me. I can see why you’d want to fill the whole thing in. </p>
<p>We don’t use our pool much; the kids jump in after going to the beach in the summer. We do use the hot tub that’s attached, but you can have a hot tub with or without a pool. The thing we most enjoy about the pool is… Looking at it. With proper landscaping, it can be a thing of beauty, especially if it has a little waterfall action going (sight, sound…). I’m trying to picture a pool built into a hillside, surrounded on three sides by brick walls with a pool cover on top. I’d fill it in. JMO.</p>
<p>The pool cover would not cover the walls. The pool cover might ruin the look though.</p>
<p>“I have had clients, several years back, who filled in the pool. Around here, that was a cost of about $5-7000. Betcha it would cost more in California .”</p>
<p>dstark, you can get a custom pool cover for an odd shaped pool but be prepared to pay. Ours has a very low brick surround on 2 sides and a higher brick waterfall in one corner. We recently got an estimate for an automatic cover and it was about $5,000. Needless to say we decided against it. But it is nice to look at.</p>
<p>When we got our elephant-standing cover several years ago (prior house), they were custom made so an irregular shape would be no problem. You do need sturdy edges, however, so brick might not work. We tried (once) to put the cover on ourselves but we didn’t have the magic tool. After that, we paid the pool company to “open” and “close” the pool spring/fall and it was worth every penny. </p>
<p>We lived on the edge of a wooded area. Over the years we had the following creatures (some dead, some alive) in the pool or filter basket: snakes, frogs, opposum, mice, and GIANT spiders. No, I don’t miss the pool.</p>
<p>It was for leaves, but they said they could do a child proof one as well. I think they were going to anchor it into the tile area (at the top of the pool) into the gunite, but I’m not positive about that.</p>
<p>We live in the middle of a big city, and occasionally have critters in our pool. Baby moles, baby rats, birds, grogs/toads, one small snake and a lot of bugs. A giant spider might keep me out of the pool after dark though.</p>
<p>When we built our house I didn’t feel like we needed a pool. We live close to the ocean and summer is just not that warm. But my husband felt if we didn’t put it in while building we never would. We did rectangle so we have the built in electric cover. We open it when we use it and close it when not is use. We do open it when it rains. With the cover and a pool sweep and auto clorine dispenser we get my without a pool service. Dear husband does brush it down and fish out the few leaves that sometimes get in once a week and adjust the chemicals but it really is no work.
Some years we don’t use it much. The past 3 yrs my youngest and her friends have used it every friday night. No matter what the air temp. We usually heat our pool once in early June. We have a dark cover and it usually helps keep it steady about 80 degrees all summer. We rarely heat it more then once unless we are having a party. Never heat it is winter. Though we have neighbors who heat all year. We can heat the spa separately. It is funny to see the girls jump in the freezing pool and then hop into the hot spa.
I would say in our city the value of a pool depends on the property. In my area with big lots a pool I think can be good. I have seen some properties where the pool takes up the entire backyard and in that case I would think it would decrease the value.
In our property management company we don’t want properties with pools.
Dstark another use for an empty pool. Skateboard park for the neighborhood kids. When my husband was growing up that was a pasttime of his- looking for empty pools in empty houses.</p>
<p>The ones that I’ve seen for retrofitting an irregularly-shaped pool cover a rectangular area larger than the pool itself. The cover rolls up into a wood container that looks like a long bench at one end of the pool. Not as aesthetically pleasing as a coverless pool in all its sparkling glory, but much lovelier than a pool full of leaves and worms. Infinitely preferable to a pool with a drowned rat floating in the skimmer.</p>
<p>Very popular here in Fla. though they’re the first thing to go in a hurricane (which I don’t think you’ll have to worry about much in Cali LOL).</p>