Hi and welcome to the club.....
We just installed an above ground pool and I walked the ground you are now walking.
1. We went with The Great Escape for our pool purchase.
They offer 0% interest financing for 1-5 years. We NEVER borrow money to pay for toys, but free money is a no brainier. AND, if you can pay without financing you'll save even more.....about $500-$600 of the best price you are able to negotiate
Great Escape beat EVERY other store by A LOT. They are the largest seller of above ground pools in the nation, so they have buying power.
2. We were going to get a 24' also...we had the yard for a bigger pool and decided to go with a 27'. It's huge and we are so glad we did go bigger....the price difference was about $200. You're getting a lot more pool for just a little more money. I think it added $6 to our payment.
3. We went with the brand, Aqua Leader. It is an Elegance model (all resin). It's near the top of the line of the pools they carry. The one pool that is supposedly better didn't appeal to us visually.
In all, we got the pool, the highest grade accessory package, an upgraded 2 speed pump and installation and materials for $4400 out the door. It's easy to spend someone else's money but get what you want....no matter what, a pool is a discretionary, luxury item so get what you want. Try not to get caught up in saving a few bucks only to regret it over the next 10-15 years you own the pool. Literally, we started out looking at a 24' middle of road pool.....we ended up with a 27' full resin, almost top of line pool and our monthly payment with 0% interest was not a whole lot more per month than what it would have been with the smaller, middle grade pool package.