Hi from "still in the decision phase" in San Diego

[nash031]

Wife and I are in the midst of planning a large landscape remodel for our house. At the top of our list when we moved in three years ago was "What do we do with all this outdoor space?!" Well, now we're committed to making it awesome and in the planning phase. That said, we're on the fence about a pool, but reading here gives me a lot of confidence.

Anyway, it's me, my wife, two daughters (5 and 2.5yo) and our two dogs on an acre lot with about 1/2 acre in the back. We plan to be in this house until the girls are at least out of elementary school (conveniently located right down the street) so at least seven more years. We are redoing the outdoor space entirely to create an outdoor living space, possibly including a pool (and spa?). Here I am poking around reading thoughts and opinions on all of it...

I worked at a pool for three summers as a teenager, doing chemistry, maintaining pumps and filters on a much larger scale. Thanks to the great content here, I'm learning about all the different technology that's come about in the last 25+ years. None of it is hard, but it does take a little bit of time and effort.

Is now the time for a pool for us? That's our big question that only we can answer. Glad to be here!

 

[Texas Splash]

Welcome to TFP!

Pool Care Basics Archives

Your one-stop shop for all things TFP to include: ABCs of Water Chemistry, Recommended Chemicals/Levels, Test Kits, Troubleshooting, and much more!

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[HermanTX]

I remember reading some years ago about upgrades to a home and a comment was to plan to own the home at least 5 years if you add a pool to have some benefit of it and still add value to your home. While that may or may not apply to today's market, I had a colleague who said that he enjoyed 3 swims in his pool before he had to sell it to take another role in another state. He said it was the best $20k swim(s) he ever had.
So the moral of this - IMO - is if you plan to be in the house for 7 years - best to make that decision on a pool soon (due to some taking a year to complete) and having time to enjoy it.
Good Luck.

 

[nash031]

I remember reading some years ago about upgrades to a home and a comment was to plan to own the home at least 5 years if you add a pool to have some benefit of it and still add value to your home. While that may or may not apply to today's market, I had a colleague who said that he enjoyed 3 swims in his pool before he had to sell it to take another role in another state. He said it was the best $20k swim(s) he ever had.
So the moral of this - IMO - is if you plan to be in the house for 7 years - best to make that decision on a pool soon (due to some taking a year to complete) and having time to enjoy it.
Good Luck.

Thanks! We're already in the design process for the overall project, and hoping execution of the whole thing in the next year, so we'd have at least six or seven years of enjoyment. Nothing forcing us to move either, just that our girls will be out of the elementary school that's right down the street, so we'd kind of earmarked that as our time to move elsewhere for our long-term if we elected to. It's possible we never move, but we originally planned about 10 years in this house... that said, we do like it a lot! And if we get an awesome backyard paradise with that... well...

 

[TexEdmond]

We just bought a house that had a recently installed pool. Having seen the title paperwork and seeing the second mortgage our funds paid off, we got a little woozy. If we'd have bought the house without the pool, I'm certain I'd have never been able to spend that to build the pool... But we LOVE it. So not being able to accurately discuss the depreciation and everything else, I'd encourage you to look at the functional costs. You're in California. What is your water situation like? Are you going to have to hire water trucks for periodic refills? Depend on minimal rainfall for makeup volume? What's the basic water chemistry like?

Also, consider "Life is what happens while you're busy making plans." We were cruising along happy with life in Seattle and ... Poof, now we live in Oklahoma. Before that we were cruising along enjoying life in Dallas. Our previous owners were cruising along and built a pool and POOF divorce. Not saying any of that is gonna happen to you. Just saying. If it's right to build the pool, don't do it for any other reasons than 1.) You can afford to cash flow it, and 2.) You can take the hit if you have to fire sale the property. This is purely recreational, and generally isn't an "investment" or a value-add to a real estate transaction. It's a hole in the ground where you're going to throw some money. Make sure you can enjoy it properly.