How did you pay for your pool?

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We managed to build ours from savings but I would recommend a HELOC. We paid cash for everything except the shell, liner equipment. We managed to get a deal on everything by paying in cash. Even the cement truck gave us a fantastic deal. Its worth looking into because every dollar you save is another dollar you can spend on upgrades. I thinks its pretty rare to come in under budget, most of us just end up with more/ better stuff...
 
Good topic. We are currently weighing our options for pool financing as well. Anybody go the cash-out refinance route? We were considering this put the closing fees came back ridiculously high. That, and our current mortgage interest rate is in the low 3's and it doesn't make much sense to refinance everything in the low 5's. Did a quick look at the Lightstream website and it looks like their best rate on $75k for 60mos is 7.25% which is not very attractive. We really don't want to go the cash route as I would rather keep that money where it is and earning better than prime. Guess maybe a HELOC is the way to go, that or a bunch of scratch of lottery tickets.
 
30 year fixed rate mortgage. ;)

In all seriousness, the pool and landscaping at our new house cost the former owners nearly $40,000 to install in 2015 (they left all the paperwork), but pools generally do not affect resale value. So it is not as cut and dry as saying our house would have sold for $40k less without the pool or is actually worth $40k more than what we paid. Be that as it may, after growing up with a pool and having one at our old house for 10 years, it was one of my must-haves if we were to move (which we obviously did).
 
We couldn't do a home equity because we just bought our house last year so not enough equity yet. We had some cash stashed away from our previous home sale designated for the pool, but that only covered a small portion - we still needed a loan to cover the rest.

We ended up getting a special home improvement loan through LendKey. Maximum loan is 50K - with excellent credit the rate is 6.49% but drops to 6.24% if you authorize automatic payments. Couldn't find any other "unsecured" loan with that low of a rate. The "special" part of the loan is it requires your contractor to register (if not already) with LendKey and after they complete projects that require payment, the contractor requests the payment from LendKey and then LendKey sends you an email for you to release the payments. I believe they have several different terms but the up to 50K at 6.49% is for a 10 year term.

LendKey works through a credit union which you have to join as part of the process but it's free. And LendKey customer service has been awesome! We did this through a loan broker and he left a little to be desired, so I'd recommend going directly to LendKey if this is a loan that might work for you.

As others have said, if you have enough equity in your home, that'll generally get you the best rates - but if not, and you need to get an unsecured loan, this beats anything else I could find and I did a lot of digging.

Best of luck!
 
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NOTE: I do NOT work at Frost, but love the place - their customer service, speed, etc is off the charts.

If you're in Texas, I would recommend Frost. You can get a 15yr home equity loan for the amount of your improvement. They use the county market value and add 75% of the bid for determining max loan amount. You can finance a total of up to 90% of that total value. 5.49% for 15 years, or 5.24% if you have an account there and enroll in auto-pay. This seems to be a pretty competitive rate unless you track down a 5-7 year loan.

Example: $50k pool bid

$200k tax valuation
+37.5k for pool (50k*.75)
=237.5k total value
$213,750 max loan amount (between first mortgage and this loan, $237,500*.90)

Downside: cannot adjust loan amount if you run into rock, make changes, etc. Anything after signing, you're responsible for. If pricing goes down (yeah, right), you have extra $$.
 
As we near retirement, I absolutely hate the idea of giving banks any of our hard earned money. We have always been hardcore savers. If we can't afford something we don't buy it...simple as that. Our house, cars, pool and kitchen renos were all paid for with cash. The only time a bank is involved in our finances is when they lend us free money via the credit cards, which we pay off in full each month. Can't argue with free cash-back $$ on purchases!
 

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I went with Viking Financial, 12 yr 6.49% unsecured loan and covering the rest out of pocket. Your PB will have to be registered with them if not already which was very easy according to my Pb. The max amount is 65k they lend on an unsecured loan, I did try Lyon financial, but their rates were really high.
 
Thank you all for input. HELOC is going to be the only option, and so far, even looking at all of the local credit unions, Bank of America has come in the most competitive with 4.93% fixed rate, 10 year draw, 20 year repayment, and no closing costs or fees. I dont know if this is standard or because we already use them, but i still have a few more places to call.

PS. Holy poop did I make a mistake using Lending Tree. And by mistake, I had to basically silence my phone for the past week since i would get anywhere between 5 and 10 phone calls per day.

I am envious of those who paid cash. Yes this is an option for us, but our little one is a little fish and we cannot wait another 5 years to save for it. I have already made a spreadsheet of the past year and a half of our expenses and how much cash is left at the end of the month.
 
tampatommy said:
Thank you all for input. HELOC is going to be the only option, and so far, even looking at all of the local credit unions, Bank of America has come in the most competitive with 4.93% fixed rate, 10 year draw, 20 year repayment, and no closing costs or fees. I dont know if this is standard or because we already use them, but i still have a few more places to call.

PS. Holy poop did I make a mistake using Lending Tree. And by mistake, I had to basically silence my phone for the past week since i would get anywhere between 5 and 10 phone calls per day.

I am envious of those who paid cash. Yes this is an option for us, but our little one is a little fish and we cannot wait another 5 years to save for it. I have already made a spreadsheet of the past year and a half of our expenses and how much cash is left at the end of the month.
Click to expand...

Sounds like you can get a great deal on your HELOC. Paying with cash is great if you can do that but borrowing responsibly and being a good steward of your finances is equally ok. Will you pay some more in interest that you would otherwise forgo with cash? Sure. But responsible lending and borrowing, as well as repayment, is all part of the economic engine that employs people and keeps the economy going. So, if it makes you feel better, you are helping to keep someone employed with your borrowed pool dollars ;)
 
Im payimg cash for all on a diy build. Used last years return money around 10k to buy kit and equip and will pay material and my guys as we go. Have retaining wall and paver patio to do regardless of pool but should be 20k or so when done and I'd think it would cost 40k plus to a PB but alot of work on my end. Pools don't rly add value IMO and i cringe when i see ppl spending close to 6 figures on a pool i didnt want to spend what i have so far but its wifes dream and i have small kids who are fish so it's already underway lol
 
Yea this is our forever home (that we stole compared to other homes in the neighborhood). Have about $200k in equity and only been in the house about 4 years. The pool is for us, not to add value. We have an in ground pool now but its so small i could run and jump across it and its not going to cut it for a child and family to hang out in and relax. Well worth the expense for a luxurious escape. Will report back in the next few weeks after we get a little more info. All in all i dont think we will exceed 30k borrowed for the pool
 
Paid half cash and half on 0% credit cards. As they come due we either pay them off or transfer the balance. Right now we have 47k left to pay on 3 cards. O% interest ends 1/19, 3/19, 7/19. We are making monthly payment on all so we don't have a huge bill
 

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