To pool or not to pool....THAT is the question

[Capvin]

Here in Florida it is great to have of pool. However, even in Florida a pool will generally not really increase the selling price of a house but it will make it easier to sell because a lot of people who live in Florida want a pool. As for maintenance if it is an older pool you can have a lot of maintenance. I just had my in ground pool built last year and it is just about maintenance free. It uses alt to make chlorine and I have a built in automatic cleaner and an automatic solar heater. I have not spent more then 30 minutes on maintenance over the last year. I do think that it would be different in the mor Northern climates and, if it were me, I would not want a pool where I needed to have the extra headache of closing a pool down and reopening depending upon the season. If you really like the house but hate the pool have that reflected in your offering price.

 

[HEChicken]

Thanks for all the replies so far - this is really helping.

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That was my first thought too, but DH says we can't empty it out because eventually it will crack and cave in due to the pressure of the ground around it. He says keeping it full will equalize it.
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Haha - we think the same! DH actually has plans to build a greenhouse over the pool, using the thermal mass of the pool to grow plants year round. I dunno. He's better at picturing these kinds of things than I am. For me it has mainly come down to, okay, so even if we do that, when we want to sell it in the future, will a potential buyer like the pool/greenhouse, or prefer it wasn't there at all.

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Yeah, if it were up to me we'd just fill it in and be done with it since I would value the land far more than the pool. Unfortunately, when they put it in, they built a huge concrete deck all the way around it, then put up a rod iron fence all the way around as well. So filling it in would involve quite a bit of work and I'm afraid would add to the expense a LOT.

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Good point, and one I didn't consider when asking the question. I am located in Kansas. We wouldn't get near the use out of it here that you would in Florida. We *might* be able to start using it in June if we have some unseasonably warm weather that month. And we *might* be able to continue to use it during an Indian summer in October. But more than likely we are talking 3-4 months.

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That is so funny that you had that idea too. That is DH's idea. I'm not sure he got around to hydroponics yet but its something he's interested in trying, so I'm sure it won't be long. Mainly, though, we're just concerned that even if WE see the potential for using the space, in the future when we go to resell, other buyers might not, and might not even look at it just because it has a pool (much the way I am myself).

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This is one I found myself just driving around the neighborhood. I tend to be pretty proactive when it comes to shopping, researching on Trulia, Zillow etc. So I find houses I'm interested in, and if DH agrees, we ask the realtor to obtain access for us to look.

Thanks for the links too Rancher - I'll go and check them out now.....