Dang is this hard!!!

We looked into building an IG pool several years back and ended up buying a boat instead. Now we're thinking of selling the boat and building the IG pool again (Can't afford both). My wife and I are both torn if we should take the plunge or not. We don't feel the investment is that great on a pool in case we ever have to sell the house. Plus it seems so frivolous for a couple of conservative people. We plan on being here another 12 years and the boat wont be worth that much in 12 yrs either. We have a 6 and 12 yr old, so they will enjoy it. I guess its the money (investment) thing that is holding us back. Did everyone else go through this questioning or did ya just go for it?

Well, "I" just went for it. DH says the backyard belongs to me now as it has a hole in it filled with water. I wanted a pool for 15 years before we put one in our back yard. My DH is not much of a swimmer (although he says he'll get in the pool more when I get the heater fixed) so he's not in the pool too much.

I'm not a "boat" person so I'd choose the pool. We've been in our house a long time and so I don't know what would happen should we decide to sell the house.

Maybe you should try an AG pool -- that way you'd get a little taste of both the good and the bad of owning a pool. Did you look at some of the pool pictures posted for AG and IG pools -- there are some really neat pools that the members of this site own!

I love my IG pool and wished I'd splurged a little bit more. But, we did pay for our pool (Took all those 15 years to save up! LOL)

I'm sure you'll get other opinions -- but my vote -- POOL! : )

my pool was here when we bought our house..matter of fact, bought the property for the house (even though the pool of course was attractive to the kids, 9 and 11 at the time 3 years ago..i remember thinking of 2 things though relative to the pool. the expense and time to maintain..and when you go to resell, the affect on the value of the home. i guess if i were you, i'd really consider your geographic location. if you're in a place where pools are common, i'd say you'll get your moneys worth..if you're in a place like i am ..population 80,000 and only 250 pools..it's not a great investment towards the property..matter of fact,when i looked again at our property value report against 3 other homes, the house was devalued in the pool sense by 8,000.

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Originally Posted by s6skuzy

We looked into building an IG pool several years back and ended up buying a boat instead. Now we're thinking of selling the boat and building the IG pool again (Can't afford both).

Have you felt that you made the wrong decision when you bought the boat? Do you still use it often or are you wondering if you would be using the pool more?

My wife and I are both torn if we should take the plunge or not. We don't feel the investment is that great on a pool in case we ever have to sell the house.

You will never recoup the full cost of building the pool when you sell your home, but it should increase the value of the home. You can't say the same with a boat.

Plus it seems so frivolous for a couple of conservative people. We plan on being here another 12 years and the boat wont be worth that much in 12 yrs either. We have a 6 and 12 yr old, so they will enjoy it. I guess its the money (investment) thing that is holding us back.

Quite simply I went with the decision of the pool because I knew we would use it more often than the boat. Also the pool adds to the value of the home :) the boat just loses value.:(

Did everyone else go through this questioning or did ya just go for it?

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Both the pool and boat require upkeep. With all the great advice on this forum the pools upkeep is really pretty simple (if you keep up on it).

You know what they say about boat owners - their happiest days are the day they buy their boat, and the day they sell it! :) I'd definitely go with the pool, although I've never owned either (pool is under construction right now).

I don't know if you live right by the water, but it would seem to me that it would start to become a pain towing the boat to the water, and packing everyone in the car just to go for a boat ride. If you rent a slip by the water, then there's the added expense for that.

Good luck! I'm sure you'll be happy with whichever decision you go with!

We don't live by the water and have to tow to a lake. We don't regret buying the boat as our finances were a little different back then. The job market was worse back then for us and if we had to sell, we could. You can't sell the pool if you loose your job. We also have to have an IG due to our association rules. No AG can be placed on any lot in the sub. What we're having a hard time with is the 40k it will cost. Not sure how much value this will add to our home. We live in Michigan and we will get 4-5 months use (more than the boat which we would use maybe 10-15 times a year). To spend 40K on a pool and maybe get 5-10K more when we sell is a worse investment than the boat (not that either are good investments). Although we would get much more use and enjoyment from the pool. See our dilemma??? Argh!!!

I was under the impression that a pool usually detracted from the sellability of a house, but maybe the selling price is increased too, don't know. I would assume that would depend on the area. You definitely have the advantage of finding this site before starting construction. You have a wonderful chance to do it right, install what you want and need, and avoid all the 'extras' that do nothiing but cost $$$ and grief. I think Michigan is pretty close weather wise to my area of Northeast PA. Maybe you're a little colder. I'm amazed at how many pools there are in my area which isn't exactly Beverly Hills. I inherited mine with the house in 97 and it isn't anything to show off but it's functional and has become my 'science project' to keep me busy in my retirement years. The initial cost is high but recurring costs should be minimal. Go for the pool.
Al

If you are at all unhappy with your present location, you might do better selling the house you live in now and buying a house that already has a pool installed. With that, you basically get the pool for free. We bought a house with a pool, our first, and I definitely would not want to go through buying a new one. Luckily, the basics of this pool are solid, so it was just a matter of finding this site to make it almost carefree. :D

Our pool is a basic 16'x31' recatangle inground plaster 3' shallow to 6' deep end, one skimmer, two returns and a Polaris 180 with a sand filter. Brick coping and pebble finish concrete deck. As simple as you can get for an inground pool, but it's good to swim in. :p

If you look at the home value estimation site www.zillow.com and compare my house to an identical flooplan (and even color..) house just around the corner my house is only worth $13,000 more than my neighbor's. I just bought the place in March and I can tell you that that estimate sounds right on the money. My house sits on 5,000 sq/ft more land and that accounts for virtually all of the difference in value. The pool probably doesn't affect the resale value at all. (Unless you're showing the house in June-August and it's 90+ degrees and 90% relative humidity :D ) All the realtors I talked to said that swimming pools didn't make much difference in selling price around here. They did think it helped sell the house faster however.

Talk to any realtors you know and feel them out for your area.

A boat is a hole in the water you throw money into.

A pool is a hole in the ground you throw money into.

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Originally Posted by s6skuzy

We looked into building an IG pool several years back and ended up buying a boat instead. Now we're thinking of selling the boat and building the IG pool again (Can't afford both). My wife and I are both torn if we should take the plunge or not. We don't feel the investment is that great on a pool in case we ever have to sell the house. Plus it seems so frivolous for a couple of conservative people. We plan on being here another 12 years and the boat wont be worth that much in 12 yrs either. We have a 6 and 12 yr old, so they will enjoy it. I guess its the money (investment) thing that is holding us back. Did everyone else go through this questioning or did ya just go for it?

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Boater ---> been there, done that.
Get the pool. Trust me, which I am or was a previous boat owner.

You want to ride a boat. Rent it. ;)
Pool is forever.\

Pool all the way. Boats are a poor investment. So is the pool however if you want to use it, it's located in your backyard.

If your going to waste money do it with a pool.

You're on a pool discussion forum... what do you think they're going to say? I bet if you go to boatforum.com (or whatever) you get a different opinion. Kidding aside... I actually bought my house with the inground "swamp" included. My wife and I mucked it, I tested the equipment and lines, did some serious cleanup and repairs and we had someone drop in a liner. A couple years later I don't regret $1 of the 4 thousand plus or minus we spent on the restoration. I have three kids 5, 8, and 10 and they are in it almost every day. It is a little work but thanks to this extremely knowledgeable and helpful group it has become quite painless. I'm now looking for a boat that I can buy cheap and fix up like new. You just have to pick what you think you and you family will get the most out of. You don't get full return on either a boat or a pool. I will tell you this much, I have never decided not to get in the pool for an hour or two because I didn't feel like hooking it up and dragging it off to the lake. Good Luck!!

We built our own (couldn't afford it otherwise), and my only regret is that I wish we'd had it when our kids were younger (13 and 15 now).

One reason we built our pool hasn't been mentioned -- we want our kids' friends to come here instead of going somewhere else to hang out. Having a pool doesn't give you an instant social life, but it also gives us old folks the motivation to invite people over more often. It's instant relaxation.

I'm finding -- to my surprise -- that having a pool is like having a mini-vacation in my own yard. Sometimes when I need a break, even ten minutes, I go outside just to take a breather. I didn't expect to enjoy just sitting by the pool as much as I do.
Jo

Thanks for all the reply's. We went this weekend to check out some pools and references for the contractor we liked. They must have all be relatives. Everyone we talked to gave this guy an A+. Not one of them had a complaint. The down side was that the size pool we were looking at seemed kind of small. We originally wanted an 16x32 rectangle, but liked the kidney style better. Bad thing is, the Kidney size we liked was the 20x40. We think that's a little bigger and more expensive than we would like. We talked to the contractor this morning who will be out tomorrow with the price of an 18x35 kidney. Hope this size works along with the price. Getting more expensive and we have not even signed yet... :)

We did the same thing 5 summers ago. Sold our boat, put in a pool. I did the install my self 16X32.

I can tell you there has not been day that I have missed our boat. The best thing with a pool is you can use it any time of day for brief or long periods.

You can use it several times a day.

You can use it on marginal weather days, unlike our boat if the weather looked questionable we stayed home for the day.

Nothing like walking out your door 20' to the pool and having your refrig and food right inside, no more coolers and ice. Also having your own bathroom is pretty nice ;-)

gg

Ouch... Just received our estimate for the 18x35. Now we're at 40K without the retaining wall. Need a 4 foot at it's highest point with a total length of 110ft. The boat is not looking to bad now. This puts us out of the market it appears. :(

Need to start playing the lottery again...

If you want to build it yourself, you can get a vinyl liner steel IG pool for about $7500--in various shapes of the size you like. You'll have to get permits, get it dug, install it, etc, but you can save SERIOUS $$ by investing sweat equity instead.

Alternatively, if you have a flat (and I mean FLAT yard) you can put up a temporary pool like an 18'x42" Intex donut or donut oval and wait for them to hassle you. You then claim it's temporary and can take it down--or see how much the fine is and if it's worth it. 18' rounds sell on sale for about $300 to $500. lowestdeal.com has them instock for UNDER $300. 15' rounds are less then $200...If they make you take it down, it's not a huge investment and you learn whow hard pool maintenance is.

I can assure you that you get just as wet and just as cool!

If' you've got a fence it may be a while before anyone notices. Most HOAs try not to get too nasty about some stuff. Just threaten to sue them and they may back off. Find out if they've hassled people about kiddy pools and if not, you've got them. A kiddy pool is temporary--so's an Intex inflatable--you HAVE to take it down for the winter.

I had the same sitiation you did. I needed a retaining wall about 100 ft long and 4 ft at the highpoint. It cost about $6,000 using EP Henry Coventry stone. I could have saved half by putting the wall in myself but I was occupied installing 300 linear feet of aluminum fencing that took me a month of weekends. We put in a 16X32 kidney but I wish it was a 18X36.

I asked the kids if they wanted to sell the boat and get a pool, and they said yes. The wife and I like the boat too much to sell it so we kept it and are building the pool right now.

The wife stays home with the kids all summer so it makes sense to have a pool. We still use the boat every nice weekend or on camping trips. I wonder if we'll have less desire to take the boat out on the weekend once the pool is done? We'll see.

We use our pool/patio area CONSTANTLY! Never realized how much having a pool would turn the backyard into our own vacation getaway. I really voted against buying a house with a pool but was glad I was over-ruled by the wife :). I really enjoy coming home from work and wondering out back to sit and relax or take a swim. Also, as someone else pointed out, we didn't have a lot of people over/parties before the pool... now it's tough to go two weeks without people FIGHTING to come over.

Since it's really impossible to quantify recreational pleasure and it's worth to someone else later down the road about the only advice I would give would be not to secure recreational debt. In other words I wouldn't use my house as collateral to finance any recreational activity.

Good of luck on your decision it's not an easy one,
Jo

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Originally Posted by bradjo

Since it's really impossible to quantify recreational pleasure and it's worth to someone else later down the road about the only advice I would give would be not to secure recreational debt. In other words I wouldn't use my house as collateral to finance any recreational activity.

Good of luck on your decision it's not an easy one,
Jo

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I think that hits the nail on the head. Based on the pricing we're getting, we would have to take at least a 20k home equity loan (along with the cash from the boat). Not to offend anyone, but we decided it's to much to spend at this point for something that will not provide any financial value in the future. I know. I know the boat doesn’t either but at this point its two years old and I can still get 80% of what we paid. Can't say that about a pool in two years. Thanks for everyone’s input and good luck. We will be pursuing some lake front property instead.

Thanks again...

If you think a pool is expensive wait 'til you see the price of lake front property.

We already have checked into pricing and yes it is more expensive. The decision has never been about if we can afford it. Its about, is it worth it from all perspectives. The pool most definitely has a very high level of enjoyment. But I'm not sure we can enjoy it knowing we'll get nothing if we had to sell our house. The difference for us is that lake property is a true asset that will appreciate and be worth something if we ever have to sell.

Of course, but if you're concerned with risk the lake house is off the charts compared to a pool. It will appreciate but you're not guaranteed to find a buyer asap if you need to dump it.

We actually looked at the lake house before we decided to put in a pool. Our neighbors just sold one because their kids hated going there every weekend, and after thinking it over we decided our kids would probably get bored too since all their friends are right here in our neighborhood.

Just a thought. Good luck with your decision.

Interesting thread, especially being an ex-boater and current ig pool owner.

The thing about boats, the best TWO GOOD DAYS of boat ownership are the day you BUY it and the day you SELL it.

Hope this helps, Tony

I've owned two different boats over the last 8 years and the best days are when I'm on it. We love boating. Some of the best family memories we have are from boating trips.

Sorry it didn't work out as well for you Tony. I hope I like my pool as much as you do, but I'm still at least a week away from completion.

Sounds like you've already made your decision, but you may want to try to obtain a pared down quote, leaving some features until later. No one says you have to have a 5' deck around the pool right away, no one says you have to have a water feature right away. A number of things can be planned, plumbed and wired for the future - IF you would choose to have them in the future. Your basic pool and its finish and perhaps that retaining wall need to be decided upon at the outset, but other items can wait. Although in Michigan, maybe a heater would also go on the original construction list??:D

Not sure how Michigan taxes property, but your property taxes will probably go up having a pool and will obviously go up with the addition of lake property. I think some states may tax boats as well????

In addition to talking to real estate agents about how much your pool influences your home's value, talk to real estate appraisers!! Our agent, as nice as she was, gave us outdated info for the neighboring city where she was based. When I talked to the appraiser who actually did our appraisal and works in this area, I got different information and much different numbers!

All in all, go with the pool for the enjoyment of it, not for how much it may or may not add to your property's value. I live in a hot climate and even the most modest of homes here seems to have a pool of some type. I just thought that at least once in my lifetime, I wanted to have a pool and this seemed like the place to do it. I'm in the pool AT LEAST once a day and love it. DH is not the water baby I am, so this is a real indulgence, something we rarely do otherwise.

pools and boats are not financial investments but rather a financial drain. I have had 2 boats and just recently sold a ski boat I had for 10 years. I actually lost very little money on that boat, it cost 25K new and I sold it for 19K 10 years later, that's very unusual for a boat.

You will not get your money out of your pool either when you go to sell the house. If the new owner of the house is looking for a house with a pool then it may help make the sale but you will not get anything close to what you pay for the pool back.

So the only question is will the enjoyment of the pool or boat be worth the cost to your family ? Only you can answer that question.

I would take a pool any day over a boat, in the just the usage difference alone. Feel lucky with your pool quotes. I am looking at a base price of around 70k with my soil work I need for the city dealing with my slope and the retaining wall I need to put in to get near my slope running somewhere around 10-13k additional. With the heat in Socal I am dying without my pool which has been delayed a couple of months now with problems with the homeowners association and the city.

For myself living in Socal my family will use the pool all the time. The money pit of a is worth it, we purchased a house that had room for a pool and more.

Good luck with your decision.

so glad I found this forum!

Any my first post......

I just went through the same thing. Here is what I found -

BTW, we live in Hot Dallas, on Lake Ray Hubbard.

i have had a trailer ski boat before, and the main thing that kept me from using it was the trailer, and having to drive to the lake. So, this time, and having a "bit" more income than when I was in my 20's, I wanted a smaller cruiser. Was looking at a 24 searay at about $25K. I wanted it in a slip so all I had to do was untie and drive away - even go boating solo.

Pool was about the same for basic, or 10K+ with options. Boat cheaper? Lets see!

Boat:

Consider operating costs -

Slip - covered with electricity - $160/month
Insurance - $500/year
Bottom Job - ($1,000/ each 2 years?)
closed coolant system so no winterising needed.
Gas? $4.50/ gallon at marina X 65 gal tank @ 12-25 gph(depending on speed and what you are towing) - most marinas prohibit you from bring your own fuel
Taxes - second home - deductible interest - not very important, as I would not have much of a loan.....
Resale - Can be kind of a pain to sell a boat this size.
Any ammount of loan payment.


Pool:

31' x 18' (est) - 8.5'deep, waterfall and diving rock, beachwater entry with sun lounge and bubbler, no spa. larger deck area.

Loan - ~ 250/month
Elecctric - ~40/month
Chlorine - I will make my own!
Insurance - No change in premium.
Taxes - home improvement loan = deductible interest!
etc.......

Anyway - I think the per month cost of a pool is much less than the monthly for a boat the size I would want.....and I can use the pool anytime I want.

I agree, that the pool would not raise the property value that much, but here in the land of 105 degree summers, it would speed up the sale time. The tax office has told me they will add $10K to $15K for adding a pool.

Sooooo.....although the pool costs more up front, I think it is a better value in the long run.

just my 2 cents-- I was a pool owner on a lake with a boat, moved to a new town without lakes, no pool and no boat. I went through terrible withdrawal from the water!!!! I really miss the lake and boat, but I did put a pool in last summer and LOVE it. I want a boat next, but the pool is an everyday thing that is truly like a vacation. Even in the winter we don't cover the pool just so I can look out the window and smile!! (I am in Birmingham, AL )
A couple of my thoughts as I read all the posts are: What kind of pool did you get an estimate for? I looked at gunite, then found a liner pool was almost 1/2 the price, and now I like the liner pool better than the gunite I had before. I would get a few quotes. Also, I just had a market analysis done on my house, (just in case I do find on on a lake, or even a little pond,) and the pool increased my value at least what it all cost. I was surprised, but seems like the younger generation wants all the "treat me" perks in life now and a pool helps a lot to sell a house around here. I did borrow the $ for the pool and figure it is less than most people spend on a fitness club membership and eating out all of the time, so we just spend our $ on the pool instead of those things, and it is much more fun!!!!