Is a Swimming Pool a Money Pit?
“I have barbecues, swim in the pool with my babies. I’m a man of simple pleasures.” — Anthony Anderson
Jeanine and I equate having a swimming pool with the good life. I’m not sure where this idea first took root for me. I don’t even like to swim. But swimming pools are rarely about splashing around in the deep end.
Swimming pools are about lounging. Or more precisely, they give you an excuse to lounge. It’s hard for me to sit still, but give me a comfy chaise, umbrella, tube of sun block (45+ SPF), and 3 back issues of The New Yorker magazine and I can be set for hours.
I perfected the technique the year we got stuck with the fixer in Palm Springs. After we were done fixing it up, there wasn’t much else to do but go out there and lounge every weekend waiting for the “flip” part. And lounge we did.
But why do you need a second home to do this? This is when we added “house with a pool” to our list of goals.
Steve Rushin wrote a clever essay last week in TIME magazine call Off the Deep End and concludes, “This year I finally got a pool. But joining the leisure class has its drawback.”
He writes, “Of course, there are more pools in the U.S.–an estimated 7.4 million–than wealthy celebrities. Florida alone has 1.1 million swimming pools, and they can’t all be at Mar-a-Lago. (Or can they?)”
“So I persuaded myself that pools weren’t only for cartoon billionaires like Donald Trump or the Monopoly mascot. And then the contractor installing my pool introduced himself as–this is not a joke–Joe Rich.”
He continues, “And just because millions have one doesn’t mean it’s not an extravagance. Watching a tanker pump 30,000 gal. of water into an empty pool at a cost of $1,200 gives new resonance to the phrase ‘pouring money down a hole.’ Yes, that’s less than a 10th of the water that the Neptune Pool at Hearst Castle holds, and we opted for vinyl and stamped concrete instead of Hearst’s glass tile infused with gold and 17th century Italian bas-reliefs.”
“Still, throw in a fence, a heater, a motorized cover and a filter pump that runs 24/7, and I’ve spent tens of thousands of dollars to surround myself with water, no different from the guy who buys a yacht and names it Liquid Assets. Is that me? I worry that it might be. Look into a swimming pool, and you’ll see your reflection.”
On MSN Money, Melinda Fulmer interviewed the owner of a pool and spa service in CA in Is It a Pool or a Money Pit?
“Every month, there’s a bill,” says Les Greenfield, “There’s always a (financial) reminder that it’s out there.”
Fulmer continues, “Certainly, buying a house with a pool is typically less expensive than installing one yourself, real-estate agents say, noting that most people who add a pool to their property don’t recoup the full $25,000 to $50,000 they’ve invested.”
“But simply maintaining a pool can be costly as well, pool experts say. If you hire a pool service to put in chemicals and vacuum your pool, you could spend between $1,500 and $2,000 a year in maintenance, water and regular repairs, Greenfield says. And that’s for an unheated pool.”
The heated kind in a cooler climate can add another $500 per season! Here’s the clincher for us. You wouldn’t think that you’d have to heat a pool in Newport Beach, but you do. It’s actually quite cool here… except for August / September. The rest of the year, the pool would be sucking up energy in order for us to actually get in and frolic as the sun goes down.
Then there’s the topic of insurance. Laura Koss-Feder at Newsday discusses the liability exposure in an article called, Swimming Pools: An Asset or Liability?
“Buyers and sellers must address insurance issues as well. Although home pool owners are not required to take out insurance, it is prudent to buy an excess liability policy in addition to one’s regular homeowners’ insurance, says Long Beach independent insurance agent Deni Miller. He recommends policies of at least $1 million, which would cost an average of $250 a year.”
Fulmer chimes in, “Owning a pool can also bump up the cost of your homeowners insurance. Given the risk of slip-and-fall accidents and drowning — and the lawsuits that accompany them — most insurers recommend that pool owners get a $1 million umbrella liability policy, as well as install a pool fence, warning signs and even a cover. Indeed, some municipalities require that you either build a pool fence if you have children or place alarms on covers and doors leading to the pool.
We’ve already decided that we would never put in a pool, but we would consider selling and buying a house with a pool. MSN Money lists Five Things to Consider when Buying a House with a Pool. Click over for the expanded commentary.
1. How old is the pool?
2. How much time are you willing to spend on a pool?
3. Can you afford it?
4. How much will you use it?
5. How many other pools are in your area?
Is the pool worth the price? Pool people… you tell me. Comments welcomed below.
I wrote about this recently. Lots of pool owners wrote in and left comments about their positive and negative experiences. Personally, I would never want the hassle or costs of owning a pool.
Being in the UK I absolutely cannot imagine putting in a pool over here – so far this summer we have had about 2 weeks of sun. Unless they are indoor and heated, pools are reckoned to depress the value of your home.
On the other hand, in a somewhat desert region (southern Spain, Arizona(?), etc) I reckon they are almost a necessity. Like air conditioning, I’d add it to the cost of living there.
In my neck of the woods, it doesn’t make sense to have a pool. All the work of keeping it clean, chemically balanced, safe & secure, etc are not enough for us to consider one for a moment.
We instead plunk the kids in the car and go to the city pool for free. Plus- free swimming lessons to fill those dog days of summer. And they have a big sprinkler for our little ones too small to swim yet.
We’ve also told the kids that if gas gets too pricy this year, they will be walking to swimmming lessons. My mom lives at the half way mark between home and swimming. We will be stocking her freezer with popsicles as the need for a mid walk cool down seems a given.
Swimming pool require lot of money in order to install and maintain and a lot of water wastage.