For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

[Stu]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

We're thinking about putting a pool in next spring. I'd appreciate any thoughts the pool owners have on designing it. Things like Vinyl vs Gunite, size of the pool, deep end vs no deep end, etc.

[mgoblue]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

We're thinking about putting a pool in next spring. I'd appreciate any thoughts the pool owners have on designing it. Things like Vinyl vs Gunite, size of the pool, deep end vs no deep end, etc.

Is this your forever home? Pools are expensive, and you don't usually get value when selling a home after adding a pool.

We have a house with a older pool and in the future we'd rather buy a house with a community pool managed by HOA, but that's just us. We'd rather someone else maintain a great pool vs. us having to find time to do it.

[Scott]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

Well we just found out we can put a pool in, even though we have one in our HOA. This will be our forever home, so my wife has already decided she wants one.

[Stu]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

Is this your forever home? Pools are expensive, and you don't usually get value when selling a home after adding a pool.

We have a house with a older pool and in the future we'd rather buy a house with a community pool managed by HOA, but that's just us. We'd rather someone else maintain a great pool vs. us having to find time to do it.

Yes, it's definitely our forever home. It's in a great neighborhood, great town, good schools, etc. I'm not worried about resale value when it comes to the pool. We don't really have communities with HOA's and pools where I live. Other than apartment complexes and maybe condos or over 55.

[mgoblue]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

Yes, it's definitely our forever home. It's in a great neighborhood, great town, good schools, etc. I'm not worried about resale value when it comes to the pool. We don't really have communities with HOA's and pools where I live. Other than apartment complexes and maybe condos or over 55.

Great then! I don't know much about new pools, so won't be any help. Makes sense for you to add a pool then.

This area a lot of communities have pools (being Phoenix probably), and some even have more amentities. Obviously you pay for that, but it's not too bad.

[aukevin]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

Well we just found out we can put a pool in, even though we have one in our HOA. This will be our forever home, so my wife has already decided she wants one.

Pay a little extra and get a salt system. Makes the maintenance so much easier.

[Herky]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

Argh! Found out the central air unit has a massive freon leak and it's not work fixing. We had it charged last summer but knew it was an older unit but didn't know the leak was that bad.

Looks like in the spring we will need it replaced. The joys of home ownership! (I hate that term but it's relevant here)

[bvb24]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

Pay a little extra and get a salt system. Makes the maintenance so much easier.

We are looking at putting in a pool next year but every pool installer tells me to avoid salt water systems. I just get horror stories from them. Does anyone here have one? I know you use less chemicals and have less monthly cost but what are the other major differences?

[aukevin]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

We are looking at putting in a pool next year but every pool installer tells me to avoid salt water systems. I just get horror stories from them. Does anyone here have one? I know you use less chemicals and have less monthly cost but what are the other major differences?

It could be different up north where you are, but where I am the pool installers recommend them. Less chemicals and water testing = more time in the pool for me. That's the reason I have it.

[mgoblue]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

It could be different up north where you are, but where I am the pool installers recommend them. Less chemicals and water testing = more time in the pool for me. That's the reason I have it.

I'd probably rather a new salt water one....Not a huge fan of the chlorine battle personally...I've figured it out, but with a older pool it hasn't been fun.

[nemesis04]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

I'd probably rather a new salt water one....Not a huge fan of the chlorine battle personally...I've figured it out, but with a older pool it hasn't been fun.

My parents have had their pool for 29 years and they only use Baquacil. It's downside is that is expensive but they are still on their original liner. Every season when I help open the pool from the winter it looks swim ready.

[jeremym480]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

We're thinking about putting a pool in next spring. I'd appreciate any thoughts the pool owners have on designing it. Things like Vinyl vs Gunite, size of the pool, deep end vs no deep end, etc.

We just had our pool installed in January. We went with Gunite and our deep end is around 6 ft deep. Vinyl vs Gunite is more of a personal preference/cost thing, so it's really up to you.

As far as the depth and shape it really depends what you want to use the pool for. We went with a free form shape because our pool is mainly just for lounging. If you want to be more active and do things like have a diving board or have enough room for volleyball or something like that, then you would want a much deeper, rectangular pool.

We are looking at putting in a pool next year but every pool installer tells me to avoid salt water systems. I just get horror stories from them. Does anyone here have one? I know you use less chemicals and have less monthly cost but what are the other major differences?

The main issue with salt is that it causes corrosion. Before we put our pool in we looked at buying houses that already had a pool. One of them had a wrought iron fence that was badly rusted, so that kind of pushed us away from salt since we have a wrought iron fence around our back patio. Also, if you're going with any stone around your pool, then it can eat it away and cause it to crumble. If you don't have a fence around your pool or your planning on brick, then I don't think salt would be a bad option.

We went with an UV + Ozone for our sanitation system. It does require some chlorine, but it's probably about 80-90% less chlorine than a typical chlorine pool. We really like it because it's doesn't require a lot of chemicals and is super easy to maintain. I've never had a pool before this so I was intimidated by keeping all of the levels and everything in check. However, with this system it's way easier than I thought it would be. We've had the pool for seven months now and all I have to do is add in 3-4 chlorine pucks per week and about one five pound bag of Alkalinity about once a month. The downside to it is you have to replace the UV light after around 9000 hours of usage and they cost 800 or 900 dollars if I recall correctly. Theoretically, the money that you save on chemicals should pay for the light, but that remains to be seen.

Pics:

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Our pool may have already paid for itself. Because the incline that drains water off the pool helped keep the flood water out of our house. I don't know if we would have gotten water in our house necessarily. However, it would have definitely gotten to the back patio.

[DJ]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

Jeremy, that stone around your pool (nearest to the water) is very similar to what we have. Looks great!

We had the fortune of buying our house that came with a relatively new pool (2 years) installed. I honestly don't know if we'd purchase one on our own. They are both a lot of work and a lot of fun. Living in Arizona makes it a little easier to say yes, because you can realistically use the pool for a majority of the year, as opposed to just summer months in other states.

[WazzuRC]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

My wife and I are finally ready to start hunting for our first house!!

What are some underrated/low key things we should look for outside of the standard home layout?

[DJ]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

My wife and I are finally ready to start hunting for our first house!!

What are some underrated/low key things we should look for outside of the standard home layout?

Congrats!

After going through a home purchase a couple of times, here are items that I like to ask about or look into:

-Condition of the water heater, furnace/AC and plumbing (including the sewer line). You don't want to get stuck having to replace these shortly after purchasing the home, because they're all costly. If the seller is motivated, you can typically negotiate either a replacement or at the very least repairs to the unit(s).

-If you're looking at a house with a basement, ask about any known history of flooding and/or standing water.

-Foundation. This has to be solid. It's another expense and fixing the foundation can also lead to uncovering other issues that'll set you back.

-Windows and doors. Again, if they're old and not energy-efficient (they let heat in/escape easily), they'll wind up costing you on your monthly bill, and will also be another high-dollar replacement down the road.

The cosmetic stuff is really up to you in terms of what you like/don't like and what you think you may want to DIY or pay someone to remodel.

Our first house was a total DIY and quite frankly, it wound up overwhelming us and we didn't get to half of the projects we thought we would. Thankfully for us the housing market rebounded when we were ready to sell so we still made good profit on the home.

Our latest home was completely remodeled by the previous owner about 1-2 years before we purchased the home, and I'd say 95% of what they did to the home fit our preferred design look, so we really haven't had to touch much since moving in.

Buying a home is stressful, but it's also a lot of fun. Good luck!