Community pool vs Own pool - from those with experience, is having your own pool worth it?

[WorldKlas]

I live in a condo and we all share the pool. I enjoy not having to maintain a pool and I am a "people watcher" so it can be fun to grab a chaise and a book and hang at the pool. However, the downside of a shared pool -- be it our condo or a community pool -- are that there will always be other people who have different ideas than your own about how to use the pool. Great example is the recent McKinney bruhaha where the Mom sponsored an end-of-school pool party at teh HOA pool when there is clearly a rule about number of guests. I see "pool rule" violations daily including: smoking at the pool, people dragging pool furniture into the shallow end, people taking wine bottles (glass) to the spa at night, people leaving litter at the pool instead of throwing items away when they leave; people "reserving" favorite spots by parking their stuff on pool furniture and then taking off for hours just to return later on. I am pretty passive about this stuff and if I have my little space I am good, but if I had kids who wanted to swim, I would find this stuff very annoying.

[Tomorrow-by-the-sea]

Originally Posted by EDS_

Regarding Tomorrow-by-the-sea Siggy 20's comments................


Did you both by chance have Polaris, "suction side" vacs?

I'm on my 5th pool as an adult. Polaris Venturi/pressure side vacs are the best thing ever IMO.

Just looked through some paperwork the previous homeowners left... It was a Polaris 280.

It seemed like every other day there was a small part that had fallen off it and was lying at the bottom of the pool. Other times, the cleaner would be tipped over on its side and not moving. That was 5 years ago. Perhaps Polaris' cleaners have improved.

After moving into the house and dealing with the Polaris for two months, I replaced it with a Kreepy Krauly and have been quite happy with it. It has just a few parts and the hose is plugged into one of the skimmers. The only negative is that the hose segments tend to wear over time--more quickly than I think they should. If a part of the hose that is usually underwater gets a small crack, the hose still seems to function OK, but if it's a segment of hose that tends to be at the pool surface, then the pressure isn't there and the cleaner doesn't work. So I have to replace the hose segments every so often. You can get these anywhere, but I find they're priced more reasonably when you buy them by the dozen on EBay.

[Huckleberry3911948]

property managers here tell owns to fill in their pools bek of the high number of law suits involving swimming pools.
i think having my own pool is wonderful but the liability risk here is high.

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by Tomorrow-by-the-sea

Just looked through some paperwork the previous homeowners left... It was a Polaris 280.

It seemed like every other day there was a small part that had fallen off it and was lying at the bottom of the pool. Other times, the cleaner would be tipped over on its side and not moving. That was 5 years ago. Perhaps Polaris' cleaners have improved.

After moving into the house and dealing with the Polaris for two months, I replaced it with a Kreepy Krauly and have been quite happy with it. It has just a few parts and the hose is plugged into one of the skimmers. The only negative is that the hose segments tend to wear over time--more quickly than I think they should. If a part of the hose that is usually underwater gets a small crack, the hose still seems to function OK, but if it's a segment of hose that tends to be at the pool surface, then the pressure isn't there and the cleaner doesn't work. So I have to replace the hose segments every so often. You can get these anywhere, but I find they're priced more reasonably when you buy them by the dozen on EBay.

Correction: above I mentioned a vacuum side Polaris.......I meant the Polaris that works of the pressure side but without a booster-pump. Those things really were garbage.

It's odd how things work out sometimes. I've had Polaris 280s twice. I have one right now. They are really tricky to set up but I've had great luck with 280s. We have 9 large hardwood trees, it seems like every falling leaf ends up in the pool..........I haven't found anything that works better than a 280 with an extra-large leaf bag for that kind of thing.

Anyhow it's great you found something that works for you.

[CREW747]

Owning your own pool wins for me hands down,especially living in the DFW area.We use our pool from March-October.If we did not get that much use out of it and used it only for summer months,I would probably still choose owning my own....but perhaps would be more hesitant about the costs involved.Living here in the DFW area,I think it is really worth it....

I would suggest not doing a huge pool and skipping the super fancy features.That kept build cost down for us as well as operating costs.We do not have a huge pool and I do not regret keeping it on the smaller side at all.It serves the purpose and can comfortably accomodate about 10-15 people....

[MckinneyOwnr]

We bought our current home partially because it had a pool. Before that, we had to use the pool at the country club.

With toddlers/small children, having to pack up everything in the car (stroller, floatation device, pool toys, snacks, drinks), load the baby/kids into car seats, and then drive to the pool... We'd spend an hour just getting to and from the pool, only to be there for about an hour. Then, we'd have to deal with loads of other screaming kids too.

So, we bought a home with a pool. All we have to do is walk outside and get in, which makes everything so much simpler.

As far as cost goes, we pay $180 a month for cleaning and chemical upkeep. I'm going to scale that back soon, we bought a robotic cleaner that does a fantastic job of cleaning, and just hire guys to check and maintain the chemicals once a week, which will cut the bill in half. With all this rain, I haven't had to top off the pool once this year, so there's no real added cost there. Our pool pump runs about 8 hours a day now, from what I can tell it adds about $25 to the monthly electric bill.

We just had a family reunion and we hosted here. Having a pool kept all the kids entertained and most importantly, kept them outside where they couldn't do any damage!

[chenven]

Originally Posted by MckinneyOwnr

We bought our current home partially because it had a pool. Before that, we had to use the pool at the country club.

With toddlers/small children, having to pack up everything in the car (stroller, floatation device, pool toys, snacks, drinks), load the baby/kids into car seats, and then drive to the pool... We'd spend an hour just getting to and from the pool, only to be there for about an hour. Then, we'd have to deal with loads of other screaming kids too.

So, we bought a home with a pool. All we have to do is walk outside and get in, which makes everything so much simpler.

This

Also - ever tried to get the kids to leave a pool and head back home ? Not having that argument all the time should add years to your life

MckinneyOwnr - If u don't mind, what Robotic cleaner do you use ?

[MckinneyOwnr]

Originally Posted by chenven

This

Also - ever tried to get the kids to leave a pool and head back home ? Not having that argument all the time should add years to your life

MckinneyOwnr - If u don't mind, what Robotic cleaner do you use ?

LOL

We have the Dolphin Nautilus. The only bad thing I can say about it is that if you have a pool bottom that is white, it will leave black marks around the edges of things when the black plastic housing rubs against the walls. You can scrub them off with a brush, so it's not a big deal, but other people might think that's a deal breaker.

If your pool was a dark blue color, or pebble tec type finish, you wouldn't have anything to worry about.

[1orlando]

Originally Posted by pinipig523

Looking at a subdivision with a very nice community pool... we were initially thinking we would need our own pool but looking at it on paper - there's so many costs included.

Costs of maintaining the pool, water costs, cleaning costs - not to mention how much it will cost to install a pool... it just keeps adding up.

I mean, it's more private to use my own pool but the community pool is nice and bigger than I could make on my own. My only issue is that "will I use it"?

For those that have had the options of both - did you guys regret having your own pool or not?

Thanks!

I have never owned a pool myself but my brother does. Of course my brother went the cheap route and bought one of those above the ground pools at Walmart and has it in his backyard and has had it for several years and he seems to enjoy it a lot. Both him and his wife use it every weekend and they are joined usually by their daughters and theirs significant others as well as their granddaughter. He doesn't seem to have much trouble maintaining it. It is up to you, you should consider how much you are going to use it vs how much you will spend on it and decide weather it is worth the investment or not good luck to you.