Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Pool maintenance isn't a big deal work or cost wise. We retired to SW Florida, have a nice 14X28 in-ground concrete pebbletec finished pool enclosed in a screen cage. We hire pool maintenance at a cost of $100/mo. including ALL chemicals, very typical price in this area. Cheap enough in my opinion to not bother doing it myself. Plus if you travel no worries, your pool will stay sparkling clean. You will love having a pool, we sure do!
Skip the pool. One reason is that it is better to go to the community pool and meet a few of your neighbors.
You can consider a pond or a waterfall in your landscaping. Again I would tend to stay away from a pond due to maintenance. A waterfall can be made without standing water so maintenance is not a problem. You have a four or five foot hole filled with stone. The water level is a few inches under the stone.
Although we just moved to Hawaii, we retired to Central Florida for 6 years and only looked at houses with in-ground pools. Most have a screened in "cage", which keeps our leaves and children. We did our own maintenance, probably spent less than $10 a week on chemicals, etc. Just take a water sample to Pinch A Penny for free testing every week and add what they tell you to. However, if something goes wrong it can get expensive. $300 for a new pump, for example.
We loved it and wish we could have brought it with us. But very few pools on the Big Island.
We have here in Sun City some of the best swimming pools around. I don't want to spend the $$ to maintain one and after a dust storm, they can be a pain to clean. Our HOA fee is only $24 a year and $425 ish a year rec fee. I use our facilities.
Pool maintenance isn't a big deal work or cost wise. We retired to SW Florida, have a nice 14X28 in-ground concrete pebbletec finished pool enclosed in a screen cage. We hire pool maintenance at a cost of $100/mo. including ALL chemicals, very typical price in this area. Cheap enough in my opinion to not bother doing it myself. Plus if you travel no worries, your pool will stay sparkling clean. You will love having a pool, we sure do!
$100 a month for the chemicals.
$200 a month if you want to heat the pool so that you can use it outside of the summer months.
Increased liability insurance as a pool attracts kids and other trespassers
Also, the cost of cleaning the pool as MOST people do not want to deal with it themselves.
And heaven help you if your pool starts leaking or needs major repairs over time.
I agree with Motley Crew. I pay $450 a year and have access to twelve Olympic sized swimming pools that are well maintained.
When we retired to our ranch house we had a small inground kidney shaped pool installed. It is salt generated, which means it doesn't use all the chemicals that chlorine pools require. We have a "shark" remote pool cleaner (they are called various names) which we put in and sit and have a drink while the pool gets cleaned. We are in upstate NY, so we also had a heater put in at the time. I would estimate it costs between $300-$400/year including electricity. We have one of those pool covers that supposedly an elephant could walk on and it has an opening which we add algaecide Thanksgiving and Easter. When we uncover it, we run the filter for 72 hours, take a water sample to the place we bought it (no charge) and this year we had to add 2 bags of salt and hard water reducer. Ran the Shark a couple of times, bingo, ready to get back into water aerobics.
$100 a month for the chemicals.
$200 a month if you want to heat the pool so that you can use it outside of the summer months.
Increased liability insurance as a pool attracts kids and other trespassers
Also, the cost of cleaning the pool as MOST people do not want to deal with it themselves.
And heaven help you if your pool starts leaking or needs major repairs over time.
I agree with Motley Crew. I pay $450 a year and have access to twelve Olympic sized swimming pools that are well maintained.
That's why it is a bargain to hire it done. It will cost as much for just chemicals as to hire it done, and not have to worry you are doing it correctly, or it gets cloudy, or green. As far as heating costs, the winter heating we installed an electric heat pump and heat to 90 deg. adds around $100 to my bill. Most community pools are not heated warm enough. I am more than happy to pay for the pool costs, it is one of the reasons I moved to Florida, so I could swim ALL year long! Being retired it is time to do what you want, it's your money, and you don't get a do over with life.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
