Buying a house with a pool

[demi]

As some of you know I moved to France last year & am still looking for a house to buy.

One has come up that fulfills many of my criteria & I am going to see it in a couple of days.

But, it has a pool! 8x4M. I love to swim but find 8M a pretty short pool for swimming. ( I usually do 1K of front crawl in a 25M pool) a couple of times a week. So I regard an 8x4 as a 'play' pool.

I feel I may be paying for something I don't really want even thought the grandchildren would love it!

The other thing that worries me (I have no knowledge of owning a pool) is what happens when there is a hoepipe ban & one can't top up the pool? That is a situation that I can see happening more & more often.

I'd be interested in your thoughts on this.

The house is modern, built in 2015 & I wonder how much is added for a pool?

[Bayleaf]

From what I've seen of our clients who have pools - admittedly only holiday homes, whether that makes any difference - is that they're a constant worry, drain on ressources, and high maintenance. Regardless of size and type!

[curtis]

I am sure there will be those that say properly set up there is little to do with a pool. Automatic checking and dosing etc.
We lived in a house with a large pool for 20 years and it was essential for business. However, I found it hardwork at times. When we moved a pool was not on the list of wants.

[Lori]

I agree that an 8x4 pool is just too small. We had an 11x5 in the Vaucluse and it was perfect for 50 to 75 laps each day.

Last Summer, due to severe water restrictions in the Vaucluse, a huge number of people had to shut down their pools for a long period of time as they could not legally top them up. It was a major problem. Some towns actually went dry - as in no drinking water available.

We are now in the Dordogne and have gotten a permit to build a pool at the new house. I do agree that it is a serious decision to make as it most definitely is costly to maintain.

As to how much value an in ground pool will add to the price of a house. For me, there are far too many variables to give a simple answer. There are ALL kinds of pools out there. When we were searching for a house, we saw several with poorly installed, poorly maintained or just plain cheap liner type pools. Many were old and looked it. We saw at least one house with a pool that we hated - however, we loved the house. But, we would have had to have the existing pool removed and put in a proper one. That would have cost a fortune, so the house was a no.

[hughnique]

I have an above ground think it is 9x4x1.2 deep, really is becoming a pain in the rs, last year never went in it at all, couldn't get it clean, the bottom crudge refuses all brushing attempts to clean it of. I hopefully will be giving it one more chance, this season, but they do want regular attention and all the chemicals are not cheap.

[DaveW]

The jury’s out for me on this one. I have a kidney shaped pool 10*5 approximately, which is nice to sit around and have a swim and I get use of it from June through September. It’s a chlorine based system, which I’ve had years of practice on and find it easy to keep within limits. My biggest issue used to be cleaning it as I got older but I use a robot now and it saves my back. The biggest maintenance cost I had was having the pool resurfaced, that costs. At the moment I’m about to put my house on the market and the people I had valuing the house put a fairly high premium on the pool, we’ll see how true that is.

It really is pretty subjective, It’s a nice to have as long as you can keep on top of it. I won’t be bothered with my next place. My daughter has a 25*5 pool with automatic everything and an ultraviolet system to keep it clean plus a pool guy. Now that costs a fortune but the pool is fantastic and where I tend to go for a swim these days

[Mangetout]

My sister has an inground pool and over the years she has spent a fortune on maintenance and upgrading equipment. . I've got an above ground pool which is great to dip in when it's hot but we never spend money on upgrades other than a few hundred euros to replace the pump last year. 0 With summers getting hotter, water restrictions are inevitable. I won't bother with one next time I move.

[Antonia]

I'm seriously thinking of not opening mine up this summer. In the past few years I've had it re-tiled, new pump, new controller, and this year I should really change the sand. Last year's water restrictions meant it couldn't be topped up from the middle of July and on August 1st I had to close it down. So, for the hottest part of the year all I had was a smelly pond.
What I did notice was the reduction of my electricity bill. I reckon from 1st August onwards I saved around 200 euros not having the pump running. Add to that the chemicals I didn't have to buy and it's a tidy sum.
I actually think that, certainly round our way, selling a house with a pool is going to become a disadvantage very soon.

[DaveW]

We didn’t have a ban on pools, though some restrictions on hose pipes during the day. The water infrastructure was put in place years ago to cope with the summer influx of tourists. Will it be enough - who knows.

[Blaze]

The climate is different 'op 'ere in the frozen north, summers are not too hot, just long and warm. In our area we're not allowed in-ground pools because of the PPRSM (risk of submersion by the sea). En plus, last summer our department, particularly in the north, was very short of water and in future years, the situation isn't likely to get any better.

If we had long, hot, dry summers like you do further south, it could be a consideration. But in a more temperate climate, it isn't worth it. We've got 3 good "council" pools in striking distance (one about 15 minutes away) and then there's the sea next door for a cooler dip (or wetsuit dip for me )