Purchasing a house with a pool comes with plenty of advantages—like keeping you cool during the summer season and hosting outdoor events like birthday parties. However, such luxury also comes with its share of setbacks.

A backyard swimming pool requires regular maintenance and is associated with different safety concerns, especially if you have young children. Here are the top reasons to avoid purchasing a house with a pool.

1. Pools Need Constant Maintenance

Owning a pool requires that you keep up with regular maintenance. Ensuring that your swimming pool water is clear requires dedicated upkeep. This involves using proper chemicals to clean your pool surface and balance the water pH. 

If you have an imbalanced pH level, you’re likely to have growth of bacteria and algae, which can cause health complications for anyone using your pool.

Many homeowners don’t have the expertise to clean their pool effectively or are too busy to handle the task themselves. If you’re such an individual, the best option is to seek the help of a pool maintenance company. 

These professionals may need to clean your pool at least twice a week for the best results, which is costly, especially if the experts offer a fixed hourly charge.

2. Your Energy Bills With Be Higher

If you’re planning to purchase a house with a swimming pool, expect to incur a high electricity cost. On average, homeowners spend about $300 a year on electricity costs to operate their pool pump. Your pump’s function is to control your pool’s filtration system, which helps keep it in a usable state.

If your pool is heated, you’ll spend even more because the overall cost of running a pool heater averages $100 to $600 a month. Besides your electricity bill, expect your water bill to increase as you fill your pool to maintain the required water level.

Some states even have laws on the amount of water that should pass your filter at a specific time. While these laws are designed to guarantee your safety, they can significantly affect your power bill.

Remember that your pool water level may be significantly lower after a hot day due to evaporation. While this may seem harmless, the water that’s lost from your pool may lead to a higher electricity cost from topping up your swimming pool.

3. Your Property Taxes Will Be Higher

If you buy a home with a swimming pool, it’s considered an addition to your home, and it will increase the amount you can pay in property taxes. However, this will depend on the size of the pool and the type of market that you are in.

You should also know that it’s difficult to write off a swimming pool on your property taxes unless under specific circumstances. Don’t forget that your swimming pool is considered a leisure purchase and you have to pay taxes.

You can only benefit from a tax break if you choose to use it for health purposes and not for any other reason. In such a case, you may need to seek the help of a tax law expert to help prove your case.

4. Your Homeowners Insurance Will Be Higher

When you purchase a house with a pool, you may have to increase your liability coverage because of the rampant incidences of injuries in swimming pools. Given that insurance companies need to take more risk, you’ll have to pay a high annual premium.

For instance, if your homeowner’s insurance policy has personal property coverage, it will pay for the replacement and repair of your belongings and not your home. So, if you have an above-ground pool, your insurance company may consider it an external structure.

This means that before buying a house, you should confirm whether your limit can cover the damages to your pool. If this isn’t the case, you’ll need to increase your property limit.

5. Everyone Will Think They Can Come Over to Swim

Swimming pools are associated with fun outdoor activities. If your house has one in the backyard, your visitors know they have a place to cool off, especially during the hot season.

Additionally, pools are also designed to cater to the requirements of everyone. For houses with a swimming pool that has smaller depth, some of your visitors with young children who haven’t learned to swim can come over and practice.

If you host a get-together, nobody will want to miss an event hosted in a house with a pool. Most adults will prefer to send their kids to the pool to have enough time to socialize.

6. You Might Get Sued

Another reason why you should never buy a house with a pool is because you may end up being sued. This may happen if you buy a home and fail to inspect whether or not it meets state or federal safety regulations. If this is the case, you can be sued for injuries that result from failure to institute safety guidelines for those using your pool.

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) report indicates that drowning cases for children aged 1 to 4 years occur in home swimming pools. This happens for different reasons, including lack of supervision, the improper enclosure around the pool, and insufficient swimming skills.

Remember that if you purchase your property within a homeowner’s association jurisdiction, it will feature extra conditions for your pool, such as installing alarms. If you don’t adhere to such a regulation, you may face legal action.

7. Pools Have a Low ROI

You may think that by buying a house with a pool, you’ll boost your home’s resale value, but this isn’t the case. In many cases, the value of homes with a swimming pool may increase by up to 7%, and this is if it meets a particular criterion when you want to sell.

Some buyers even choose not to purchase a house with a swimming pool because of the expenses involved in maintaining a swimming pool.

Final Thoughts    

If you’re thinking of buying a house with a pool, be sure to consider different aspects of pool ownership before making your decision. While pool ownership comes with many advantages, like expanding your social life and improving your mental and physical health, there are plenty of downsides to owning one.