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Original poster

House with swimpool. Is it pointless?

325 replies

SweetSally · 05/12/2019 20:20

Hi lovelies!
My husband and I are considering buying a house with an indoor swimpool. We don't know anything about swimpools and are not sure if it's a good investment...

The property is in the UK and the swimpool is indoors (extension added to the house) and it also has a conservatory added to it. It's large space and the swimpool is rather generous when it comes to the sheer size of it.

Please, could you share your experience? We actually want to use the swimpool and are not considering the house because of it. We do actually like the property.

OP posts:
rp30 · 06/12/2019 09:26

It's easy to go through life and not use the word swimming pool. Maybe OP has not needed it in English before.

Logically, I don't see much difference between swim and swimming. It is just our parlance that it is swimming but it could had been swim. I actually like swim pool.

I think people are reading too much into this. Imagine moving abroad and learning a new language. it is almost impossible to learn the "perfect" way to say everything. Plus English makes little sense, so just comes down to practise.

Also OP posted late, so perhaps she was tired and had a ton of tother things to sort.

Maybe someone can explain why this is so exciting to them?

mumdom · 06/12/2019 09:51

The maintenance of a swimming pool is a fixed cost - it doesn’t get cheaper just because the house is (by M25 standards) cheaper.

The pool is going to cost as much again as the mortgage (even if you don’t have a mortgage, the principle stands). On a house worth £2m or more, that’s nothing as a proportion of overall maintenance costs.

How much would a family subscription to a really swanky nearby gym cost you, by way of comparison?

FelixFelicis6 · 06/12/2019 10:05

Is this near Dudley?

Salene · 06/12/2019 10:08

Swimpool is a word and I've heard it loads of times abroad too

Just google it For goodness sake...

ferrier · 06/12/2019 10:14

Not rtft but actually swimpool is not that clear ... I though OP meant one of those pools which is very small but gives you a current to swim against. So yes, words do matter.

nokidshere · 06/12/2019 10:29

I'd buy it. There's nothing wrong with the size of the house, removing the fussiness would do a lot to make it feel much more spacious. And the swimming pool is gorgeous.

alwayscrashinginthesamecar1 · 06/12/2019 10:41

“The pool is going to cost as much again as the mortgage (even if you don’t have a mortgage, the principle stands).”

I don’t understand what this means. Pool costs aren’t the same as a mortgage.

AnchorDownDeepBreath · 06/12/2019 10:42

@FelixFelicis6 Yeah the link is above.

The house looks like someone built in on the Sims - buy the small cheap house and build a massive swimming pool onto it Grin

I'd love a swimming pool and if you have the budget to redo the downstairs and it's all structurally sound, there's no reason not to.

mumdom · 06/12/2019 11:38

The maintenance company charges around £400 per visit to maintain the pool for a family member. There are at least six visits a year, and one epic year there were 15.

That’s not far off a mortgage payment on the above house?

Oliversmumsarmy · 06/12/2019 12:05

I think the pool is really nice and if it was attached to a mega mansion in the Surrey countryside it wouldn’t look out of place.

But for where it is and what it is attached to it is just too big.

If you look on the floor plan the pool area with the changing rooms looks like it is bigger than the upstairs bedroom area and similar size to the whole of the downstairs which look like a series of small rooms.

I think whoever put it in, it was a vanity project and not about resale values or costs.

It is also on an A road

And the kitchen lets it down badly.

I would be interested to know why the current owners were selling so soon.

Are they running away from the maintenance costs

DinoSn0re · 06/12/2019 12:11

I have a friend who lives in South Africa and she says swim pool, I’ve never thought anything of it before. I’m surprised it bothers so many people on here.

If money was no object and I could buy a mansion and have it properly maintained, I would love a swimming pool. But a swimming pool of that size on the footprint of that house doesn’t work.

purpleboy · 06/12/2019 12:21

We have an indoor pool also in a conservatory, I maintain it myself and its a very simple process once you've got the kit, there is plenty of info online and the ph levels etc.. our takes 24 hours to heat up so we don't leave it heated all year just when we plan on using it, to be fair that is the majority of the year but it doesn't cost much to heat, average £60 a month.
You do need to make sure you have a good dehumidifier though as it's a breeding ground for mould if it's not properly ventilated.
But we love ours and wouldn't be without, kids have pool parties we have hot tub parties, we constantly have a stream of guests coming for a swim, but we love hosting so that's what makes it so good for us.

Lllot5 · 06/12/2019 12:41

I think it’s all pool and no house. ( she says sitting in a two bed terrace )
If I had that money to spend I wouldn’t buy that house.

Original poster
SweetSally · 06/12/2019 13:36

Hi everyone - to put your minds at rest ---

*I AM FROM Croatia"

Can we now focus on with the "swimpool" issue please Wink

Right.
Yes, the kitchen is small and I'd like to change that. Nevertheless, the house is ready to move in and we can small refurbishment can be carried out while we live there

The garage "boarded loft" - I agree with the pp that this is a term used by the agent to mention this space, however, it's not on the floorplan. Therefore it could be an issue. We will definitely book a surveyor to carry out an inspection of the whole property.

Main road - the property is located on a main road. I for one am not keen on main roads, however, there is always a compromise to be made. My husband and I prefer living close to the high street rather than rural.

Schools - I've checked all local primary and secondary schools and am quite happy with my findings.

Pool - I think this might actually be an opportunity for a career change on my side. I can look into different business opportunities?

OP posts:
Honeyroar · 06/12/2019 13:42

Personally I think your English is superb. I speak two other languages fairly fluently, but you’re way better than I am. Good luck with the house. Have you viewed it yet?

lalafafa · 06/12/2019 14:04

the pool looks amazing, I would go for it. great potential for a business too, swimming lessons, kids parties. Theres a house near me that hosts swimming lessons
www.swimmingnature.com/sn-public/course_search_programme.html?stepNumber=1&venueId=c8837b7333e8c3610133ec491fe648f6

rp30 · 06/12/2019 14:07

@SweetSally

As a PP said, you could extend the kitchen to include where the changing rooms are. That would make it large.

As another PP said, maybe look into why the house is being sold. It was sold in 2016 and was about £435k (if I remember correctly) so maybe they will come down a lot on the price and you can spend that on changign the house (in the south prices have stagnated since 2016 really, maybe there they have risen?).

I'm not sure about career changes but I think it would be a nice social space. Some people become personal trainers and work from home so perhaps you could do something like that and use the pool and the garage as a gym.

TatianaLarina · 06/12/2019 14:11

Personally I would extend from the top right corner of the ‘lounge’ up to the conservatory - to give you a large kitchen, dining and family room.

Then small rooms elsewhere would matter less.

Original poster
SweetSally · 06/12/2019 14:38

@TatianaLarina
That's a great idea

@lalafafa
Thank you for sharing that link.

@rp30
I think their pricing is fair but we most certainly are not comfortable paying full asking price. There is room for negotiation

@Honeyroar
Thank you. I've book a viewing for next week. It is important to do some research beforehand to make sure we have some background knowledge on indoor swimming pools and the maintenance that comes with it.

OP posts:
Original poster
SweetSally · 06/12/2019 14:39

@Honeyroar
* Booked

OP posts:
Pipstelle · 06/12/2019 14:49

If you really love swimming amd plan to stay for a very long time - go for it. Personally I wouldn't want to be stuck in a house for lack of buyers if I did need to move. If you do buy I'd be low balling the price.

LochJessMonster · 06/12/2019 14:53

WTF is a Swim Pool?

Really? You really can't work out what a swim pool is? Hmm

Booboostwo · 06/12/2019 14:54

I used to have a house with an indoor swimming pool. We built a conservatory and part of it housed an indoor swimming pool. The underfloor heating and the roof glazing made it feel glorious even in British weather. I loved it.

Swimming pool maintenance is usually fairly simple and there are a lot of different options.

Original poster
SweetSally · 06/12/2019 14:57

@Booboostwo

The property we are going to view seems to have similar features to what you are describing. There is a conservatory next to the pool.

OP posts:
FromEden · 06/12/2019 15:03

We have a swimming pool and in ground spa /hot tub and they arent hard to maintain at all? Just check the levels in the water regularly and top up as needed. Ours is an outdoor pool so the majority of the actual "work" is keeping it free of leaves and debris (US). I know pools arent as common in the uk but I really can't see how maintaining it would amount to another mortgage!

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