Monsey, a house with a pool -- worth it?

amother

Tue, Apr 16 2024, 5:06 pm

We are in the process of looking for a house in the Monsey area (New City, Pomona etc), and we are not sure if having a pool justifies all the extra expenses, including maintenance, *the higher property tax and higher home insurance. Considering that this is Monsey and not Florida, we are wondering how much use we will have from the pool on a typical year, and is it worth it to spend extra thousands for the limited amount of time it's actually pool weather.

If you live in the monsey area, how many months a year do you usually use the pool -- just July & August? Or also June and September?

If you have a pool heater, does it significantly extend the swimming season?

If you have a pool and you were to buy again now, would you do it? If you bought a house without a pool, do you regret your decision?

*I'm referring to an inground pool. Above ground pools do not factor in and raise taxes and home insurance as much.

amother

Royalblue

Tue, Apr 16 2024, 5:27 pm

amother OP wrote:

I own a house with a pool in that area and I don’t believe it affects property tax and home insurance very much. Be prepared to spend a few thousand dollars a year just on pool maintenance/heating.

mha3484

Tue, Apr 16 2024, 5:34 pm

I live somewhere else but not a warm place and my relatives who had pools were using them in May and June through September. My cousins with September birthdays always had a pool party. So ask yourself if May-September is worth it to you.

The safety aspect makes me extremely nervous. My grandmother sold a house with a pool and the new owners filled it in as soon as they could. My aunt also sold a house with a pool and said never again. Her kids loved it when we were growing up but she found it to be so much effort and expense. In addition to the fear of drowning.

amother

Tue, Apr 16 2024, 6:19 pm

amother Royalblue wrote:

I own a house with a pool in that area and I don’t believe it affects property tax and home insurance very much. Be prepared to spend a few thousand dollars a year just on pool maintenance/heating.

My RE agent told us that having a pool impacts property taxes, and I am myself noticing a pattern: we may be looking at a house that isn't especially big, but if it has a pool, the property tax is 20k or above. Other houses, even bigger ones but without the pool, the property tax is lower.

amother

Tue, Apr 16 2024, 6:22 pm

mha3484 wrote:

I hear you about safety concerns. Our children are all grown, so this is more for us and our young adult children, and B"H future grandchildren who would be visiting. Maybe I'm not worried enough about this, but my thinking is: you put a gate around, and no unsupervised swimming.

mha3484

Tue, Apr 16 2024, 6:27 pm

How much do you see yourself really using it? How many times a week would you swim between may and September? If you can see yourself really using it multiple times a week for 4-5 months it could be a really nice thing for your family. If you will get sick of it after a while its not for you.

Also do you have the fortitude to tell your friends and neighbors they cant swim. Because that opens you up to a lot of potential stress and liability. There was a double take in mishpacha about this and it comes up for a lot of people.

Also not being a downer, but I almost downed as a toddler in my grandmothers pool so the safety concern doesn't fully go away.

amother

Tue, Apr 16 2024, 6:27 pm

mha3484 wrote:

And May - September is actually longer season than I expected!

amother

Stoneblue

Tue, Apr 16 2024, 6:30 pm

We have a pool in Monsey and don't often allow friends to use it without us around. It simply isn't safe. Cost wise, we spend around 3-4k a year between opening, closing and weekly maintenance. You can save money by not heating, doing maintenance yourself, etc. Ours is open mid-May to mid-September. We winterize our pool house by end of September. Don't believe having a pool impacted our property taxes. We looked at homes in our area, with and without pools, and the taxes were all similar. We use the pool every week and the hot tub several times a week.

amother

Tue, Apr 16 2024, 6:30 pm

amother Jetblack wrote:

A pool is the type of thing that if you have to ask how much? Then it's not for you. The expenses are a lot.

I beg to differ. I don't agree that a house with a pool is only for the extremely wealthy and privileged. If you're doing OK financially but you're responsible and careful not to live beyond your means, it makes sense to ask: what is the actual average expense? How much are we talking about? I would like to try and factor that in.

amother

Tue, Apr 16 2024, 6:37 pm

amother Stoneblue wrote:

Thank you! That's helpful info

amother

Tue, Apr 16 2024, 6:38 pm

amother Salmon wrote:

We have a pool we looove it.. best part of the house. We rent it out and more then cover thr expense. Me and my DH are lifeguards and our kids all took deep watter test at 5 years old. We have high soils fence. The watter is so bonding so relaxing such Healhy good fun

You're not scared to rent it out? I would be concerned about liability if Chalila anything happens.

amother

NeonPurple

Tue, Apr 16 2024, 6:42 pm

I live in Monsey surrounding areas and have a pool with little kids. We pay 15k tax for high ranch and pool. We don't have a heater so that means our pool season is June-August and honestly it's enough plus we don't have the extra expense. We have a double lock on the pool for safety and teach our kids to swim when they are little. Hashem should continue keeping his right hand that nothing should cv ever happen. I also took a lifeguarding course when we moved. As far as guest, I learnt to be very open and honest as of when the pool is available for people to come. Sometimes I just go to swim with our family and sometimes we do mens/women's hours so our friends n family can also enjoy it. Another thing, if you feel like u can't afford itbor it's too much it's always an option not to open the pool for that year etc. loads of luck!

amother

Indigo

Tue, Apr 16 2024, 7:47 pm

amother NeonPurple wrote:

Very similar by me. I’m in Lakewood. No heater so June-September is our season. It’s honestly long enough for us.
We do opening, maintenance ourselves so expense runs in 1500 range for entire season. We only get a company to winterize it.

Yes, you can be assertive and kind at same time about availability. It did take me a few years to be confident with giving a no.
We do Friday afternoon men’s/ women’s separate swimming so family members can join.

Various expenses ( some of them quite high) can pop up unexpectedly so you have to be prepared ( new liner, pump, etc..) or as previous poster said, you can decide to skip that year.

Must say we love love our pool and have been truly blessed from hashem with wonderful summer seasons!

amother

Ruby

Tue, Apr 16 2024, 7:52 pm

amother Salmon wrote:

Same here. We LOVE it and look out for the day we get to open it. We usually open it end of april/beginning of May and keep it open till right before rh.

We earn a good 20-40k renting it out. Costs us a few thousand to upkeep, and it's a lot of work, but the Income justifies the work.

amother

Vanilla

Tue, Apr 16 2024, 7:53 pm

we used our pool from late June-mid September before we heated it. now that it's heated we can easily use it from mid May-late September (some years even chol hamoed succos)!

that being said, I would never buy a house with a pool again. my kids absolutely love it but I find it to be stressful and a pain in the neck (aside from the expense which is usually at least $5k/summer for us)

amother

Vanilla

Tue, Apr 16 2024, 7:57 pm

amother Ruby wrote:

Wow. Can you tell me more about how you earn $20k-$40k renting it out?

amother

Honey

Tue, Apr 16 2024, 8:04 pm

I think this is a personal decision based on your family as well as your finances.

I am not sure a pool per se is the reason for taxes but that the assessed value of a home is used to calculate taxes and a house with a pool would be viewed as having a higher market value.

As to safety, you can make them very safe by getting one of the pool covers that can actually be walked on so no one can use the pool without the pool cover being removed so even if they get through the fence they can't use the pool. And of course it removes the risk of a toddler getting into the backyard and slipping into the pool.

My personal opinion is that given all of the restrictions frum people have regarding swimming and modesty even for young children, a pool is more important to a frum family than a secular family. You can't go to a beach - you can't send your kids to the community pool. Adults have the ability to use the pool and pool aerobics and stretching exercises are really great.