It has its drawbacks, no doubt. H has spent the last two weekends doing nothing but trying to get the pool back in working order and we've dropped about $200 on chemicals and extras so far. We're switching it to saline next year and that's a whole other headache
Buuut, it pretty much rocks to get home from working and go straight for the pool, so there's that
We had a pool in TX, and when we moved to FL it was the first thing we added. We spend soooo much time outside, and down here, everything is screened in, so no leaves, very few bugs. We also splurged on the system where we just add chemicals once a month, and it's all automated (though H loves messing it, so no biggie either way). And it's saltwater, so no yucky skin/hair issues. Love, love, love. I never understand when people say pools are such hassles - even when we had the giant WalMart pool and did everything manually, it wasn't that much to do. ::shrug::
We could never have a pool in our backyard since our creek tends to flood once a year, and with young kids I wouldn't want one anyway.
We do have the creek, though, and my in-laws live 10 minutes away and have a pool. Then of course my parents have a bayfront home down the shore, and we're down there every weekend in the bay or ocean or my aunt's pool. All the fun and none of the work!
We are actually considering putting in a pool later this year. We don't have a newibhorhood pool or access to the pool right down the street in the next neighborhood.