Thinking about a New Pool... I Have Questions...???

Hubby and I are thinking about making the leap and purchasing a pool...
we've never had one (unless you count the small kid's pool).

So.... I was hoping those of you that have a pool (or have had in the past) could help me out with some questions). :)

The Story..

I've always dreamed of having a pool and loved going anywhere that had a pool when I was growing up. I used to imagine having a family surrounding a pool in the summer time with our friends and family.

I would never have dreamed we would be thinking about it at this point. Hubby never seemed interested in the idea and I thought I'd wait a few years to really start trying to convince him of what I see as the benefits of a pool (yes, I know there are a lot of negatives too... maintenance, repair, dangers, etc).

How it all started...
Last fall at the end of the season I bought a soft sided 12ft round, 3ft deep kids pool on clearance for $14. We set it up early this summer and have used it a few times with the little guy, who's now 4.

About a month ago Hubby informed me that he knew what it would cost to put in a real pool, above ground, but permanant. To my surprise, he had been secretly pool shopping in town and talking to the guys at work about theirs. He told me when he noticed a neighbor across the way was getting one and said, "I know what one of those costs." I didn't believe him until he started talking.

Turns out... Hubby found out how much he loved maintaining the chemical balance in the little pool. Who knew!?!?

A gentleman Hubby works with had one that he was willing to give us for free if we were willing to remove it. The liner was relatively new, but after we went to look at it we realized that the top railings were rusting through and not worth the effort/cost to replace.

I must tell you, when Hubby gets excited about something, it doesn't stop until we make our final decision. Yesterday he took us to Family Leisure, formerly Watson's, to see what they had to offer. We'd never been there before and were impressed at some of the deals they had. You do have to watch on some things though, like every store.

They helped us decide what was most important for us if we decided we were ready for one and gave us a better price than was listed. We still weren't sure and were ready to walk away with the idea that we knew what it would cost and the salesman stopped us and offered us the upgraded filter & step package for the same price -usually a $1000 upgrade.

We still haven't commited anything, but the salesman offered to write up the offer and give us until the end of the month to decide. I'm mostly uncertain due to my child's age, 4, and not being sure about Hubby's job... I don't think we'll be certain about that for a long time.

Some of my questions....
For those of you that have pools or have had them...
What age do you feel a pool is appropriate for a little one? Obviously children would always be supervised.
Do you feel you get enough use of the pool to warrant it's expenses? We love to entertain and have people over all the time.

Do people typically respect your pool rules? No Diving, Jumping in, "P" in the pool, etc.

How easy do you find the maintenence? Is it near any trees or follage? We have a few trees nearer the space than we like, some we don't mind taking down, but one tree is old and a nice part of our landscape.

Would you have another pool?

What would you change about the pool you have now or had in the past?

Feel free to leave a general comment too even if you've never owned a pool :)