Welcome to our forum.
Rayman, I'm not sure if this is an option for you but, we started out looking for an above ground pool also. We looked at 24' to 27' round pools and we had thought we wanted to sink it into the ground 2' ( they most you can do without affecting your warranty). Anyhow, by the time you factor in the cost of the pool, deck and landscaping around it, we ended up with a 24' octagonal inground sport pool. It's great! its only 5' deep so you can easily keep a couple of your favorite beverages on each side and walk to either one. We don't have kids so diving boards and slides were not a big deal. All told with all the goodies including heater and solar blanket and reel was about 12,000 When you think about it its alot cheaper per square foot then a hot tub You should have a member of the Independent Pool Group near you so price should be similar Good luck looking around
I would like to recommend that for a filter buy a Diatomaceos Earth (DE) filter - you'l be amazed at the filtering it does.
Strange little side note, We have American friends that have DE filters and others have cartridge filters but up here they are almost unheard of. Not that they aren't available, they are just not common. 90 % of the pool filters on the market are sand