The problem with ivy is when it is coming from your neighbours garden. It can grow between your wooden fence and over time, causes it to break.
Every year we would spend time cutting, trimming and trying to destroy this pest as it grows through our shared boundry fence.
One of our neighbours used ivy to cover a pergola that borders our garden. It now looks like a huge mound of darkness, looming over our garden that has never been trimmed on the top.
We also fell in to the trap of planting an ivy to cover a block wall that the builders of our house never rendered. Thankfully we planted an unusual and variegated variety that actually looks nice.....however it still needs a lot of annual maintenance.
As I get older, I agree with Leper, I am not sure that I want this ongoing annual task.
Earlier this summer I cut down our Japanese Laurel Golden Girl, that was lovely but requiring a lot of maintenance. It took several days just to dig the roots out of the ground.