4 ms·
I am in no position to dispute this, but I have a friend who has lived on a sailboat in the Bay Area for many years now, and for him it was a way to get out of
by biztos 10y ago
I am in no position to dispute this, but I have a friend who has lived on a sailboat in the Bay Area for many years now, and for him it was a way to get out of the apartment-renting game much, much earlier than he ever could have afforded to buy a place on land.
If he had done the same thing in a saner real-estate market then maybe by now his sailboat habit would have cost him as much as a flat would have, only later. But in the SF Bay I'm pretty sure he never would have caught up, and this way he's the lord & master & captain of his own tiny domain.
- walrus01 10y agoYou are only "lord and master of your own domain" to a limited extent if you're paying $700/month moorage... You've just exchanged high rent for an apartment for renting a moorage space. There are very few marinas organized on a condominium or coop share ownership model.
- Rapzid 10y agoYou'd need to multiply that by three to approach ANY apartment you'd have to yourself in SF.
- rbanffy 10y ago$700/month is a very cheap rent. I'd like to know what utilities and maintenance for a reasonable boat would be.
- toomuchtodo 10y agoUtilities are water, metered power, and pumpouts for sewage. Maintenance costs are low four digits each year, rising quickly if purchase price is over $100k.
- rbanffy 10y agoStill, $100k for a place you can live is a very nice deal. Let's say $100k in housing could be rented for $500 a month. That'd would make the boat cost you about $1200/month. That's still a very reasonable price for a property close to the beach.
- walrus01 10y agoMaintenance costs are low four digits each year? Yeah, until you need to haul a 60' boat out of the water and scrape + re-paint its hull, which will need to happen on a regular schedule for the life of the vessel.
- toomuchtodo 10y agoMy comment relates to any boat around 40ft in length or less. A 60ft boat's expenses will be an order of magnitude higher.
- seanp2k2 10y agoBerkeley marina is fairly affordable to live at: http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/Parks_Rec_Waterfront/Marina/Berthing_Fees_-_New_Effective_August_1st_2015.aspx http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/Parks_Rec_Waterfront/Marina/Ber... I know some people who do, and they enjoy it. Some of them even sail their homes, or take off to Hawaii for a few weeks in their home.