Selling the House

[NotJustDreaming]

Originally Posted by alaskamountainman

Re: " You can always make more money, You can't make more time!"

To that I will add: You should spend your time more wisely than your money. You know how much money you have.

I had to add that beside my favourite....

"You're only given a little spark of madness. You musn't lose it." - Robin Williams

[Jolly Roger]

I woke up this morning with a brainwave!
If my theory, enumerated above, is correct, that age changes your outlook as to how and what we buy in boats, I wonder how many forum members over say, 60, would be interested in forming a sub-forum of “old gaffers?” Ocean Girl formed a dating section, (which I have not joined, I hasten to assure the wife), so why not us? We could share information which is important to us—like which is the best rubber ring to sit on at the wheel, how best to stay awake during your four hour night watch, and what is the best type of bedspring, etcetera, etcetera. All this will be of little interest to younger folks, who it seems to me have different outlooks on boating and life in general. It might become a sort of “old folks home” on the water, and we might even arrange burials at sea, as each member kicks the bucket—much more fun than a land job.
It wouldn’t be fair to hijack Notjustdreaming's thread, so if anyone is interested in this, PM me, and if enough members say “aye aye” I will look into it further. And I don’t want any smart ass comments either, from young fella’s who reckon they went three days without sleep or food on a single handed passage between New York and Brighton.

[Doodles]

I ain't joining anything call "Old Gaffers"! No way, no how!

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by Jolly Roger

I wonder how many forum members over say, 60, would be interested in forming a sub-forum of “old gaffers?” .

The sub forum would be full. The main forum devoid of members except Erika and me and a few others.

Even some of the 'others' lying about their age.

Seldon Spars, by the way, have taken over the manufacture of Zimmer Frames and you lot can now have one to winch you from the Old Folks Home to the Tavern....






Now made by Seldon Spars and Harken

[Jolly Roger]

Fabulous Mark! It just shows the state of the boating market when the biggest mast maker has to resort to supporting cripples, instead of sails. By the way, lying about age will not be tolerated. I will need to see everyone’s birth certificate before they get the password . And I said I didn't want any smart ass comments. So if I ever get to the stage where I can't walk from the boat to the pub, I will sell the boat and buy a pub!On the other hand, it would be quite interesting to find out the actual average age on the forum.

[GordMay]

BTW: Marc’s pic was of a Priest vs a Nun* at Melbourne's Catholic Homes Corpus Christi.
* Peter Aikins, left, takes on Eileen Fahey right.

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by GordMay

BTW: Marc’s pic was of a Priest vs a Nun* at Melbourne's Catholic Homes Corpus Christi.
* Peter Aikins, left, takes on Eileen Fahey right.

How the hell do you know this stuff Gord?

Or are you the referee?

Good on them for getting up and having a go


Mark

[JiffyLube]

Originally Posted by Eleebana

I was not neccesarily suggesting that buying houses was the way for everyone one to go. In fact I don't own an investment property myself. From the posts here, it is obvious that the situation differs greatly between countries, something which I didn't anticipate. However, I think it's important that everyone has a financial plan. To my way of thinking, selling the house for a boat can be a solution arrived at because there is no long range financial plan. It's taken me 21 years to pay off the house and I'm not going to exchange that for a depreciating asset. The downside of my plan is that I'm still 2 years from throwing off the docklines. However, I totaly respect people that do it different to me. Everyone's life throws up different opportunities and challenges and concede that we all just have to deal with our own issues.

Greg

If a person has a house that is paid off or almost paid off, I think renting the house is the way to go. Even if the renters happened to damage the house, once you'r cruising is over and you move back to the house, it would be a good time to remodel.

[ConradG]

Originally Posted by JiffyLube

If a person has a house that is paid off or almost paid off, I think renting the house is the way to go. Even if the renters happened to damage the house, once you'r cruising is over and you move back to the house, it would be a good time to remodel.

I guess so much "depends". In my case renting would pay the taxes (killer) and the mortgage (small and almost done) but certainly wouldn't allow me to finnish fitting out and an income for the kitty. The equity is rather large and will support many years of life cruising even at 0 growth. At 4% the principal should remain. With the house just sitting there and paying for itself I couldn't even cast off for a year..Sure, I'll probably never be able to replace it but cruising is now the plan. That said, I am planning to keep a piece of undeveloped land that costs less than 100/mo in taxes for a storage trailer and as a" just in case" or as a "when the time comes". And then I'll just park the boat on it and live in it and avoid the taxes that go with living in a house!

[Sea Yawl Later]

Our home is not suitable for renting. It is too big, too much land, too much to maintain. One of the primary reasons for selling is the property is too much to maintain. I would never sell a house and invest all of the money in a boat. I agree with others that a home USUALLY will appreciate given enough time (unless your upside down on your loan) and a boat usually will not ( at least not as much).
We are considering selling and but only 1/6 of the money would be used to pay off the boat. The rest of the money would be used to live off mostly the interest ( probably not enough with todays rates) leaving the bulk available to buy another smaller house when we are through cruising.

I agree that age is a huge factor. I am 61 and my husband is 57. Age is why I want to do it now while I can but I realize that in 3-5 years I may not be able to cruise. I was amazed how much cheaper it was to cruise than to live on land. It was much easier to economize cruising because most of the activities we liked to do were free, snorkeling, swimming, watching sunset, etc. Also, you can't buy STUFF because there is no place to buy it and no place to put it. Love, love, loved cruising.

Sea Yawl Later

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

How the hell do you know this stuff Gord?

Or are you the referee?

Good on them for getting up and having a go


Mark

Gord possibly an afficienado of the Nunsploitation Art Form


It's called Art when it's got a Wiki page Nunsploitation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Or you could do as Gord did. and Google "Masked Nun in 1 on 1 action holding a sword"

[NotJustDreaming]

Originally Posted by Sea Yawl Later

I was amazed how much cheaper it was to cruise than to live on land. It was much easier to economize cruising because most of the activities we liked to do were free, snorkeling, swimming, watching sunset, etc. Also, you can't buy STUFF because there is no place to buy it and no place to put it. Love, love, loved cruising.

Sea Yawl Later

I found that some recent threads regarding the cost of cruising and more specifically the cost of boat maintenance were very discouraging. I read that it all depends on your lifestyle and what is important to you with regards to living costs. But the cost of boat maintenance is completely overwhelming. I almost said to heck with this when I started calculating what I'd need to budget annually for the big fixes that one would have to be prepared for.

Sea Yawl Later, have you had those repairs yet or is everything pretty much new and under warranty?

And even if we didn't want to have a whole bunch of equipment and electronics aboard to break down, pretty much all resale boats in the 4-7 year old range would be fully equipped anyway, wouldn't they? So I don't fix it when it breaks if it's something we decide we don't need? Do we just leave a piece of broken equipment where it was installed? I don't know.

Is it still less expensive to cruise then to live ashore when you factor maintenance costs? Do people generally include their mortgage expenses in that comparison?

[Doodles]

Regarding boat maintenance costs, its seems all over the map to me. This is a broad generalization, but I think people that spend time and money maintaining there home will spend a similar amount of time and money on the boat. We've probably all see boats where the owners don't do routine maintenance, just wait until it breaks and fix it then or not. Same with homes. We've all probably lived next to some of these. So, I'd say look at your home and how you deal with repairs and maintenance and that will tell you something about your boat r&m costs.

[ConradG]

Originally Posted by NotJustDreaming

I found that some recent threads regarding the cost of cruising and more specifically the cost of boat maintenance were very discouraging. I read that it all depends on your lifestyle and what is important to you with regards to living costs. But the cost of boat maintenance is completely overwhelming. I almost said to heck with this when I started calculating what I'd need to budget annually for the big fixes that one would have to be prepared for.

Pick your boat carefully and leave enough to set it up "right" before you go. I think you can end up on the right side of the "map" as long as you don't need or want all the gizmos and gadgets that you don't need. I chose a boat that is designed around simplicity and ease of self maintenance. I will make new sails and replace the rigging before I go (once I sell the house) and because it is aluminum the only big maintanence will be slushing down the wormed parcelled and served galvanised standing rigging once a year and bottom paint every couple of years...I hope! I am simplifying things- closing up all through hulls below the waterline except for a saltwater feed to a manifold for the engine, the sinks and a deckwash. The engine is new and I hope to aquire enough proficiency to crowbar the thing overboard in time and save the headaches and expense of registering, running and maintaning it. I don't plan on roughing it but I do plan on a simple boat. I have about 150 gallons of water storage so I am weighing carefully the need for a watermaker and the expenses that go along with it. I am also having a back and forth about refridgeration for the same reason. Without much other electrical junk a few solar pannels would probably do it but is the potential maintanence and expense of additional batteries and the system itself worth it? I lived simply in a small cabin without power, running water, lawns to mow, etc years ago and the freedom was wonderful. I think how much less mainanenc it would have been it the walls and roof were made from aluminum and I didn't have to pay property taxes....just entry fees, food, cooking fuel and a little bit of liability insurance. Oh, and nowadays I guess we are being forced to get health insurance. (what does it take to become a citizen of a civilized country?)

I can relate to the too big a place and piece of land to rent. It would just cover the taxes with little to spare. But here taxes on a small 8 acre piece if undeveloped are less than renting an 8X10 storage locker so I plan on parking an old 48 or 53 foot semi trailer for storage (They can't tax that!) and having an option in the event I become land bound in the future. Then I can dig her in to the waterline and have that cabin made of aluminum...and I don't think they can tax that either...

[JiffyLube]

Originally Posted by ConradG

I guess so much "depends". In my case renting would pay the taxes (killer) and the mortgage (small and almost done) but certainly wouldn't allow me to finnish fitting out and an income for the kitty. The equity is rather large and will support many years of life cruising even at 0 growth. At 4% the principal should remain. With the house just sitting there and paying for itself I couldn't even cast off for a year..Sure, I'll probably never be able to replace it but cruising is now the plan. That said, I am planning to keep a piece of undeveloped land that costs less than 100/mo in taxes for a storage trailer and as a" just in case" or as a "when the time comes". And then I'll just park the boat on it and live in it and avoid the taxes that go with living in a house!

I have to two 5 acre undeveloped parcels in Alamosa, CO. for sale, that might be perfect for your trailer and boat.