Dock ownership. Pros and cons?

[Tropic Cat]

So what you 'buy' is a hole in the water. That's a real easy math problem ....

Rick in Florida

[Pblais]

Every place is different. There isn't a relationship on actual cost of construction to the price you pay. Market forces and location drive the game.

Without land costs the cost of one slip is about $20,000 plus or minus for the hole in the water with power and water (less for fresh water). So you want Rhode Island, Boston, San Francisico, or New York City then think again. Nothing at all that is cheap even if available. Nice deals right now in Oriental, NC and other out of the way, not in big city places. IMO, Florida is just a few years from no place to dock at any affordable price until the ICW closes down.

Places not far from me $2,500 per year for a 50 ft slip. But it's not near any place other than salt water (one half day sail from Cape Henry). 30 minutes from the Newport News airport, 90 minutes from Richmond or Virginia Beach by car.

[coot]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

There are also "dock-o-minium" associations, where the docks and the entire facility are owned as a condominium association so that each owner "owns" one slip, or the right to use that space, sell it, etc., but the association is responsible for the upkeep, parking lot, security, etc.

The mixed blessing there of course is any &quot;condo&quot; ownership means there are a hundred landlords instead of one, and if your neighbors decide to go cheap--or go lavish<G>--you're stuck living with that.

I used to rent in a dock-o-minium. There was this guy who ran for the board of directors many times. As a renter, I was not invited to the association meetings, etc, but I heard that he ran unopposed in the last election. He became board president, and I greatly disliked the changes under his administration. (Hence the "used to rent"...) My wife expressed interest in buying a slip there on a few occasions, but now I'm glad that we didn't. This sort of thing is always a risk in any joint ownership situation. b.t.w. Owning a slip through a dock-o-minium or a homeowners association doesn't isolate you from the high maintenance costs. Part of your condo fees go into a reserve account so the association has cash on hand to pay for maintenance/replacement. If you own a pier outright, you just need to set aside money for your own maintenance reserve.

[Pblais]

Owning a slip through a dock-o-minium or a homeowners association doesn't isolate you from the high maintenance costs.

Nothing does. Think about it when you think your slip fees are getting too high.

[hellosailor]

" Part of your condo fees go into a reserve account so the association has cash on hand" Nice theory.<G>

I've listened to a condominium association meeting (building unit owners) where someone tried to explain they would need a new roof before hurricane season, and it would cost $25,000, so they needed to vote on how much extra money to charge every month so they could do that in time. And then the loudest members argued that they didn't want to pay ANYTHING EXTRA, neatly ignoring the fact that by law they had to come up with the money beforehand--or pay it all in one big surprise assessment when the roof was needed. But they all sufffered from "tenant mentality", i.e. if they shouted loudly enough the roof fairy would pay for it, not them.
Condominiums also will be regulated differently in every state, some will require reserve funds, others will let the group slip by with almost none...Can't think of a worse situation than "owning" a dock, but having to get a hundred owner madmen to agree on anything before you could even put aside maintenance and repair funds.
"Honey, who voted to install the deep green shag carpeting on the docks!?" (ugh!)