Slip Purchase

[BuoyCall]

Have been thinking about buying a liveaboard slip somewhere to use as a home base. Local marina has a few for sale that they rent out when your not there. Our plan is still 3 years out so the rent would pretty much pay for the slip persay. Has anyone done this....good or bad experience?

[nightowle]

Like everything in life, there are plusses and minuses. Seattle was the first place in the U.S. for building docks for sale on a condominium basis. Like most properties in general, all have risen in value over a number of years. But the caveats relate to a few with hefty deferred maintenance with dilapidated docks. Special assessments are usually made wherein you have to dig deep into your pockets to contribute to major upgrades even though there should be a monthly fee with some regular funds going into a repair account. The other caveat is an owners need to sell into a down market. You just about can't give them away when leisure activities are a luxury and not a necessity. I now look at paying 16 years of slip rent since moving to Seattle and do think I should have bought one, particularly during the economic downturn of c. 2009. But the reality is that the condominium ones aren't in my preferred area for docking. Anyway, that's my 2 cents.

[Fore and Aft]

BuoyCall the other issue is if the marina owns other berths and is leasing them out. Yours will be the last one they offer as they do not make as much money. That happens to the guy next to us who owns his berth and leases it via the marina. It's usually empty and is only used when the marina is reaching capacity.
Cheers

[s/v Jedi]

We own a slip in Port Canaveral and are happy with it. For us the reason was that we can have the slip when we want, with being on waiting lists etc.

[BuoyCall]

Originally Posted by Fore and Aft

BuoyCall the other issue is if the marina owns other berths and is leasing them out. Yours will be the last one they offer as they do not make as much money. That happens to the guy next to us who owns his berth and leases it via the marina. It's usually empty and is only used when the marina is reaching capacity.
Cheers

This particular marina/condo building all the slips are privately owned and yes if urs is rented out by the marina office you would make more but as boaters use/rent the transient docks that money is split amongst all the owners equally based on the size of slip per foot. Still alot more homework to do but like another said prob better to wait on a dwn turned market. Thanks yall

[BuoyCall]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

We own a slip in Port Canaveral and are happy with it. For us the reason was that we can have the slip when we want, with being on waiting lists etc.

Can you say what the average cost of a slip goes for there in the port? We woukd need at least 48'. Im assuming its prob a bit expensive there being so accesable. Thanks

[pcmm]

Alot will depend on where you are. Where I am, one company was offering slps for sale (Dockominums) but financially it made no sense to purchase! even after the purchase the annual "Maintenance fees" were more expensive than just renting a slip at the marina next door!!

[Rumrace]

Here it’s been an early warning sign the club is broke and will likely fail. I just have hearsay no experience but I read a contract for 20 grand about 4 year slip fees ++ but it was more a 99 year sub lease on a land connection they had a 5 year lease on. I’d be surprised if anyone can legally sell you something other than a wood dock and take over the maintenance. So leaking electrical or squeaking components are on you. The water most boats float on and call home I always believed belonged to the State or Province or in rare cases Federal or Native land. No private enterprise can sell you that real estate I thought.
Some of the floating homes on Grandville Island Vancouver are just stunning. It’s a pretty community. It’s like a superblock of long term boats and floating homes.
In Lake Simcoe in Lagoon City a club went co op and bought the owner out. I hope you find one but I wouldn’t delay to long.
It’s great to hear some of you got lucky.

[Pendragon35]

We've owned a slip at Anchorage Marina in Baltimore for eight years. Pluses: not having to worry about rental prices and availability and the great community of people there. Minuses: I think now in some ways I'd rather be in a different place, but we're committed here. I guess we could rent the slip and rent one somewhere else but that would be a huge hassle. So we don't. The other thing to watch out for if you own is assessments and increases in maintenance fees, our fees have only increased modestly but there have been two assessments. For our 40' slip, the current assessment works out to about $200 a month, something we hadn't planned on.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by BuoyCall

Can you say what the average cost of a slip goes for there in the port? We woukd need at least 48'. Im assuming its prob a bit expensive there being so accesable. Thanks

Pretty sure you can negotiate. We bought at a low in the market.

https://oceanclubmarina-pc.com/port-...-for-sale.html

[ItDepends]

The number of people for whom this is a great idea is VERY small, but certainly not zero.

How SURE are you that exact spot is where you want to keep the boat forever?
How much will it cost you to get out of the deal when your life changes?
Are you sure the maintenance charges are stable? It is not at all unusual for them to rise dramatically once all the slips in a given development are sold.
In the event of storm damage to the marina infrastructure, who pays to rebuild it?