Real Estate Stake While Cruising - Are you in or out?

[Cloroxbottle]

Originally Posted by KevinE

We are getting ready to go cruising again and I'm curious how many of you full time cruisers have maintained a stake on land or have you just cashed out and will worry about it when you return? Our biggest worry is if we sell is inflation (due to COVID money printing) and not being able to afford to get back in the market when we decide to be lubbers again. I am taking early retirement (55) and our problem is we have too much equity tied up in our home. We have been looking at downsizing but the market is so picked over (and IMO, overvalued), I am almost at the point that we just sell, go cruising and cross our fingers that some sanity will return to the housing market.

Almost exactly in your situation, a few years behind you. We're cashing out. Between property taxes, homeowner's insurance, and the various other costs to upkeep a property (particularly one from which you are absent) the math doesn't work out for us compared to deploying those assets elsewhere, certainly outside of the US, and possibly outside of the USD. We did buy a liveaboard slip and our next boat is a smaller Cat so theoretically we can tie up and live the dockominium lifestyle for quite a while after the days of pulling halyards and sheets are over in case my prediction regarding the future is...well, not wrong but delayed.

Also, given the current situation in the United States there's no guarantee that the lubber portion of retirement will be here vs another country with cheaper, better, and more accessible health care.

As the saying goes, it's better to be five years too early than five minutes too late.

[dannc]

Originally Posted by Fishigan

There is a lot of misinformation in this thread about property taxes on vacant land and improved land. State by state and municipality by municipality the taxes are different.


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Nobody knows what the market is going to do. I can give you an educated guess but nothing more. At the moment my area normally has 2,000 + homes for sale, today there are 322. That is why the market is the way it is. People aren't selling but there are still 2,500 buyers out there. When people decide to start selling the market will level out and the prices will adjust, but there is no bubble to burst. People making $50,000 a year aren't buying $750,000 homes on a ARM like they did in 2006-20010.

Yep, it is about the location and tax regulation in that location.

As I mentioned up thread, we own raw land where we are paying under $20 per five acre lot. That is not a typeo either. That land is worth quite a bit of money, how much is the question but I would not sell for less than

$175,000. Our situation is perfectly legal and above board. In fact, the county just reviewed the valuation and related tax and approved. Our situation is unusual but these situations are out there or can be made to happen with time, money, and knowledge.

Our area is not in a bubble either. People are moving here and there is simply not enough houses or apartments for them so prices have going up at huge rates. I just saw where a county had a 24% increase in the last 12 months. Houses are on the market for a matter of days before getting a contract, often for more than the asking price. It is crazy.

We have major companies in a variety of industries moving here and people are following for the jobs. Until that stops, housing construction catches up, or a combination of the two, prices for homes and rents are just going to go up.

Flip side is that these people are moving here from somewhere and the housing pricing in those areas will have to be negatively affected sooner or later.

Later,
Dan

[Flod]

I have bought 3 properties with houses in tourist locations where I also could imagine to live permanently. In total the houses have 6 apartments and 3 of these are rented out permanently, the rest on Airbnb. It’s a money machine that generates cash flow. If we go full time cruising I could live on the monthly income from the houses. If I decide to go ashore the houses are there. Will the prices go up? I don’t know but in these places it’s been a constant bull market in real estate for at least 50 years.