Okay, this is getting dumb

[Toast]

So I am close to moving out of my parents house (I am going to community college and working at McDonalds) and I was looking at prices of houses in my hometown in SoCal, small town, about 15,000 people, and the cheapest 2 bedroom 1 bath house to buy is $88,000. Now, the average Passport 40 is $80-$100k, for an extra $10k, I could have one of the best seagoing houses available, and since I am pretty mechanically inclined, most of the repairs I could do myself. The only problem that I could foresee is work, but since I am going to school for Mechanical Engineering and there is an aerospace company in the town over that most of their engineers work from home. I also know many of their engineers so I might be able to get a few good references. How does living on a boat make so much sense here or am I missing something huge?
Cool Runnings,
Toast

[Franziska]

Originally Posted by Toast

So I am close to moving out of my parents house (I am going to community college and working at McDonalds) and I was looking at prices of houses in my hometown in SoCal, small town, about 15,000 people, and the cheapest 2 bedroom 1 bath house to buy is $88,000. Now, the average Passport 40 is $80-$100k, for an extra $10k, I could have one of the best seagoing houses available, and since I am pretty mechanically inclined, most of the repairs I could do myself. The only problem that I could foresee is work, but since I am going to school for Mechanical Engineering and there is an aerospace company in the town over that most of their engineers work from home. I also know many of their engineers so I might be able to get a few good references. How does living on a boat make so much sense here or am I missing something huge?
Cool Runnings,
Toast

Unfortunately, marina costs and place availability, as it sounds like.

[Toast]

Sure, I have considered those, but you also have the equivalent problem in a house with bills and gas for your car, and insurance for both those things (I know you also need insurance for your boat).

[JPA Cate]

Toast, see if there are any liveaboard berths for a Passport 40 and yourself in your area. If your boat's not easily accessible for the days you have to be at the workplace, you'll wind up wanting to have some form of transport, might be a motor scooter, but you'll want SOMEthing, and there'll be storage issues for it, also. You'll need to run the numbers on costs to tell if it is more cost effective to try the boat; usually it works out living on land is preferred. Remember to include Calif.'s tax on boats: they are taxed as real estate, and it's a biggish percentage, that is commonly considered a tax on people wealthy enough to have a yacht and a house, there are no tax breaks about it. The law allows CA to tax you until the vessel is registered in another State, and you have to document for CA that it is registered.

As to the equivalent of home upkeep, failure to do upkeep on the boat can lead to sinking, so it has to be done. Deferring it is more risky.

One of the moderators here is Trente Pieds, who is also an accountant. He has often written about the costs of boat ownership. Try a CF Custom Google Search with his screen name and boat ownership costs, and consider what you have read.

Ann

[Toast]

The days that they need you at the job, they will fly you out and put you in a hotel, I plan to leave California soon, so I'll have to look into the taxes on boat purchases in other states.

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by Toast

So I am close to moving out of my parents house (I am going to community college and working at McDonalds) and I was looking at prices of houses in my hometown in SoCal, small town, about 15,000 people, and the cheapest 2 bedroom 1 bath house to buy is $88,000.

Wow a 2BR house in SoCal for $88k

You should buy that!

[Toast]

Ha, no, I like my house to built out of wood, not sawdust and plastic.
(edit: looked at the sq footage and its 800 lol)

[Calif.Ted]

Boats in California are subject to annual "unsecured" property tax to the county in which they are located at the same rate as "secured" property (real estate). A little under 1 percent, a boat assessed at about $65,000 is taxed $615.

[Love2 boat]

Originally Posted by Toast

Ha, no, I like my house to built out of wood, not sawdust and plastic.
(edit: looked at the sq footage and its 800 lol)

Looks more like a double wide trailer than a house. And by the looks you are in a trailer park. I would not call that a house by any stretch...

[Benz]

A house is an appreciating asset, if you're buying the land it's on as well. A boat is depreciating from Day 1. If I could get a house around here for $88k with a piece of land of any size, I'd do it. Then buy a junker boat, live on that, and rent the house to pay both the mortgage and slip fees.

[barnakiel]

Can be done. Like anything.


Just ask yourself what you want from life. If you want a basic job and living in a relatively tight space that (almost any) boat is, then that's that.


And what about some ambition? A well paying job, a nice house not too far from a marina, a nice boat docked there to have fun on some weekends. Too much of "American dream" for ya?


Cheers,
b.

[psk125]

An 800 square foot house is a lot bigger than a less than 500 square foot (the ends on a boat taper) Passport 40. It would also need a major earthquake before it sank into the Pacific Ocean. The boat would only need one loose hose clamp. Your money, you pick.
If you're planning to leave CA soon will you have to sell the boat at a loss? Or keep paying marina bills without being able to use it?

[wholybee]

If you can buy a house in SoCal for 88k, you should look at that pretty closely. What is wrong with it? The average home price in California is between 700k and 900k, depending on who you ask.

Assuming anything wrong with it is fixable(at that price there is something wrong with it), real property will appreciate. Boats are a money hole that you through money into, and often still go down in value. For a nice boat like a Passport 40, you will probably spend an average of $1000 per month just maintaining it, not even improving it. This average includes big things that you don't do every month, but need to do, like haul outs, rigging, etc.

You also probably won't find a place in S. Cal to park the boat that will allow you to live on it. And to park it somewhere and not be able to live on it will be another $1000-$2000 per month. vs a mortgage payment of under $600 for an 88k loan.

If your heart is set on a 90k-100k boat, your fastest way to get there is to buy that house, wait for it to appreciate, and then sell it. You need to pay cash for the boat, so you aren't making loan payments at the same time as paying to maintain it.

Trying to figure it out while going to college and working at McDonalds is going to leave you with massive debt and probably no easy way out of it.

[requiem]

Agree that going for a house on land is almost certainly the better option.

Regarding the 88k place, it looks like it's in a trailer park which means in addition to buying the trailer you still need to rent the land it sits on.

[Don C L]

Liveaboard slips are an endangered species. You might check Wilmington though.