Future boat prices and an unstable economy.

[Andy Keller]

Possibly counter intuitive, as i've just joined this forum, about twenty minutes ago, but i clicked this topic as selling our boat is a consideration we're giving time to while looking to relocate to a more rural location.

I moved into my girlfriends house during lockdown and haven't returned to the boat for much more than superficial maintenance really, and find that the licence, mooring fees, and general upkeep are costing as much as the general bills attached to running the house, I used to be much more off-grid than I am nowadays, and was really shocked at how expensive it can be to find even a non-residential mooring these days, so really keep this in mind if you think being liveaboard is a cheap option, it cerainly can be, and it's great knowing that you only have what you really need, but once you start looking for security and a few comforts, like laundry access and secure car parking, you may still find your bills are getting on for £600 pcm, which is about the same as a flat, which you never have to service or repair..

If I was still single, and living the frugal lifestyle I've had to at times in the past, I would say boating cheaply  is great, but I think balancing boat life with modern life, (job,car, healthcare, amenities) could be more expensive than you might hope..

[mrsmelly]

54 minutes ago, penny1996 said:

 

Also reported

Edited October 25, 2022 by Athy
Removal of quoted commercial advertising.

[MtB]

3 minutes ago, penny1996 said:

If you want to buy a solar generator for a backup power source, FJD portable solar generator is your top pick. It sells in UK market, too.

https://www.insvolt.com/

 

Very nice website, thank you. I'd like to buy one but I'm quite worried that your generators are all yellow, which is not my favorite color. 

 

Do you do them in colors other than yellow? 

 

Thank you.

 

[Alan de Enfield]

23 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

Very nice website, thank you. I'd like to buy one but I'm quite worried that your generators are all yellow, which is not my favorite color. 

 

Do you do them in colors other than yellow? 

 

Thank you.

 

 

The 'Yellow Peril"

[MtB]

27 minutes ago, Andy Keller said:

Possibly counter intuitive, as i've just joined this forum, about twenty minutes ago, but i clicked this topic as selling our boat is a consideration we're giving time to while looking to relocate to a more rural location.

I moved into my girlfriends house during lockdown and haven't returned to the boat for much more than superficial maintenance really, and find that the licence, mooring fees, and general upkeep are costing as much as the general bills attached to running the house, I used to be much more off-grid than I am nowadays, and was really shocked at how expensive it can be to find even a non-residential mooring these days, so really keep this in mind if you think being liveaboard is a cheap option, it cerainly can be, and it's great knowing that you only have what you really need, but once you start looking for security and a few comforts, like laundry access and secure car parking, you may still find your bills are getting on for £600 pcm, which is about the same as a flat, which you never have to service or repair..

If I was still single, and living the frugal lifestyle I've had to at times in the past, I would say boating cheaply  is great, but I think balancing boat life with modern life, (job,car, healthcare, amenities) could be more expensive than you might hope..

 

 

All good points, and particularly as the OP says they have children who will presumably be living with him on the boat, a (pricey) mooring with parking will begin to look very attractive compared to CCing. 

[roland elsdon]

Just exchanged the hovel got bored with the area and it only moves when the school run hurtles by.

If people want things enough they will ignore the short term. Our buyer was looking for over a year.

ignored the risk of price falls, mortgage rises.etc.

Lived in this hovel since the bug struck when we got stuck here, never planned to it was a let.

World is lobster again .

Getting contents into back cabin and 12 ft conversion is a challenge. Where do you put the lawnmower.

 

[Alan de Enfield]

Just now, MtB said:

 

 

All good points, and particularly as the OP says they have children who will presumably be living with him on the boat, a (pricey) mooring with parking will begin to look very attractive compared to CCing. 

 

 

CCing with children - now there's a challenge (to stay 'legal')

[Arthur Marshall]

Much depends on the children's ages, whether they are with him full or part time, and how much dosh the OP has to play with. As he can't buy a boat anyway until the solicitors have yawned their way through a house sale, what direction prices may go is interesting to help make informal decisions, but in the long run you're stuck with getting what you need when you need it,  or your available capital disappears in rent.

It's more important to have a definite idea of what you need (rather than want), and where you're going to keep it.

[Athy]

54 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

Also reported

...and removed, along with your quotation if it.

[MtB]

2 minutes ago, Athy said:

...and removed, along with your quotation if it.

 

You missed MY quoting of it though! 

 

 

[Alan de Enfield]

15 minutes ago, Arthur Marshall said:

Much depends on the children's ages, whether they are with him full or part time,

 

It does indeed - school age children, (unless it is school holidays only), will be a huge logistics exercise to ensure being moored up somewhere where they can get a bus / taxi to school and back every day,  is not the easiest thing to arrange.

 

Although, the OP does not say that the children will be living with him, just that he loves them. Maybe they live with their mother and will just visit him  during school holidays.

Edited October 25, 2022 by Alan de Enfield

[Athy]

17 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

You missed MY quoting of it though! 

 

 

It's still within the time limit, so feel free to remove it if you like.

[LadyG]

35 minutes ago, Athy said:

...and removed, along with your quotation if it.

 I see a quote

[Chris101]

Ok, thanks for all the replies.  I'll try to reply in one post.

To those that say just do it, that's great but I need to finance the boat by selling my house. It's really that simple. Not sure where you get your money!

For those asking if I'm commited, yes I am. I've lived far harder lives in the past. I get the fact it's not GnTonics and summer camping. I'm not being hostile in any way here, just stating that I realise it's pretty much full time work, living on a boat. Cost wise I get the implications, I've done the sums down to firewood. Not getting hostile. Again. I realise I'll have good and worse years depending on maybe battery life or a pump breaking. I learn all my skills and I like to listen to those more experienced because thats where you get the ripe fruit.

I have two youngish kids who I'm going to have to share (hence the 'murder'quote, definitely not true! ) So yeh, for a while I'm looking at funding marina life. Not my ideal but hey. I have kids with schedules.  In a few years time I hope to have the freedom to move about a bit more. I'd like a trad stern narrowboat with a boatmans cabin and a lister engine. Chances are I'll get away with a 10-11 ft widebeam at best because I put my kids first. Always.

 

What I was actually trying to guage was the movement of boat prices.

Reason being was not that 'i'm not comitted' etc but financially if I asked the wiser sage heads on here and the predicted a drop in a couple of months.... Might just be worth my while buying a cheap boat to begin with than trade up in a few months time. Better to lose  10 percent of 30 grand than 10 percent of 130 grand boat.

Just trying to gauge the market. I really was just asking for advice. No offence intended,

 

 

 

 

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

6 minutes ago, Chris101 said:

Ok, thanks for all the replies.  I'll try to reply in one post.

To those that say just do it, that's great but I need to finance the boat by selling my house. It's really that simple. Not sure where you get your money!

For those asking if I'm commited, yes I am. I've lived far harder lives in the past. I get the fact it's not GnTonics and summer camping. I'm not being hostile in any way here, just stating that I realise it's pretty much full time work, living on a boat. Cost wise I get the implications, I've done the sums down to firewood. Not getting hostile. Again. I realise I'll have good and worse years depending on maybe battery life or a pump breaking. I learn all my skills and I like to listen to those more experienced because thats where you get the ripe fruit.

I have two youngish kids who I'm going to have to share (hence the 'murder'quote, definitely not true! ) So yeh, for a while I'm looking at funding marina life. Not my ideal but hey. I have kids with schedules.  In a few years time I hope to have the freedom to move about a bit more. I'd like a trad stern narrowboat with a boatmans cabin and a lister engine. Chances are I'll get away with a 10-11 ft widebeam at best because I put my kids first. Always.

 

What I was actually trying to guage was the movement of boat prices.

Reason being was not that 'i'm not comitted' etc but financially if I asked the wiser sage heads on here and the predicted a drop in a couple of months.... Might just be worth my while buying a cheap boat to begin with than trade up in a few months time. Better to lose  10 percent of 30 grand than 10 percent of 130 grand boat.

Just trying to gauge the market. I really was just asking for advice. No offence intended,

 

 

 

 

Sounds like you’ve got your head screwed on 👍

I sold the house and gave up the career because I couldn’t be arsed with any of it anymore. 
If I had dependents it’d have been a different story. 
Theres only me, myself and I, so when things go tits up…there’s only meself to suffer. 
 

Good Luck. 

I do think we’re frit into a certain way of living life, 

Step out of that and it’s actually ok,
Life possibly gets better 🤷‍♀️

[MtB]

1 hour ago, Chris101 said:

Just trying to gauge the market. I really was just asking for advice. No offence intended,

 

Yes I get that. I think the market moves far more slowly than you think. I spent a couple of years marketing one of mine, fishing around for the price that the market thought was about right. Conducting viewings was an illuminating and educating for me as it was for the viewers, most of who were not ready to buy and fender-kicking getting a market education too.

 

I finally sold in March this year, possibly near the top of the market but not at top money as I liked the buyer and was happy for him to have the boat. Had I gone for top money I reckon I could possibly have got another £10k but that would have been luck not good judgement. I took the price that seemed reasonable and fair to both of us on the day. As it turns out had I been greedy and continued marketing I might have missed the boat and struggled now to get what I collected back in March, but who knows? But now the repo rate for home owner defaulting is likely to rocket, stand by for the boat market to hold up far better than makes logical sense. Equally it might crash as Sunak cranks up the tax rates and businesses and people go bust all over the place as the necessary recession is implemented to get inflation back under control. I bet you are too young to remember the grief and pain of 24% a year inflation back in the 70s. Bottom line I've learned over the decades is don't try to be clever by timing a market. If you can afford something you want on the day, just buy it. Later on you will see the market move and your decision will show up as a good one or a bad one, but in the meantime you'll have had the boat (or whatever) and used it and enjoyed it. This is what life's about, not saving a few quid or making a few quid. When your house is sold and the money is in your account, go out and buy the first boat you like and can afford and never look back.

 

Just my opinion. 

 

P.S. the right boat makes YOU buy IT, not the other way around....

 

 

[Momac]

9 hours ago, Chris101 said:

 Not sure where you get your money!

Hard work over decades. 

 

I expect most boat buyers who have a house are well into  their mortgage so their monthly outgoings are tolerable and they have savings plus can afford a modest loan.

For our first boat we had a modest loan and did not change my wife's car  when we might otherwise  have done so. We also did not holiday other than on our own boat . Out holidays remain on our boat to this day with only very rare exceptions.

 

If you do sell your house to buy a boat you will  find house price inflation far exceeds any boat price inflation  (based on past experience). So selling the boat and going back to a house in the future may be a challenge or  could prove to be unachievable. 

 

 

[roland elsdon]

Predicting the future value of an asset is impossible. 

The problem with boats is the high ownership  costs as apposed to houses.

Its more like part ownership. If you have a 100000 house your running costs are far lower than a 100000 boat, simply because in the house you are not spending nearly 10% of its value pa  on marina fees licence fees higher insurane certificates etc etc.

If its lifestyle then go for it, if its forced dont.

Living on boats stopped being cheap years ago, but as you are aware life is short . After 40 years of ownership and many trips in the same area i get a buzz when i check the oil, crank the lister and push the start button.

[pig]

56 minutes ago, roland elsdon said:

i get a buzz when i check the oil, crank the lister and push the start button.

check your electrics

[roland elsdon]

29 minutes ago, pig said:

check your electrics

Do i have to stop i enjoy it!

 

[Alan de Enfield]

37 minutes ago, roland elsdon said:

Do i have to stop i enjoy it!

 

 

Shocking !

[LakinZ]

 Boat prices may not drop this year; in fact, they might rise due to pandemic-related consequences.

[Ewan123]

2 hours ago, LakinZ said:

 Boat prices may not drop this year; in fact, they might rise due to pandemic-related consequences.

I had a brief chat with a chsp at Great Haywood marina the other day - they've just put the prices of all their boats down a couple of weeks ago, they've noticed a seasonal cooling off in the market.

[matty40s]

48 minutes ago, Ewan123 said:

I had a brief chat with a chsp at Great Haywood marina the other day - they've just put the prices of all their boats down a couple of weeks ago, they've noticed a seasonal cooling off in the market.

I have noticed many emails from ABNB recently with "new price" labels rather than "new to brokerage". This may of course be down to over pricing in the first place.

[Naughty Cal]

We have noticed recently that there are far more boats for sale on the brokerage pages that we regularly watch, than there have been for a few years at least.

 

(Same for motorhomes as well)

 

People are perhaps now starting to feel the pinch of interest rate rises and inflation on their budgets and are having to start cutting out some costs. A boat for many is an expensive luxury rather than a necessity so would be amongst the first things to be cut.