Selling up and living afloat

[Smelly]

Funny you say that... I've lived onboard for a decade now but health problems have had me worried I won't cope. I'm not one for sitting in a floating flat, I like to cruise and if I'm not up to it I wonder what's the point...

[sueb]

If you are sick the boat becomes a floating coffin. One sick friend has his problems made worse by his immobility. When you are well it is difficult to realise the problems

[cheshire~rose]

We stopped buying new furniture for the house a few years ago in the knowledge that we were going to rent out the house (unfurnished) in the not too distant future, so when the time comes to buy and live on our boat, within the next 6 months we hope, all the furniture can be chucked.

 

 

Much better to put it on Freecycle where people who are just starting off trying to furnish a home on a budget can come and collect it.

 

Some friends of ours once asked us to store some things for them when they took off to America hoping to carve a niche there and start a new life. Eventually they did manage it but it took a decade before they managed to get their green card finalised and during that time they were not able to leave the USA or they would have to start again. When they finally returned for a brief visit I mentioned to them about the boxes and cases of stuff we had in our loft and did they want to have a look at it to see if they still wanted us to store it. They had kept and emergency suitcase of clothing each in case they ended back here destitute. Wow, those candy striped shirts (for him) and massive shoulder pads (for her) were never going to be worn again no matter how great the emergency! The other boxes contained a few photo's that they kept but most of the things were now no longer the treasured items they had felt the need to cling on to, many had become spoiled (as they had not been packed very well) and most of it went in the dustbin.

 

I would tend to try and be as ruthless as possible in getting rid of "stuff" absolutely no point in storing anything unless it is of significant sentimental value. Photo's can be stored digitally. everything else will date and deteriorate. If it has historical value find a museum to donate it to. Freecycle, Car Boot, Charity shop and bin the rest.

[mrsmelly]

If you are sick the boat becomes a floating coffin. One sick friend has his problems made worse by his immobility. When you are well it is difficult to realise the problems

 

But Sue

 

If you are ill and move into a house do you suddenly become well ? being ill in a boat is the same as being ill in a house, I simply dont get what you consider to be the major difference. If I were too ill to ever cruise again then sadly I would stay on a mooring plugged in but still be on the water.

 

Tim

[tafelberg]

But Sue

 

If you are ill and move into a house do you suddenly become well ? being ill in a boat is the same as being ill in a house, I simply dont get what you consider to be the major difference. If I were too ill to ever cruise again then sadly I would stay on a mooring plugged in but still be on the water.

 

Tim

 

I'm with you Tim, if I got ill I would rather be on the boat thanks.

[Ynot]

We have ended up living on the boat for a while by default. We put the house up for sale with a view to downsizing and the market was very sluggish. After only a couple of weeks SWMBO spotted a bungalow which we ended up buying, so we now had 2 properties.

 

The obvious solution was to rent it out and shortly after the house sold, so now we have a tenant in the bungalow, no longer have a house, so the boat was the obvious solution. Its been about 6 weeks and so far so good. Worldly accumulated goods in a shipping container, a close relatives address for post, and money in the bank!

 

I dont think we will be rushing back to the bungalow, but then again, we haven't made it through a winter yet.

[GoodGurl]

But Sue

 

If you are ill and move into a house do you suddenly become well ? being ill in a boat is the same as being ill in a house, I simply dont get what you consider to be the major difference. If I were too ill to ever cruise again then sadly I would stay on a mooring plugged in but still be on the water.

 

Tim

i agree Tim, my husband is deemed critically ill but is still well enough to go boating all over the country, only drawback is having 3 monthly appointments at the hospital, but we still get 3 months boating inbetween appointments, i don't see that being ill would stop you boating, i have even seen wheelchair bound CC'ers that manage quite well.

[sueb]

But Sue

 

If you are ill and move into a house do you suddenly become well ? being ill in a boat is the same as being ill in a house, I simply dont get what you consider to be the major difference. If I were too ill to ever cruise again then sadly I would stay on a mooring plugged in but still be on the water.

 

Tim

If you can't get off the boat walking between the bedroom, living room and bathroom provides no exercise at all and hardly a change of view. It obviously depends what is wrong with you but I don't wish to end my days looking at a wall 3ft away. At least in a house you can move between rooms and get a different view.

[mrsmelly]

If you can't get off the boat walking between the bedroom, living room and bathroom provides no exercise at all and hardly a change of view. It obviously depends what is wrong with you but I don't wish to end my days looking at a wall 3ft away. At least in a house you can move between rooms and get a different view.

 

Buy a widebeam with decent sized rooms like we did then ya can still stay aboard if the size is the issue. Cant go as far but if ill that make sno difference and still have a hell of a cruising range on our boat.

 

Tim

[Scooby]

House renting has some risks (bad tenants/no tenants/ repair costs etc) but really should provide a decent income AND keep pace with any house price inflation. Money in the bank/building society will provide NO income and not even keep pace with inflation. Simple decision!

 

Buy a suitable modern house likely to have low maintenance costs and choose a location where the rental market is healthy.

Its hard but remember that you are buying a house to rent, not a house to live in.

(If the boat really is for only four years then maybe ignore this advice, but in reality it will be either 6 months or a lifetime)

 

Put your furniture in storage, this is usually more cost effective than trying to buy a house to rent that also offers storage.

If you do store your stuff in your tenants house then it must all meet fire regulations etc.

The better option (we were not brave enough) is to ditch the lot; by the time you leave the water you will be going into a rest home anyway!!!!!

 

Using the postal address of a relative (offspring) is good (as said above do confirm it will not cause problems) but ideally you should also get yourself on the electoral roll at that address. This is the first check made if you ever need to get a loan/new bank account or otherwise confirm your identity.

Sadly Jelunga is wrong here. I would have loved to stay on the electoral roll at my old location as it was a "key marginal". My new "offspring address" is in an area that's a one party state so its not even worth voting.

 

...........Dave

 

Keep a house and rent it out, money in the bank atm is terrible.

This is what we did, sold all our furniture including electrical items like fridge etc that way when renting you dont have to fix the fridge if it breaks, and no storage fees, no need to change your postal address just have your mail redirected by the post office £60 a year to a relatives, we have 2 cars and a motorhome and all addressed to our rented house and we live 200 miles away. We have a local plumber we use so anything the house needs ie gas certificate or burst pipe the tenant lets us know and i send him round. So far we have paid out about £400 in maintenance ie boiling service, gas cert and 2 water leaks, about £900 in insurance(buildings insurance). I havent visited the property since we left which was 3 years ago, collected 36 payments of £650 a month = £23400 less costs of £1300 = £22100 so far. Property has dropped in value but one day i might want to move back to dry land.

 

Dont agree. We sold our house and still have the option of buying another but cannot ever see why living in a house is any easier than on a boat if you are ill. The house we sold 5 years ago is at the present day still worth much less than we sold it for. Things have changed and the way we all bought and sold houses doubling the price every time over the years is long since gone. I get a good return from premium bonds and they are not losing me money. Yes we did rent our house out for a good price for a few years but it certainly aint the b all and end all. Why do a few ( not many ) people scare monger about the future, too ill to live in a boat is too ill to live in a house. My parents kept their property and stuck to the rules, my Dad died last year and my mumm at 92 has just given me her house, much better they had sold it and spent the considerable sum it is worth than just leave it behind. One life ..........live it !!

 

Tim

 

£30,000 of premium bonds = whatever you win.

 

£30,000 in the bank = approx £900 interest per year + it will increase every year.

 

if your not winning over £900 a year its better off in the bank.

[Naughty Cal]

Theo. We plan to do pretty much the same thing in a couple of years time.

 

Our plan will be to sell NC (not that we want to but we would have no choice) and buy and Isis 920, still capable of coastal cruising but much better suited to living onboard. Then we would sell the house and pretty much all of our belongings before moving onboard.

 

Some people may think that selling up completely is a terrible thing but if you own your boat outright you can always sell that to fund getting back onto the property ladder and buy a cheaper boat to get you back on the water.

 

We have been planning this for sometime now and hope that the next couple of years passes quickly and smoothly so that we can move aboard as quickly as we possibly can.

[mrsmelly]

Theo. We plan to do pretty much the same thing in a couple of years time.

 

Our plan will be to sell NC (not that we want to but we would have no choice) and buy and Isis 920, still capable of coastal cruising but much better suited to living onboard. Then we would sell the house and pretty much all of our belongings before moving onboard.

 

Some people may think that selling up completely is a terrible thing but if you own your boat outright you can always sell that to fund getting back onto the property ladder and buy a cheaper boat to get you back on the water.

 

We have been planning this for sometime now and hope that the next couple of years passes quickly and smoothly so that we can move aboard as quickly as we possibly can.

 

Yup

 

Spot on. No good being a " GUNNA DO " when we have retired too many people have fallen into that category and never got there.

 

Tim

Edited September 12, 2012 by mrsmelly

[bottle]

SNIP>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

£30,000 of premium bonds = whatever you win.

 

£30,000 in the bank = approx £900 interest per year + it will increase every year.

 

if your not winning over £900 a year its better off in the bank.

 

 

but one day he may be a millionaire.

 

ps. in Tims case it would make him a multi-millionaire or so I have been told.

[mrsmelly]

but one day he may be a millionaire.

 

ps. in Tims case it would make him a multi-millionaire or so I have been told.

 

 

Blimey Keith if only mate, if only

 

Tim

[sueb]

Buy a widebeam with decent sized rooms like we did then ya can still stay aboard if the size is the issue. Cant go as far but if ill that make sno difference and still have a hell of a cruising range on our boat.

 

Tim

Sure you have more room to move but if you are that ill you aren't going to be cruising anywhere. I have two sets of friends given up this year. One a lady who doesn't want to cruise alone and a couple who can no longer handle the boat.

[mrsmelly]

Sure you have more room to move but if you are that ill you aren't going to be cruising anywhere. I have two sets of friends given up this year. One a lady who doesn't want to cruise alone and a couple who can no longer handle the boat.

 

Hi Sue

 

Yes thats sad. But it goes back to what I said in a previous post that i would still rather be tied up on a good mooring if ill than stuck in a house if ill. Its just not true that illness alone forces a move to a boring ex lifestyle. A boat is just an alternative lifestyle such as a mobile home etc, houses are just one of many places to live and certainly for many of us not the first choice.

 

Tim

[Alanji]

My wife recently died after a long illness, so I reiterate the views of do it while you can - we had a great ten years travelling. Now intending to buy a boat for the summer and a flat in Spain for the winter - comments on practicalities welcome. No narrowboat experience but have done a fair bit of cruising on Grand Union, Thames, Broads and a great week on the Great Glen (with good weather!) so have hired a narrowboat for a week on 30 Sept to see if the dream is worth pursuing. If not it will probably be an ocean going yacht or a motor home.

I have already found this site invaluable and no doubt will continue to do so.

One question I am sure has been answered elsewhere, but I have not yet found - what do you do about a doctor, dentist etc?

To contribute a bit back, I am fairly finacially savvy, having been a tax and financial advisor at one stage, so:

Financial advisors are like most occupations - if you get a good one they can be worth their weight in gold, a bad one can lose you a lot of money. If using I would strongly recommend a fee basis (any commission will be rebated). There is so much information on the net nowadays that I would suggest researching and doing it yoursself if you have the time - two good sites to start if you have not already found them:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/ including forums

http://www.fool.co.uk/index.aspx including boards

Like here, on both these boards, there are many kind people who will help.

Regarding bonds, beware, you can lose money - there is no such thing as a cast iron guarantee.

I am sure most know not to deposit more than £85k in any one account but well worth reiterating. The £85k is per institution not per account - check out here http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/safe-savings.

I am sure I will have a lot more questions over the next few months.