Selling a home to live on a boat - does it really stack up?

[thenortherner]

Apologies for the cross-post, I just spotted this sub-section and thought my question might be better here...

 

I'm currently considering selling my home and using the equity to buy a narrowboat outright to live on full time.  I rented and stayed on a boat for a week to try it out in November and really enjoyed it, so there's no worries there.  I know this is only a small snapshot of time and there's the novelty factor but deliberately chose the coldest, bleakest time to try it out.

I'm in my early 30s, in decent employment, no debts other than a mortgage and I don't have any children.  There's a good few reasons for wanting to make a change.  I live on a new build estate - whilst it serves its purpose in terms of being safe, secure and low maintenance, it's generally quite a dull, soulless place.  This is why boating appeals.  There appears to be a really decent sense of community.  My home's very small and minimalist - I'm not one for clutter - so I can't see there being too much of a problem with transitioning in terms of space.  

I'd like to permanently moor in Cheshire and already live very close to:

Midway Boats/Barbridge,

Audlem Overwater Marina

Swanley Bridge

Nantwich Venetian Marina

I know some don't offer residential moorings but I've read a fair bit about blind eyes turned etc..

Lastly, and I understand completely why it shouldn't be the prime reason for wanting a change, is it'd allow me to become and live 100% debt and mortgage free.  If I were to sell my property, once all the fees and charges are paid, I'd be left with around £50-55K to buy a boat outright.  By the looks of it, I could get something around 55ft in decent condition that'd be suitable to live aboard on.

I've been trying to weigh up the pro's and cons financially of doing this and have looked both short terms and long-term/10 years from now.  The running cost of the boat appear to be realistic from the research done.

In summary, it appears not to make financial sense to do this based on the below figures.

I'd calculated over 10 years because if I made overpayments in line with the amount shown during this time I'd own my home 10 years from now.

The below suggests that whilst I'd potentially save £58K over 10 years through living on a boat, it'd only be worth perhaps 38K in 10 years time, so I'd only have liquid/fixed assets worth £96K in 10 years assuming zero growth or return on the money I saved through doing this.

Whereas with the house, if it were to be worth £150K in 10 years - it's currently valued around £140K - then I'd have assets worth £55K more than going down the boat route.  And after 10 years, I'd own the house and then have an extra £750 a month as there'd be no mortgage/overpayment calculator.

What comes to mind re. the point above is that whilst I'd own the house I'd be asset rich and cash poor.  So what's the point?  I could maybe understand if the house could be sold to later downsize and then use what's leftover but it's not really possible to get a house too much smaller!  On the other hand, with the £750 a month saved, it'd take almost 6 years to save the £55K I'd have done by living on the boat - then I'd have the best of both worlds.

Apologies for the level of detail.  I've just tried to work things out in honest and realistic terms.  I'd be really keen on your thoughts and feedback on anything on the above, and what you'd do in my shoes and why...

Thanks,

[frahkn]

It's easy to be too negative when replying to questions of this sort. I don't wish to do so but one thing shouts out at me from your query.

You have expressed it almost solely in monetary terms - long experience says don't move onto a boat for this reason; don't do it!

On the other hand, you can live on a £50k boat for less than the £12k p.a. which you are currently spending and as you are young, you are likely to bounce back from a mistake more easily than an older person would. 

Others will reply in more detail but some of your costings look optimistic to me.

[thenortherner]

Just now, frahkn said:

It's easy to be too negative when replying to questions of this sort. I don't wish to do so but one thing shouts out at me from your query.

You have expressed it almost solely in monetary terms - long experience says don't move onto a boat for this reason; don't do it!

On the other hand, you can live on a £50k boat for less than the £12k p.a. which you are currently spending and as you are young, you are likely to bounce back from a mistake more easily than an older person would. 

Others will reply in more detail but some of your costings look optimistic to me.

Thanks for your reply.

Maybe I wasn't too clear in my first few lines - money isn't the only reason by far.  It's a change in lifestyle as much as anything, if not more so.  

In terms of my costings being optimistic, please can you let me know where?

[frahkn]

You will probably get a lot more replies in the morning when the site becomes active again. If not I'll post my costs (for a 70' boat which is cruised for about 6 months each year) when my brain is working again.

Night now.

[MtB]

We now have two identical threads running. All replies please on the other thread, as has a good conversation running on the subject already