"Harry Krause" wrote in message
. ..
NOYB wrote:
Down here they're selling rack storage (same approximate dimensions) for
$160k+...and then charging a $225/month condo fee. And that's for a
soon-to-be-built facility that will take an hour to idle to the gulf.


A fool and his money...

I can't see spending that much money for rack storage but a decent slip can
be a good investment in some parts of the country.

We purchased a "dockominium" 55' slip 5 years ago after running the
numbers and projecting slip costs over a period of 10 years. The market
value of that slip has more than doubled in the time we've owned it. We've
had, and continue to get, numerous requests by boat owners to contact them
if we should ever decide to sell it. We didn't use it the first year we had
it (boat was still in Florida) so we subleased it for the season for almost
$8k. We paid $78K for it. The people we bought it from had paid $42K four
years earlier.
It was officially on the market for about 3 hours before I said, "I'll take
it".

The regular season lease slips in our marina go for $190/foot for six
months, so the Navigator would normally cost $9,880.00 per season, assuming
a slip was available. We "bought" the slip instead and only pay a
relatively small annual contribution for marina maintenance, electricity and
water. When the time comes to sell the slip, we will more than double our
investment and will basically have had a slip for free.

My boatless son caught onto this and bought a 36' slip as an investment.
The marina leases it for him (takes a 15% commission) at the current rates.
It's the best investment he has, return wise. He has talked about getting a
boat in the future and should he, the major problem of finding a slip is a
non-issue. If he never does, he'll enjoy an excellent return when he sells
the slip, plus will collect over $6k per season in rent.

I suspect this is a unique situation. Although new dockominium marinas were
banned in MA in 1991, the existing ones were grandfathered. You don't
really "buy" the slip. You lease it for 99 years, but the lease is
transferable, allowing you to "sell" it. Other than that, it's just like
buying property or a house, except the value goes up faster in this area.

Slips in MA are scarce. Virtually all private and town operated marinas
have long waiting lists for slips and even longer lists for moorings. The
slip rates, even at town marinas are going up every year (Scituate is up to
about $135/ft). Even if the market flattens (which there is no sign of)
for the next five years, we will come out way ahead. People may not use
their larger boats as much due to fuel costs, but they still have to put
them somewhere.


Eisboch