Houseboat?

a_silver_lining

I'm hoping this is in the right Forum, I realise it's less of a House and more of a Home.

I've been working on saving a deposit for my first home for a few years now and at 21 have 25K in the bank :j

I'm somewhat single and have been renting very very cheap horrid rooms for the past few years and I'm looking forward to having my own home. In fact I'm pretty sure that over the next year I'm going to have to find somewhere or I'll go crazy!

After a lot of research I have decided to buy a houseboat. I'm still exploring a lot of my concerns and issues with this and I was wondering if any of you moneysavers have lived or are living on one!?

Moneysaving wise I think this will be a good option for me. As I'd have no rent etc, my outgoings will amount to about £300 a month (insurence, fuel, mooring, water rent, maintaining it etc), pretty much what I pay now for my my rent. And I'm guessing far less then I'd be spending on the interest, tax and bills I'd be loosing if I bought a flat?

I'm opting for either buying an older boat and gutting it inside to redo it, or buying a shell and doing all the inside. I have my dad who had done up a fair few houses to help me out and will be able to do it on a budget. Either way I'm hoping that I wont be loosing too much money over the years on it as it ages.

Any thoughts?

- N

dexters_mum_2

Did you a recent (possibly a repeat) Relocation, Relocation at all, it was someone who was considering buying a houseboat.

There was one boat someone bought as a shell for £5000, then kitted it out themselves, now worth £430,000!

I *think* houseboats require a 25% or more deposit and you tp pay some mooring fees upfront, but I am sure there will be someone far more knowledgable than me to come along and help.

Good luck!

a_silver_lining

dexters_mum wrote: »

Did you a recent (possibly a repeat) Relocation, Relocation at all, it was someone who was considering buying a houseboat.

There was one boat someone bought as a shell for £5000, then kitted it out themselves, now worth £430,000!

Haha I did see that episode, and whilst I wont be aiming to make such a hefty profit, it would be nice to be able to not be loosing any money!!

And thank you I have a lot more research to do but I feel like I'm on the right path.

- N

lincroft1710

Whereabouts in the country are you looking for mooring?

Frugaldom

Hi Baibelle, welcome to MSE

I love your boathouse idea, but you could maybe check for any hidden costs involved so your anticipated budget covers all eventualities. £300 per month doesn't sound much and you'll probably still need to pay council tax. What if you have to move the boat for some reason? Or lift it out the water for maintenance? And have you researched the longterm investment prospects to ensure there's no depreciation that could adversely affect any future decision to sell up and move elsewhere? You've done so well saving 25k by the age of 21, you should be really proud of yourself. Well done!

I'll follow your progress with interest, as I'm a keen fan of alternative lifestyles. Wishing you every success with your longterm plans

PasturesNew

Google for houseboat forum and see what people say there.

This is the first I found: http://www.mvpicton.co.uk/
About an eviction. Not read it myself though.

SouthCoast

This agent is not sure if they are selling a house or a boat:


http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-10745712.rsp?pa_n=17&tr_t=buy

a_silver_lining

lincroft1710 wrote: »

Whereabouts in the country are you looking for mooring?

I'm currently working in Enfield, London and so was looking at the River Lee:

http://www.waterscape.com/canals-and-rivers/river-lee/map

A friend of my dads who lived on her house boat for 20 years since she was roughly my age suggested it as she said it was nicer to live along a river as the view was more interesting then a lock. She also said it was nice to have the ability to live further in London but be able to travel out to essex for holidays.

Nykmedia thank you for the lovely welcome! I've been lurking for a few weeks now and have made some very positive changes in my already frugal life due to this website so I'm excited to finally be able to be posting!

I have a few contacts who have lived or are new to living on their boats so I'm 80% sure my calculations shouldn't be masking any nasty hidden surprises but I understand that I'll need to hold back some of my savings as back up. I'm thinking I'll keep my ISA untouched incase anything goes wrong, but as I live way below my wage and alwa s have done I should be fine month to month, I'll just have to sacrifice some saving!

Council tax is replaced by water rent which should be £400-£500 a year for a 50ft boat. I will tripple check that as it would be a big surprise and dent in my budget if I'm wrong!!

And thank you I have my mum to thank for my determination to save. I tend to keep my saving and total to myself as people don't believe me and some people have tried to take advantage of me by borrowing money.

-

Thank you everyone else, I'm looking to live on a 50ft narrowboat, they can be bought second hand for 20-35K + so I hope to be mortgage free!

Curious_Moose

I haven't the foggiest idea about the practicalities of it all, but that won't stop me shoving my oar in and asking...have you considered renting a houseboat for a few months to see how you get on?

Frugaldom

I'll be rooting for you! I think it's great that you have achieved so much in such a short space of time. At least you already know your own potential and have plenty of time to make your own decisions and stay focussed on your own goals. Go for what you believe in and the worst that can happen is you'll learn by any little mistakes along the way.

PasturesNew, I read the MVPicton story some time ago and still wonder if the children got their goldfish back! I know there must have been a great deal more to the story but it still makes rather harrowing reading.

bubblesmoney

wont the house boat be an asset that depreciates much much faster than a house just like a car?? wont it be that much more difficult to sell it if u want to move on since there will be very few buyers for such things. insurance costs i assume will be much higher as well than for a house. a nice leak from a pipe at home might give u a nice fat repair bill but atleast the home wont sink like a boat. just some thoughts.

am curious to know more as well. if u have any useful links to this alternative way of living could u post them here

and congrats :T on achieving so much and saving so much so early on. i am sure u will do well what ever u do since u seem to have ur head firmly screwed on ur shoulders.