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We did what you are talking about doing, but not in London. It got us out of a flat we could barely afford and into a position where we had spare cash to save and are now in the process of buying a house.
Do houseboats appreciate or depreciate in value? What are the other costs? How the fuck do you finance a houseboat - surely you can't get a regular mortgage.
Generally boats depreciate in value over time. However you're in London and property the market is stupid so you could make money but I wouldn't count on it. Your profits will come from reduced living costs (no mortgage/rent, cheaper gas, no elec bill) but there are costs associated with living on a boat and it's not the fairytale everyone thinks it is.
You can get marine mortgages. I don't know much about them but I know they exist.
You need to consider:
*Moorings - Residential moornings are like hen's teeth and many moorings don't allow people to live aboard. Moorings are often several hundred pounds a month. They can be worth it if you get an electric hookup/tiolet disposal/water/etc
*Cruising - if you're not going to have a permanent mooring then you'll be a "continuous cruiser". This is what we do, there are plus points but you need to move AT LEAST every 14 days.
*Electricity - if you don't have a hookup then you'll be running all your electronics from leisure batteries. Some people have a big TV, xbox etc on their boat but it generally means running your engine to charge your batteries whilst you use those things.
*Gas - you'll be using LPG from a bottle, lots of places sell it but you have to deal with the logistics of getting it onto the boat when a bottle needs changing over
*Space - obvious really but you'll be living in what is essentially a corridoor (assuming you're talking about a narrowboat). If you have lots of stuff you'll either need to get rid or put it in storage. If you want people to be able to stay then you need to get a boat big enough to have somewhere for them to sleep too.
*Shit - What are you going to do with your poo and can you handle having to deal with raw sewage every other week? We have a porta potti, some people have a pump-out system. There are pros and cons to both.There's loads more to think about but those are the main things. I've owned a boat for about 5 years and been living aboard for the past 2.5. Feel free to PM if you have any more questions.
Also as someone else said @Jacqui used to live aboard too.
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Arducius
So Mum's become enamoured with the idea of me living on a houseboat. She's heard good things and wants to do the Rosie and Jim thing when she comes to visit.
On a scale of 1-10, how nuts is the following plan?
1) Buy a houseboat instead of a 1-bed flat, for a fraction of the price, while I'm young, single and foolish.
2) Have more of a fraction of my income to save, rather than paying a large mortgage.
3) In 5 years time have a bunch of cash/investments/whatever the boat sells for to spend on a nice place, but not as much equity.
Do houseboats appreciate or depreciate in value? What are the other costs? How the fuck do you finance a houseboat - surely you can't get a regular mortgage.
Just considering this feels nuts...