# Real estate idea I'd like to float by y'all **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 12, 2018, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-estate-idea-id-like-to-float-by-yall/817785 "2018-07-12T15:20:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2018, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-estate-idea-id-like-to-float-by-yall/817785/21 "2018-07-12T19:45:52Z")
Be prepared for a major increase in maintenance and insurance costs. If you’re not a sailor, be prepared for a major education for yourself, or to pay someone to do the worring for you. That said, what an awesome place for entertainment! Party on, Dude! ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2018, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-estate-idea-id-like-to-float-by-yall/817785/22 "2018-07-12T20:04:04Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > Be prepared for a major increase in maintenance and insurance costs. If you’re not a sailor, be prepared for a major education for yourself, or to pay someone to do the worring for you. > > That said, what an awesome place for entertainment! Party on, Dude! Not for me-I’m the kind of guy that actually listens to good advice. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2018, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-estate-idea-id-like-to-float-by-yall/817785/23 "2018-07-12T22:42:48Z")
Man, what a bummer. I always thought I’d like to live on a house boat. The cons are outweighing the pros. Too bad. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2018, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-estate-idea-id-like-to-float-by-yall/817785/24 "2018-07-12T22:44:22Z")
I’ve had to do deliveries to some of the floating house marinas (on the Columbia and in the Sauvie Island channel) and the gangways can be a real bitch–steep when the water’s low, slippery when the weather sucks and fucking awful if it’s freezing out. You have to schlep all your groceries and the like from the car, down the gangways and out to your slip whatever the weather and a few trips back and forth after a Costco run could suck donkey balls. Another issue is that if the river ices over it can split your pontoons or if it all shifts wrong you could end up with your house being real tilty for a while–I’ve not heard of a floating house tipping over but plenty of boats have done it in winter and the cost to right them is very high. I love the idea of floating homes but the reality is pretty daunting. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2018, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-estate-idea-id-like-to-float-by-yall/817785/25 "2018-07-12T23:01:04Z")
The best part of living on a houseboat is that if you hate your neighbors, you can just haul anchor and sail away. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2018, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-estate-idea-id-like-to-float-by-yall/817785/26 "2018-07-12T23:53:28Z")
The thing about a house boat, duck shack, floating home, is that the feds would really like for all these structures to be gone. Once the contract that allowed easement for the house expires, you have few options. You do not own any real land under your home. The governing agencies want you gone. Local residents see no reason to support you, because they would like you gone too. This is why the person wants to get out from under it. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2018, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-estate-idea-id-like-to-float-by-yall/817785/27 "2018-07-13T00:10:11Z")
Wow, this reminds me of one of my first dates with my husband, which consisted of him working on a problem toilet in a houseboat in Sausalito (CA). Back in the days when he was a plumber. I handed him stuff, hanging on a ladder on the outside of the boat, trying not to fall off into the fetid salt marsh. Which he was waist deep in. He always knew how to show a girl a good time. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2018, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-estate-idea-id-like-to-float-by-yall/817785/28 "2018-07-13T01:52:45Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > Wow, this reminds me of one of my first dates with my husband, which consisted of him working on a problem toilet in a houseboat in Sausalito (CA). Back in the days when he was a plumber. I handed him stuff, hanging on a ladder on the outside of the boat, trying not to fall off into the fetid salt marsh. Which he was waist deep in. > > He always knew how to show a girl a good time. was he charging for a helper??..considering what many plumbers charge, I know more than a few women who would happily slog through a salt marsh. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2018, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-estate-idea-id-like-to-float-by-yall/817785/29 "2018-07-13T02:23:02Z")
Where, exactly do the toulets flush to? I cant imagine city sewer would cover that. No septic tank. Chemical toilet? Not good. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2018, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-estate-idea-id-like-to-float-by-yall/817785/30 "2018-07-13T02:29:36Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Where, exactly do the toulets flush to? I cant imagine city sewer would cover that. No septic tank. Chemical toilet? Not good. Would you believe that’s been covered? From the linked article: > [@](#): > > The connection from our house to Portland’s sewer system is where it gets interesting. Each floating home has a honey pot. The honey pot is a tank with a macerator and pump. This diagram from Saniflow will give you the basic overview. With each toilet flush, the contents are sent to the honey pot. The macerator grinds up the nasty bits into a slurry which is pumped through a flexible hose under the docks and up the ramp. The hose connects to the city sewer system. So, gross but no worse than an RV hookup, really. Until it breaks, then it’s REALLY gross. > **[Floating Home FAQ – What about utilities?](https://marketinggoon.wordpress.com/2008/12/31/floating-home-faq-what-about-utilities/)** > > Our floating home has all the essentials:  cable, connectivity to the internets, electric power, gas, water and sewer. (We got rid of our land line, but connecting phone service is no problem). Exc… ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2018, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-estate-idea-id-like-to-float-by-yall/817785/31 "2018-07-13T11:48:20Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#): > > The best part of living on a houseboat is that if you hate your neighbors, you can just haul anchor and sail away. As long as you don’t mind paying the remainder of your slip lease. Mine renews annually and I’m legally bound for the entire year’s payments, no matter where my boat is. To Czarcasm; Remember - you’re not buying a boat. You’re entering into a full time, unending battle against entropy. A boat sits in water, and the water never stops trying. It tries to get in every crack, to rot every piece of wood, and to rust every scrap of metal it can find. Every minute of every day it searches for a way in. And fighting it is expensive. I have a 30 foot cruiser in a slip at the local lake. And even in freshwater it is expensive to fight entropy 24/7. I have a detailed spreadsheet since purchase, and I just checked it (and zeroed out all fuel costs for this example). My cost of ownership thus far works out to $11,370.00 per year. This is just regular maintenance, bottom paint, normal repairs (including seal leaks, etc.), slip rent, and insurance. This does not include the purchase price (and resulting interest), nor any fuel. I’m not saying it’s not a great idea, nor that it wouldn’t be fun to live there, but you should plan on some extra expenses simply due to being on the water. If it were me, I’d try to watch what I carried into and out of my current house for a week, and imagine doing that with a dock cart. Even for a simple weekend on the lake, we end up making two or three trips up and down the dock with a loaded cart. It might be interesting to see if you could spend either an evening or a night on it (or nearby). I’d be curious what effects the waves had during a busy weekend. It looks large enough to handle it, but you’d be surprised sometimes at what an errant wave can do while you’re boiling something on the stove. It looks as though that house is on the end, and wouldn’t benefit from the damping effects (on waves) that other interior houses would have. Just a few thoughts from someone with marine experience (however distantly related). ---
**Author:** ![dba\_Fred](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c37758/32.png) [@dba\_Fred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dba_Fred)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2018, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-estate-idea-id-like-to-float-by-yall/817785/32 "2018-07-13T16:34:35Z")
I can’t wait to hear about the three hour tour (A three hour tour!) \ ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2018, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-estate-idea-id-like-to-float-by-yall/817785/33 "2018-07-13T18:16:26Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#): > > The best part of living on a houseboat is that if you hate your neighbors, you can just haul anchor and sail away. Except these aren’t actually boats at all, they’re houses that float. A lot of the ones in Portland float on bigass logs, and moving a floating home is not an easy task. I watched one of those “weird homes” shows where a couple had a floating home built then they followed the process of moving it from the building site to the marina slip in the Multnomah Channel, and holy moly, what a process! A tugboat was involved, the house has to be moved excruciatingly slowly to avoid tipping it over, the weather has to be perfect with zero wave action on the water and getting it maneuvered into place without dinging other floating homes was a nailbiter. Getting it into the channel was comparatively easy–very little current, a fairly narrow protected channel, little boat traffic. Moving one into a marina on the Columbia has got to be a stressful experience–if a big ship comes by at the wrong time the wake could wreck your house. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2018, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-estate-idea-id-like-to-float-by-yall/817785/34 "2018-07-13T18:29:16Z")
But think of the built in excuse for turning down unwanted invites - “Sorry, we’re attending a wake that day”. The requestor thinks someone close to you died, but you know it really means you’re on the porch with a cold one just watching the boats go by. ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2018, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-estate-idea-id-like-to-float-by-yall/817785/35 "2018-07-14T10:17:08Z")
> [@SmartAleq](#): > > Except these aren’t actually boats at all, they’re houses that float. If this is the case, then much of my observations above do not apply. I lived in Seattle for a while and have seen (and been a guest on) a floating home. As I understood it, these were essentially barges with a house on top. Lacking propulsion gear (engines, transmissions, propellers) a lot of the maintenance expenses I listed aren’t applicable. I saw the term “houseboat” and assumed self-propulsion. I will note that I have a holding-tank+macerator+pump system on my boat and these are very sensitive to foreign objects. A visitor’s kid dropping a toy into the toilet will cost you big $$, as the macerator will self-destruct on any solid object. This would be something a homeowner would have to guard against. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-estate-idea-id-like-to-float-by-yall/817785.md?page=1)