Buy a boat slip?

[douglee25]

What concerns me more is Safe Habor's business practices. They are a joke. They are literally trying to make every marina compete at prices that support year round boating like Florida or Texas. I still wonder how legally they can basically have a monopoly on marinas in the US?

Specifically regarding the slip purchase... If you have a friend that's tied to the banking industry with mortgages, see if you can get in touch with their underwriting group and ask them what you're proposing to buy. Some groups will specifically not lend on housing that's built in/on water because there's no way to tie ownership to the water... Especially if it's owned by the Corp of Engineers. You're basically buying 'paper' with little value. Just do your research.

 

[wayne0]

We are in Newburyport, MA and our marina has several slips for sale. (Newburyport Yacht Club) Voted one of the best marinas on the Merrimack river. We bought ours in 2004 and never looked back.
Safe deep water dockage
You have to deal with some wacky currents some times. Great amenities.
If it fills your needs, go for it.

 

[Pirate Lady]

See this development? Every home comes with rights to a slip, most are empty. They are not allowed to sublet or lease the slips so most sit empty.
It’s a GD waste of good wood.

 

[exsailer]

Get out of Kent Narrows, come to Middle River. fees are $1800 - $4000 a year with winter storage on land about $25 a foot. Lots of marinas cause competitive pricing here.
There is no reason to pay those prices on the bay.
Ask Techmitch and Darkside what they pay. They in some of the fancier marinas.

Just to take the other side of this. Anchorage Marina in Canton(Balt MD/inner harbor) has private party slips for sale that I would say are cheap. Now they have annual fees and currently are rebuilding floating docks thus assessments. I believe the overall cost saves you money depending on what your alternatives are. The parking at A.M. is a real PITA but it can be made to work.

 

[Skybolt]

Yes, we're at Bobay. Actually Piney Narrows is another one.

I was able to get a really good deal on a 60' at Piney. It's under the new covered slip that you referenced earlier in this thread. I won't be using it until next winter though. I already upped at safe harbor for next summer. But after that Piney will possibly be the new home for the boat.

 

[Blueone]

What concerns me more is Safe Habor's business practices. They are a joke. They are literally trying to make every marina compete at prices that support year round boating like Florida or Texas. I still wonder how legally they can basically have a monopoly on marinas in the US?.

I am no fan of safe harbor… been at one for a couple of years…. However We never got a price increase…. They did invest as well. I think they look at demand and availability and price accordingly…. In my case they were 60% occupied

 

[Skybolt]

I am no fan of safe harbor… been at one for a couple of years…. However We never got a price increase…. They did invest as well. I think they look at demand and availability and price accordingly…. In my case they were 60% occupied

Yeah were about that now from what I can see. This year they went from annual contract's to seasonal and are charging the same for summer what they were getting for annual. Then they added in $50/ft to say in the water and $32/ft to be on the hard.

That is all leading to the 24 season being upped to something a lot more. They are also putting in new floating docks everywhere so they want there money back. They charge by the slip, meaning 50', 60' and new this year 70'. That is where they are going. The whole marina will be floating at some point. And the slips are going up in price by 2-3K per slip and that's only this year.

 

[northshore]

Please have a look at the zoning in adjacent areas.
The one dockdominium around us has some noisier industry popping up around it.
It was not silent to start, but it just got a bit worse.

 

[Skybolt]

Please have a look at the zoning in adjacent areas.
The one dockdominium around us has some noisier industry popping up around it.
It was not silent to start, but it just got a bit worse.

Good point, but luckily it is already land locked with what it will have. It's already a bit noisy since rt50 is close by. But the only other thing around it is park land and a boat yard that is doing really well.

 

[Henry Boyd]

We are in Newburyport, MA and our marina has several slips for sale. (Newburyport Yacht Club) Voted one of the best marinas on the Merrimack river. We bought ours in 2004 and never looked back.
Safe deep water dockage
You have to deal with some wacky currents some times. Great amenities.
If it fills your needs, go for it.

We looked at some slips there in 21 for our Sabre and passed on them. The facilities were very nice, the available slips were just too much of a pita to get in and out off. The economics were good but of limited value, e.g outside storage included would require shrink wrap that costs almost as the heated inside storage costs us now.

We do own a dock with our neighbors in the river behind our house. We kept our 280 there for many years but had to move in 16 because the river was filling in and our access window to the ocean was growing shorter every year. In 18 the town started talking about dredging, and they are still talking. As SBW noted earlier there are a lot of costs associated with owning a dock. This past summer the neighborhood chipped in and we spent $21k on new floats and rebuilt the foundation. It was “interesting” getting all of the paperwork through the town and state approved.