House on the water or near it?

[Jim_in_Delaware]

The downside of building your own home on your own lot is the agonizing long time from contract to occupancy! Top if off with watching the mortgage rates continue to increase. We have 4.5% on our construction loan, and can't lock in a permanent mortgage rate until the house has been issued as occupancy permit.

Jim

 

[msavold]

@Jim_in_Delaware we're in exactly the same boat - and the tricky thing is timing the sale of our current house. Agent says they'll get the paper work done on the week end, announce the house as "coming soon" on Monday, pictures on Tuesday, listing goes "live" Thursday and expect multiple offers by Monday evening.
We've reached some weird level of insanity where a decision of $1 MILLION dollars has to be made in 24 hours or less.
But construction is not even started on the new place. And rates are rising - so, wait until construction is complete and risk missing out on the red hot market (which, IMO, will only get worse if the Fed does go up 1/2% in March and any people hesitating will jump in) OR sell in the spring and move twice?

 

[Crob83]

That is insanity, you know what you could get in Florida for 1.2 million. California is drunk

 

[HangOutdoors]

@Ronnie What are the Taxes on something like that in Discovery Bay?

 

[Ronnie]

That is insanity, you know what you could get in Florida for 1.2 million. California is drunk

Agreed but More like high in many ways.

 

[Ronnie]

@Ronnie What are the Taxes on something like that in Discovery Bay?

About 1% of the last purchase price. So for the Homes I am looking at, $10k per year, $200k if I live in / own it for 20 years.

for comparison our home is assessed by the county as having a value of $250k so the property tax is “only” $2,500 per year. Swallowing a pill 4x bigger, every year, is …..

I am still surprised that houses similar in ours have appreciated so much in value and they sell quickly. $1.1m to $1.2m “as is” pretty much stock 50+ years ago. $1.3m to 1.4m it’s conservatively modernized With the addition ofcentral air instead of just heat, new counter tops and newer gas and electric appliances included. Our realtor advised us to sell our home as is (in between stock and modernized), just paint the interior and replace some carpet.

 

[Ronnie]

July 19, 2022 update:

escrow Closed at the end of May. We stayed in a microtel nearby for two weeks waiting for the house to painted (interior and exterior) and for new carpet to be installed. We moved in around mid June and have for the most part been unpacking, Buying and building new furniture since. last week i ended up renting an uncovered 42’ long slip at the local marina.

All that stated and with the big portion of the work behind us, I’m finally realizing the benefits of living near the water. It’s usually hot here and we have had about a week of 100+ degree days recently. Previously this would not deter me from boating but now I don’t go out if it’s too hot. Instead, I will wait until later in the evening when it cools down or I will go out in the morning before it gets too hot.

my typical boating outing used to be planned at least a day ahead and accounted for 3 hours of travel, launch and recover time. Now it’s more spontaneous. That is, at 6 I may decide to boat to dinner or just boat. When I do I grab my boat bag, take the golf cart a mile to the marina, pull the cover and shore power and push off. I’m in fast water (out of the no wake zone) within 5 minutes. It’s the same but in reverse when I get back to the slip.

this has been life changing / life style change for me and I wish I would have done it years ago. It’s not just the convenient boating but being able to walk and just be near the water anytime has been great for my wife and I. It’s a small town of 16k but they conduct a farmers market every weekend, offer free movie nights in the park and sometimes hold food truck events with live music.

If you love the boating and have the means I highly recommend moving closer to the water.

Attached are a few miscellaneous pics
From around here.

 

[msavold]

You remind me of when we'd rent a place for a week. The compulsion to DO something every day because that's what all the $ was for and thus sitting around and "waiting until tomorrow was not an acceptable option.
Also gone is the mental checklist of "what do I absolutely need to have with us before driving 2.5 hours?".
I find that my weather window has changed too. Too choppy? Too hot, too cold? Meh, there's always tomorrow. And we still get plenty of boating days in regardless - I'd have to say of higher quality.
Oh, and you get to take a hard pass on those sunny long weekend days when all the clowns that don't know how to handle a boat (let alone the rules of the road) are out!
Not a bad lot of benefits. Fortunate we are!

 

[biffdotorg]

Good for you Ronnie! Best decision we made as well.

You are spot on in "convenience boating" that you will get to take advantage of that others will not be able to. All those days when it rains in the AM and then turns into the best day of the week or weekend, you get to go enjoy. Those quick rides to relax, or go get a meal are money!

Enjoy it all, you deserve it. Keep telling yourself that. Welcome to true lake life.