Landlubbers pay a premium to live — but what about those who want to reside in a boat?
In an increasingly unaffordable real estate market, internet denizens are taking more interest in the optics of living on the high seas. Or at the very least, in some cool houseboats docked in local marinas.
According to new research from Rightboat.com, a dating app of sorts for matching boat buyers and sellers, Americans stand to save thousands by living on a boat and many increasingly are “taking to the water as a more affordable option,” especially when comparing marina fees to rent.
Indeed, in the past year, Google searches for “how to live on a boat” have increased by 71%, while “how to live in a van” — with #VanLife being a buzzy lifestyle that took particular prominence several years ago — searches apparently decreased by 11%, reported Rightboat.com. (The site does not sell boats, but streamlines the boat-buying process.) On TikTok, the #boatlife hashtag has amassed 7 billion views, 33% of which are from the US alone.
Queens houseboat owner Ben Sargent can certainly understand the watery alternative lifestyle outpacing the wheeled one.
“Van life sounds so great but every time you pull up in a spot, if it’s not a designated campgrounds, you’re kind of worrying that the town’s police are going to roll through and ask you to move,” said Sargent, whose two ships enjoy long-term water parking at a Rockaway marina.
Those looking for the cheapest answer, though, may be better suited to van life. Despite Rightboat.com’s findings that Americans stand to save thousands by living on a boat, Sargent says the lifestyle isn’t necessarily much less expensive.
“There’s no such thing as rent-stabilized in a marina,” said Sargent, who’s called the larger of his two boats — the smaller of which he is currently selling — home for a decade.
While he admits that buying a boat is generally much more affordable than buying a house, he warns that, in the winter, getting potable water and heat become not just pricey, but physical challenges — significantly raising the price of waterborne utilities.
“The docks here are not insulated and they basically cut water off to your boats,” he said of his marina, explaining that means it becomes necessary for boat-owners to bring in their own water.
“It’s not for everybody.”
Despite it, Sargent has found community at the marina, where surfers flock in the warm weather months and then, after they retreat in the wintertime, “the more hardcore of us are leftover.”
But it’s not just houseboat homeowners in New York City. Communities around the world are known for housing houseboats — such as in Amsterdam and Paris. But head west to Santa Barbara, California, and someone looking to live a rather luxe houseboat life now has an option available for sale — for $4.9 million, the Wall Street Journal reported last week.
(Patricia Ruben of Sotheby’s International Realty shares the listing with brokerage colleague Alan Melkonyan and Bryony Atkinson of Maisonre.)
The roughly 50-year-old Thomas Jefferson spans some 1,300 square feet — and its seller, Jeffrey Wapner, is looking to part ways with it in order to travel more. It’s one of four houseboats permitted to float in its harbor after Santa Barbara banned new houseboats eight years ago.
Wapner previously lived in New York, but moved back to California to be closer to family. What’s more, he didn’t want to live in a traditional home and began researching boats and vessels for sale, the outlet reported. At the time, the Thomas Jefferson asked $650,000 for sale — its slip included in the asking price — and was 700 square feet in size.
Despite the stylish look of his houseboat, he told the Journal calling it his home didn’t come without its challenges. A year after moving in, he found rot, termite damage and issues with the framing.
“I didn’t intend on remodeling the entire home,” he told the Journal. “But I’m not the type of person who could live on what I knew was a rotting and basically sinking ship.”
So, he tore it all down and rebuilt it — putting in some $2 million into the final result, which boasts a kitchen, a dining area, a workshop and even space for laundry.
Beyond chic settings, however, there are the aspects that are just plain cool. The Journal notes his home rides the motions of the tide, but he doesn’t notice it much.
While these houseboat listings are new, houseboat living — at the very least in New York City limits — has been around for some time. Even at least several years ago, liveaboards agreed that marina life can feel much more amiable than most concrete jungle housing setups.
“In the city, you rarely know your neighbors,” Will Haduch once told The Post of life on his Pacemaker yacht in Jersey City. “But whenever I walk down the dock, I have four parties to choose from.”
Williamsburg resident Kristina Marino agreed, at the time saying of her stint on a 1967 Euroline craft in Jamaica Bay, Queens. “The marina is so social … Everyone knows everyone. It’s like a college dorm.”