Abandoning bricks altogether

[seawitch]

Have read a lot on here in prep for living afloat...but one question keeps me awake at night..how many people who live aboard have the choice to go back on land (eg if illness forces move back)? I am not in a position to have a house to rent out (or a finished mortgage) while I transition to living afloat. No savings, no ISAs,no 'portfolio'... no money sense if truth be told!-( and dont really want any!)

 

It has to be sell the house to fund a boat.

 

So how many of you contributors have actually broken the land ties altogether?-or manage without having a place to return to when you are no longer able to sustain a life afloat ( for whatever reason)?

 

I want to get rid of the strain of a mortgage altogether- (my house is just an expensive storage facility for a wealth of crud that I have accrued over the years of having a family!)I work and plan to continue to do so for at least a time while I develop a self employment alternative, but the way I see it, I can help my sons get on their property choice ladder better while I am actually seeing some of my hard earned wages-rather than paying a ridiculous mortgage for them to inherit one small city semi between the three of them when I die, or worse - end up selling it (they will get stung for that as well) to pay for my own institutionalised care in my old age (because inevitably, as a teacher, I will end up in some kind of 'home'!)

 

I'm not a pessimist! no really- just really trying to think through all the possible pitfalls and considerations I need to take into account...I would probably made the move already, but house has been on the market over two years so have had lots of time to think about what others say ( especially the doubters and plan aheaders- in other words- extended family and outlaws!)

 

All thought welcomed

[larkshall]

purely judging from this site, its about 50-50 I would guess.

[mrsmelly]

purely judging from this site, its about 50-50 I would guess.

 

Purely your choice. I sold mine and never looked back. if you are too ill to live in a boat you are too ill to live in a house. My dear old mum of 91 has given me her fab old 17th century detached stone cottage which she of course still lives in but I have told her its going to be a dutch Luxemotor if she ever pops off before me and she thinks its a great idea bless her.

[Athy]

Welcome to the forum Mrs. Witch!

My first thought on reading your post is, if your house has been on the market for two years, you can't be that eager to get rid of it. What is the problem? Priced too high? Poor state of repair? Gypsy camp in back garden? Incompetent estate agent?

My second, rather disturbing, thought is, why should teachers always end up in "some kind of home"? As a former schoolmaster myself, I am intrigued by this statement!

[GUMPY]

I walked out on my land base 20 years ago and have now decided that a land base is a good thing to have as a backup so we are getting back into property, mind you it is in a riverside village.......

One of the deciding factors for me in this is that I belive that we have seen the best of the canal system and it will be in steady decline from now on as there is no money to maintain it. Also down south it has become a linear housing estate and cruising, especially in a larger craft is just no fun anymore.

[jelunga]

I walked out on my land base 20 years ago and have now decided that a land base is a good thing to have as a backup so we are getting back into property, mind you it is in a riverside village.......

One of the deciding factors for me in this is that I belive that we have seen the best of the canal system and it will be in steady decline from now on as there is no money to maintain it. Also down south it has become a linear housing estate and cruising, especially in a larger craft is just no fun anymore.

I will drink to that.

 

But back to the OP, we are just starting year two of living on our boat. We were in the fortunate position if not having to sell the house to do so. The original plan was to sell the house and have a new boat built. But sense prevailed. We bought a 17 yr old boat. Good decision. House now earns us rent money. If we do need to return to bricks we still have the house.

[Arthur Brown]

Lots depends on your health, If you CAN, then DO. BUT if you are approaching a health situation needing attention being "somewhere on the cut" isn't going to help.

 

I work full time collecting people for hospital appointments in an ambulance. Our firm certainly would not go off road in any sense to collect you.

[cheshire~rose]

Nobody can foresee the time when we might need medical attention or indeed find it a struggle to deal with stairs etc. The only thing is that as we increase in age there is a greater likelihood that it may happen. If you were unable to continue paying a mortgage what would happen? Your home would be repossesed and then you would be at the mercy of the local council or a housing association to rehome you. Not ideal but that is what would happen. If you were in private rented accomodation and could no longer pay the rent the same would apply. If you were in private rented accomodation that no longer suited you then you would to something more suitable.

The difference with living aboard is not so far removed. If the day comes when you cannot manage a boat any longer then it would be down to you to either pay for a private rented place or wait while a suitable home is found for you by the powers that be. Not everyone would be entirely comfortable with that but then many have no choice in what the future holds. Personally I do not think we will ever be without a land base to move back to but that is more about us not wishing to downsize to the area a boat will give us and we rather fancy only doing the CC bit during the summer and having a land base for the winter - but we may change our mind when the time comes.

[sueb]

The big problem is that we don't know how we are going to end up or when. We've been on our boat over 20yrs. When we started I would have been happy to have been left on our boat, now I wouldn't. As we have kept our house we have maintained our income and kept choices. I've seen too many come unstuck after making the wrong choice.

[Ally]

I was in a 'one or the other' situation originally, then our relationship split, so the boat was split...then I was in a ..caravan or boat shell...situation...I plumped for the boat shell and have been gradually doing it since. Land base is sensible, but we can't all afford it, so given the option, boat for me!

(get a toy boy to look after you when you get old, mad, and wear purple skirts!!)

[cheshire~rose]

(get a toy boy to look after you when you get old, mad, and wear purple skirts!!)

 

Why does that quote sound like the voice of experience? - oh no it is purple cloaks you wear isn't it Ally

[Grace and Favour]

We had to make Hobson's choice - - Boat OR house.

 

We chose boat

 

We took the view that as we were getting older there were going to be fewer opportunities to change our mind, or change our lifestyle.

 

The thought of 'This ain't no practice run' did it for us

 

As we can never be sure what tomorrow will bring - - we decided that if we were on a boat it would probably be more enjoyable 'when tomorrow brought it'

[Auntyfab]

We were working just to pay the mortgage. We took the big step last year and sold the house. It is not an easy decision to take but sometimes taking a leap into the unknown can be liberating. If we come to the point when we have to leave the boat we will deal with that at the time, but we have noticed that living afloat seems to keep people more fit and active than living in a house, and as you get older you just do everything slower.

Just remember when you are elderly you can live in your house and not speak to a soul for weeks on end, if you live on a boat just sit in your front well trying to read a book and everyone will talk to you.

[DeanS]

 

Just remember when you are elderly you can live in your house and not speak to a soul for weeks on end, if you live on a boat just sit in your front well trying to read a book and everyone will talk to you.

 

So true. Having been in a marina for the winter, we've met over 15 people (on other boats) whom we speak to on a weekly basis. In two years renting bricks and mortar, we never spoke to a single person in our street. Wierd that

[Ally]

Why does that quote sound like the voice of experience? - oh no it is purple cloaks you wear isn't it Ally

you calling me old and mad??

Well yes ok, the cloak and toy boy make me some of the way to old and mad!! (actually, thinking about it, I DO have a long purple skirt somewhere!!)

[blackrose]

Also down south it has become a linear housing estate and cruising, especially in a larger craft is just no fun anymore.

 

Then I guess those of us who liveaboard are responsible for this transformation. Unfortunately we can't have it both ways. If we live aboard (or have been living aboard for some time), it might come across as slightly hypocritical to complain about everyone else who lives aboard...

 

It's a bit like car drivers who complain about the traffic. They don't seem to realise that they're part of the problem.

 

Fortunately the Thames (which was down south the last time I looked), doesn't yet resemble a linear village.

 

The bottom line is that there are too many of us on the planet and we all want our little bit of its space and resources. That means we will increasingly have to rub shoulders with each other.

Edited April 14, 2012 by blackrose

[Guest wanted]

Our boat is our house, no other bolt holes available other than friends or family short term if it all went belly up. We have lived a resourceful life so far, living in trucks, trailers and even an old nightclub! I really struggle with bricks and mortar and always feel the need to have an option to move. (That's right Athy, I'm the gypsy at the bottom of your garden )

 

I say Embrace your new life and if it doesn't work out embrace another one!

 

Welcome to the forum and best wishes

[mrsmelly]

We had to make Hobson's choice - - Boat OR house.

 

We chose boat

 

We took the view that as we were getting older there were going to be fewer opportunities to change our mind, or change our lifestyle.

 

The thought of 'This ain't no practice run' did it for us

 

As we can never be sure what tomorrow will bring - - we decided that if we were on a boat it would probably be more enjoyable 'when tomorrow brought it'

 

Yes, life is not a rehearsal you grasp it with both hands and get on with it. The thing that always strikes me as funny about these threads as they crop up every two weeks is the " What happens if I get ill " attitude. Well if you are ill you may need to go into a marina and hook up etc but the boat is just as easy/hard to live on as a house, do people think that leveaboards are shot when ill unless go back into a house ?

 

Tim

[Neil2]

Surely it comes down to whether living on water is the life for you? Having cultivated ideas about living on the canals we got it out of our system last year by spending several months continuous cruising. I don't think we were thrilled to return to dry land but it made us realise that we weren't cut out for the liveaboard lifestyle. However, we met loads of liveaboards on our travels, many of whom had cut their ties (some out of financial necessity) with bricks & mortar, and I don't remember any of them displaying signs of regret. What makes them different to us I don't know, but we could clearly see there was a difference.

 

If we had been confident it was for us I don't think we would have worried in the slightest about selling the house, in fact I think we would have preferred to let it go.

 

I do wonder about what motivates people to move onto the cut though. We've been lucky in that wherever we've lived has always been a friendly community and I step back in amazement when I hear folk saying they don't know who their neighbours are, never see anyone to talk to etc. The waterways can give people a dimension to their lives that maybe they would struggle to find otherwise, but you still have to come to terms with the compromises, especially if it's a narrowboat.

 

What does take my breath away is when you meet someone who has sold up and commissioned a brand new boat with little or no experience of life on the canals. We met a couple last year who admitted they had never even set foot on a narrowboat before they bought their new floating home, that's an extreme example but we've heard many similar stories. There's really no need to take those sorts of risks.

[Roger Gunkel]

My wife and I have lived on our widebeam since 2004 and have no other home, unless you count a smal seagoing boat aswell.

 

If you really want to live on a boat then do it! Don't make the mistake though of doing it because you want to get free of the burden of a mortgage, just get a cheaper property. There is a world of difference in my opinion between buying a smaller house in a cheaper area and getting use to a differeent area and people, as against a totally different way of life. Living on a boat is different in so many ways and we love it, but we knew exactly what to expect and how to adapt.

 

I have never understood the British obsession with having to own a property. Everybody seems to want to run headlong into getting their own house and a lifetime of debt and worry. I have owned a number of houses over the years, but never because I wanted to leave a property for my children, nor could I see the value of helping people to get onto the property ladder and perpetuate the debt and allow house prices to continue to rise. As long as we make it possible for young people to get on the property ladder at all costs, then prices will never become more affordable. Many see owning a property as security for old age, but in what way? As long as you own the property then the monetary value is irrelevant. If you become infirm you may have difficulty maintaining it and may even be forced to sell it to pay for a care home. How about the kid's inheritance? They will likely have to sell it to pay for your rest home or fight over who gets what, or just squander the money on things they haven't been able to pay for with their own income. They can just as easily sell or fight over a boat, a caravan or a skiing lodge in Bulgaria. What is the point in working all your life for something if the only point in it is for your children to wait around until you die to inherit it instead of getting on with their own life plans.

 

As regards getting old on a boat, that is again an argument that I just don't get If the argument is that you may not be able to handle a boat any more, then how will you get up the stairs in a house to the bathroom , or down the front steps to the gate? If you can no longr handle a boat, get a boat that you can handle, if you don't want to be out on the cut, get a marina mooring with others around you. Other boaters will be more interested in your welfare than the faceless neighbours in houses would.

 

So some areas of the canals are becoming like a linear housing estate, but that is because many people buy a boat to live on but the life they live is consisent with living in a house in every other way. Change jobs, work for yourself, move to a less congested area., it's not neccessary to live like Rosie and Jim as Britain is surrounded with water and criss crossed with rivers and waterways. Live on a sea boat in a harbour or on a swinging bouy mooring, get away from the canals and on to the rivers.

 

Sometimes a change of life can mean some lateral thinking and making some real changes in your mindset rather than just replacing the house with a boat.

 

Roger

[mrsmelly]

Surely it comes down to whether living on water is the life for you? Having cultivated ideas about living on the canals we got it out of our system last year by spending several months continuous cruising. I don't think we were thrilled to return to dry land but it made us realise that we weren't cut out for the liveaboard lifestyle. However, we met loads of liveaboards on our travels, many of whom had cut their ties (some out of financial necessity) with bricks & mortar, and I don't remember any of them displaying signs of regret. What makes them different to us I don't know, but we could clearly see there was a difference.

 

If we had been confident it was for us I don't think we would have worried in the slightest about selling the house, in fact I think we would have preferred to let it go.

 

I do wonder about what motivates people to move onto the cut though. We've been lucky in that wherever we've lived has always been a friendly community and I step back in amazement when I hear folk saying they don't know who their neighbours are, never see anyone to talk to etc. The waterways can give people a dimension to their lives that maybe they would struggle to find otherwise, but you still have to come to terms with the compromises, especially if it's a narrowboat.

 

What does take my breath away is when you meet someone who has sold up and commissioned a brand new boat with little or no experience of life on the canals. We met a couple last year who admitted they had never even set foot on a narrowboat before they bought their new floating home, that's an extreme example but we've heard many similar stories. There's really no need to take those sorts of risks.

 

 

Greenie awarded for sensible post.

 

My wife and I have lived on our widebeam since 2004 and have no other home, unless you count a smal seagoing boat aswell.

 

If you really want to live on a boat then do it! Don't make the mistake though of doing it because you want to get free of the burden of a mortgage, just get a cheaper property. There is a world of difference in my opinion between buying a smaller house in a cheaper area and getting use to a differeent area and people, as against a totally different way of life. Living on a boat is different in so many ways and we love it, but we knew exactly what to expect and how to adapt.

 

I have never understood the British obsession with having to own a property. Everybody seems to want to run headlong into getting their own house and a lifetime of debt and worry. I have owned a number of houses over the years, but never because I wanted to leave a property for my children, nor could I see the value of helping people to get onto the property ladder and perpetuate the debt and allow house prices to continue to rise. As long as we make it possible for young people to get on the property ladder at all costs, then prices will never become more affordable. Many see owning a property as security for old age, but in what way? As long as you own the property then the monetary value is irrelevant. If you become infirm you may have difficulty maintaining it and may even be forced to sell it to pay for a care home. How about the kid's inheritance? They will likely have to sell it to pay for your rest home or fight over who gets what, or just squander the money on things they haven't been able to pay for with their own income. They can just as easily sell or fight over a boat, a caravan or a skiing lodge in Bulgaria. What is the point in working all your life for something if the only point in it is for your children to wait around until you die to inherit it instead of getting on with their own life plans.

 

As regards getting old on a boat, that is again an argument that I just don't get If the argument is that you may not be able to handle a boat any more, then how will you get up the stairs in a house to the bathroom , or down the front steps to the gate? If you can no longr handle a boat, get a boat that you can handle, if you don't want to be out on the cut, get a marina mooring with others around you. Other boaters will be more interested in your welfare than the faceless neighbours in houses would.

 

So some areas of the canals are becoming like a linear housing estate, but that is because many people buy a boat to live on but the life they live is consisent with living in a house in every other way. Change jobs, work for yourself, move to a less congested area., it's not neccessary to live like Rosie and Jim as Britain is surrounded with water and criss crossed with rivers and waterways. Live on a sea boat in a harbour or on a swinging bouy mooring, get away from the canals and on to the rivers.

 

Sometimes a change of life can mean some lateral thinking and making some real changes in your mindset rather than just replacing the house with a boat.

 

Roger

 

Absolutely spot on and a greenie also

[Tesla]

My wife and I have lived on our widebeam since 2004 and have no other home, unless you count a smal seagoing boat aswell.

 

If you really want to live on a boat then do it! Don't make the mistake though of doing it because you want to get free of the burden of a mortgage, just get a cheaper property. There is a world of difference in my opinion between buying a smaller house in a cheaper area and getting use to a differeent area and people, as against a totally different way of life. Living on a boat is different in so many ways and we love it, but we knew exactly what to expect and how to adapt.

 

I have never understood the British obsession with having to own a property. Everybody seems to want to run headlong into getting their own house and a lifetime of debt and worry. I have owned a number of houses over the years, but never because I wanted to leave a property for my children, nor could I see the value of helping people to get onto the property ladder and perpetuate the debt and allow house prices to continue to rise. As long as we make it possible for young people to get on the property ladder at all costs, then prices will never become more affordable. Many see owning a property as security for old age, but in what way? As long as you own the property then the monetary value is irrelevant. If you become infirm you may have difficulty maintaining it and may even be forced to sell it to pay for a care home. How about the kid's inheritance? They will likely have to sell it to pay for your rest home or fight over who gets what, or just squander the money on things they haven't been able to pay for with their own income. They can just as easily sell or fight over a boat, a caravan or a skiing lodge in Bulgaria. What is the point in working all your life for something if the only point in it is for your children to wait around until you die to inherit it instead of getting on with their own life plans.

 

As regards getting old on a boat, that is again an argument that I just don't get If the argument is that you may not be able to handle a boat any more, then how will you get up the stairs in a house to the bathroom , or down the front steps to the gate? If you can no longr handle a boat, get a boat that you can handle, if you don't want to be out on the cut, get a marina mooring with others around you. Other boaters will be more interested in your welfare than the faceless neighbours in houses would.

 

So some areas of the canals are becoming like a linear housing estate, but that is because many people buy a boat to live on but the life they live is consisent with living in a house in every other way. Change jobs, work for yourself, move to a less congested area., it's not neccessary to live like Rosie and Jim as Britain is surrounded with water and criss crossed with rivers and waterways. Live on a sea boat in a harbour or on a swinging bouy mooring, get away from the canals and on to the rivers.

 

Sometimes a change of life can mean some lateral thinking and making some real changes in your mindset rather than just replacing the house with a boat.

 

Roger

 

Well said, have a greenie...

[Grace and Favour]

My wife and I have lived on our widebeam since 2004 and have no other home, unless you count a smal seagoing boat aswell.

 

Snippy

Roger

 

Excellent post - - have yet ANOTHER green thingummy

 

(Edited to reduce file size )

[blackrose]

Yes, life is not a rehearsal you grasp it with both hands and get on with it. The thing that always strikes me as funny about these threads as they crop up every two weeks is the " What happens if I get ill " attitude. Well if you are ill you may need to go into a marina and hook up etc but the boat is just as easy/hard to live on as a house, do people think that leveaboards are shot when ill unless go back into a house ?

 

Tim

 

Don't go giving them ideas!

[smileypete]

Good thread, but anyone know of 80 year old or more liveaboards?

 

cheers,

Pete.