Dockominium

[Denis]

I am looking into purchasing a slip at a dockominium. I was interested in getting thoughts from other owners out there. This slip is in a very nice area of Mystic CT. The dock is about 15 years old and in very good condition, the grounds are beautiful with a picnic area nice clean bath facilities, a rack for dingys, fish cleaning station, holding tank pump out, boat lift, paved fenced in parking, winter storage. It has about 80 slips and I think about 2/3 of them are privately owned. If I take what I am paying for summer and winter storage presently I will be even in about seven years. After that my fee is about $500 per year for taxes and insurance. What are your thoughts, is it a good idea?

[AlMar]

Sure wish I had that option here. Do you get a deed, or just lose what you had in it if you leave?
AlMar

[JackK]

The dockominiums sure seem to be the wave of the future.
I'd be interested in knowing a couple of things ...
(1) What happens when the docks need repairs. Do they go around
and assess each owner $ X? I've seen golf course memberships
in FL do this to the point of driving people out of their homes.
(2) As someone else asked, Do you get a deed ?
(3) A real jerk buys the slip next to me. What can I do about him?
He "owns" the slip, I'm SOL?

Would love to hear from some owners. I figure it's only a matter of
time before some of these oldtime Northeast marinas figure out they can cash out for big money.

Jack

[Mariner]

My parents have owned a condominium slip in a marina since the mid 90's. About a year ago, they recently purchased another one as well as full ownership of the remaining non-condo slips in the marina, leaving two condo slips to other owners. In our particular market, there has never been a problem renting out the slips. There is no waiting list, but the phone is ringing pretty constantly with people looking for moorage. People tend to retain their rented slips even if they no longer own a boat, as they feel that someday they will buy another one, and want a place to keep it.

Owning a slip is the way to go if you are serious about boat ownership. You do hold a deed and it is considered real property by the county. You are assessed property tax on it just like a house. You can buy and sell it as you wish, within the restrictions of the condominium association. Dock improvements are sometimes a point of contention. They don't just "go around" and collect money. They improvements are worked out and voted on by the owners in advance. Sometimes there is disagreement on what people are willing to spend, but it seems to work out. The key is a well defined set of condo association bylaws. The bigger risk is the scenario of some sort of catastrophic loss. When we had a smaller boat, we found it advantageous to rent out our 40' condo slip to a sailboat owner, and rent a 30' covered slip at an adjacent marina. The rents washed, and it was a good fit for us. The covered marina was 100% condo slips. Unfortunately, a fire on one boat wiped out the entire marina and all the boats in it (including ours). We were lucky because we were just renting. Insurance replaced our boat and we were done with it. The slip owners were not so lucky. I'm not sure exactly what happened in terms of pay outs for the slips themselves, but I know this much. The marina has not been rebuilt and if it eventually is, it likely won't be covered. Those owners had paid a premium for covered slips, but now, their investment, if they ever get it back, will be valued at a lesser amount, becuase current zoning will not allow the construction of a covered replacement.

Ultimately, I think the problem is that a lot of the slip owners, upon recieving their checks from the insurance policy on their boats, pocketed it and decided they no longer wanted a boat, and therefore, no longer had a need for a slip. They just want their settlement checks for the slip's value and want out. Others are committed to rebuilding. There is clearly some infighting and it appears that it will be a long time before the marina is replaced.


Another problem with condo marinas is the underlying property. In our case, part of the marina lies on top of tidelands that are owned by the county and leased to the marina. When this leasehold expires, there is no guarantee that the marina will be able to renew it. The effect of that posibility is unclear. More than likely, the marina will simply continue to exist on questionable legal standing, but there is always the posibility that some envinronmentalist politicians will step in and force it to be removed. I doubt the insurance policy covers that.

Disputes with your slip neighbor are actually the least of your concerns. You deal with that when you rent anyway.

[Butch]

I think the key to the purchase is ....Are the people managing the deal creditable;what is the history of the place , are taxes being paid, how was the last large improvement assessed..

[JackK]

I'm not looking at these as a bad thing, just trying to learn how to protect a significant investment from someone whos been there.

If i could break even with slip fee costs in 7 years or so, I would seriously consider buying. Factor in that the slips fees are rising during that time and the dockominium purchase may look even better.

[Denis]

Thanks for the replys. I know someone who has been at this marina for ten years and six of those years he has owned two slips there. We have been there to visit many times, very clean facilities, nice boats, everyone I have talked to is very happy there. My present marina raises the slip fees almost every year about ten percent. I did not even factor that increase into my calculation. I am going to be sorry to lose my friends at this marina but that is the only down side I can see. My atty. is doing a through check into the by-laws and operation. So far so good. Yes you do have deeded rights and are a percentage owner of the facility.

[jleonard]

Denis,
What are you looking at..Mystic Cove east?
Jay

[Denis]

Mystic Shipyard
Den

[jleonard]

OK. Good. Better choice.
I'm across the river in Gwenmor.