Just Some Thoughts

We get questioned literally three or four times each week why we would want to live on a boat or what made us move onto a boat. We often just say we hated our HOA (Home Owner Association) in the condo community on the bay in NJ so much that we decided to try something different. Something so flexible that if our neighbors started to act ridiculous we could simply untie the lines and moved to the next marina! But once aboard, after downsizing our life and house of "stuff" we discovered there were so many other benefits to living on our boat. It's cozy and charming. It floats and the floating is restful. We meet very interesting people on the docks and talk to many traveling the ICW (Intracoastal Waterway) from all over the eastern seaboard. It isn't that we wanted to become a cliche or anything. Moving aboard wasn't a life long dream either. It simply fit the time and disappointment we were feeling about our sour experience to something we originally thought was going to be our dream home on the water. I could write a complete separate blog on the evils of HOAs and what a little bit of power does to otherwise nice people.

Instead, I am now sitting on our aft deck with a high and low weather pattern converging over Wilmington, providing rain and a chill, and once again feel snug and comfortable. Swaying a little does not seem to be affecting my typing. It is appropriate that our home is named Quiescent (quies is latin meaning to rest). After a day of paperwork or working at the shop, to rest, is exactly what both of us needs.

I would go so far as to encourage everyone that has responded "I've wanted to live on a board always" when they learn we do, to just get your finances in order, have the yardsale, and just do it. Putting a dream off year after year dims the dream. It then can become simply a memory.

So after all I have said...Why in the world have put our home up for sale? It comes down to a matter of economics. Boats do not gain equity. Real estate hopefully will provide equity in the coming years once again. But until Quiescent does sell, I will enjoy my easy bake oven and Barbie shower while living aboard.