Marina Condo

Scouter

Active Member
Joined
Sep 4, 2008
Messages
28
Reaction score
0
Points
6
Location
Central Maine
Since real estate is depressed right now, I have half talked my wife into buying a place down south somewhere. Has to be close to/part of a marina within walking distance of a boat slip. So, looking for good ideas for a condo south of say Myrtle Beach or so. Plan is to do some fishing a few times a winter, will trailer the boat down from Maine and leave it all winter, back in the spring. Bonus points close to a airport. Thanks

Jim
 

ocnslr

GreatGrady Captain
Joined
Jan 31, 2005
Messages
1,907
Reaction score
43
Points
48
Location
Fort Myers Beach, FL
Model
Islander
This doesn't meet your "south of Myrtle Beach" stipulation, but we live in a condo community in Norfolk, VA. We have our own condo docks, on very protected water. It's ten-minutes at no-wake speed until you can throttle up and run out of Little Creek Inlet. All of the lower Chesapeake Bay, near offshore waters, and pelagic fishing about 40-70nm out.

We keep our Islander in the water all year, and we fish all year.

This was about four weeks ago: http://www.greatgrady.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9526

http://www.harborwalk.net/index.html

Norfolk International Airport is a ten-minute drive from our condo.

PM or email me if you have any questions. I am NOT in real estate sales.

Brian
 

Grouper Duper

GreatGrady Captain
Joined
Feb 17, 2006
Messages
148
Reaction score
0
Points
16
Location
New Port Richey, FL
We own a condo in New Port Richey, FL, and keep the Grady on a lift. I have seen some 1 bedroom places sell for just over $100K. There are 2/2 units available with slips (that's what we own) but they're more money, of course. Probably some "desperate-to-sell" folks there right now.

Our slips are very protected, and it takes about 20 minutes of idle to get to the open Gulf.
 

Z4J

Active Member
Joined
Jan 16, 2009
Messages
39
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Location
USA
condos are neat

Most condos are a great idea, no house to worry about. We owned a beach front for many years and it was wonderful. We had a very active condo group of 40 owners. We also had annual expences over and above our normal for major maintenance like roofing, repaving, elevators, code upgrades, dune replenishment, etc..

Word of caution: Condo owners are association members who are responsible for the care and expense of the facility as a whole. Be sure the condo is well populated with owners who take an active role in its management. Think, Insurance, Painting, Fire Code Updates, Lot Maintence, etc...

In today's market many Condos have problem or empty units and the expense of the whole is borne by the owners who are able to pay. I would want to see at least a 90% occupancy.
 

Scouter

Active Member
Joined
Sep 4, 2008
Messages
28
Reaction score
0
Points
6
Location
Central Maine
Thats good advice on the condo fees. My aunt has a condo in Vencie FL, she is one of about 20 of 60 units or so left occupied, some have been for sale for a long time, and some foreclosed. They are somewhat new, so the capital improvements arent bad yet, but monthly fees are pretty steep. Where is New Port Richey? Sounds nice

Jim
 

Grouper Duper

GreatGrady Captain
Joined
Feb 17, 2006
Messages
148
Reaction score
0
Points
16
Location
New Port Richey, FL
New Port Richey is north of the Tampa Bay Area by about 30 minutes, just over the line into Pasco County. We have wonderful Anclote Key right outside the channel for beaching/shelling/sunning etc., the Intracoastal Waterway to our South for cruising all you want, and loads of inshore and offshore fishing opportunities year-round. In the summer, we trailer up to the next county for scalloping in the shallow grass flats...great fun for everyone (our grass flats are loaded with them, but as yet we're a "no-take" zone).

Yes, the monthly fees are irritating, but in our case we sometimes don't get to the place for weeks at a time, and it's nice to know everything is taken care of. One REALLY nice feature is we have a very nice private boat ramp/dock area for launching and retrieving. Even though our boat is lift-kept, it's great for when we go to the East Coast, Keys or out for maintenance or even fuel. I've never had to wait, and never had anyone waiting on me; anyone that has used public ramps can appreciate the value in that!

We also cruise all the way down to Venice sometimes, too.

Our place is old enough that we've already had assessments for complete new roofs, new docks with lights, power and water, etc. We expect our A/C unit will die sometime since it's "past it's expected life" already, but who knows???

Anyway, we really enjoy having a boat/condo, but do watch the fees and condition of the units. Good luck!