When people call me to talk about floating home buying, they want to know about the moorage and the slip. What does slip ownership or slip lease mean? What is the difference between slip ownership or slip lease? Here’s the scoop:  Floating homes are, by definition, in a ‘neighborhood’ called a moorage. The Moorage is where the home is ‘docked’ or secured. Yes, it can change; the owner of the floating home can move it to a different moorage or slip. I will talk about moving the floating homes in another posting.

Moorages are organized in lots of ways, but for the sake of our discussion here, we are talking about whether the owner of the home also owns the slip OR is the slip in a moorage that is owned by a third party and thus, the owner of the floating home pays rent to that third party.

Slip Lease:

When you lease the slip where your home is moored you pay less for the house, but your monthly fee is higher. Look at it this way: the moorage pays for the water, sewer, garbage and any other assets such as parking or gate security, and then on top of that, you pay rent to the owner of the moorage for your space; your rent includes maintenance of the docks and the working parts of the moorage such as the community honey pot system, the ramp access and the dock repairs. You pay your own natural gas, electricity, internet and insurance plus property tax on your house. How much is the difference? It varies of course, but a slip with a fabulous view can be valued up to $200,000. A small slip with no view can be valued around $50, 000 to $85,000.  What to look for: be sure you like what you see in terms of the moorage and the condition of the moorage.

Slip Ownership:

When you own the slip, you actually are buying into the whole moorage. You will pay more for the house (think about financing) but your monthly fee is less. The moorage pays for the same things as the leased slip: water, sewer, garbage and security,  but you are NOT paying rent to someone for the space where your house is docked. Instead, you pay a monthly fee, part of which is (should) be put into a savings plan for repairs on the moorage. You are part of the a group (your neighbors) who maintain the moorage. The advantage of slip ownership is that your monthly cash flow and your tax benefit is better. The value of owned slips ranges from $100,000 to $200,000. This value can be rolled into your home mortgage.

Slip Ownership or Slip Lease?

What’s the difference?

Bottom Line:  It is mostly about cash flow. The cost of the house plus slip is greater but your monthly fee is much lower and can be controlled by you as one of the residents. Both property types have property taxes.