Woman Living on a Charming Houseboat to Beat Expensive Rents
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The advantage of living on your boat is you avoid property taxes.
When I got here, the rent was $800 per sleep.
When you make changes, things in you change on a level you'd never expect.
Hi, I'm Rose, and this is my boat, Amore.
Let's take a tour.
Welcome to my living room.
The way I decorated my space was inspired by my love for the nature.
Some people use special boat furniture,
but for me, I just love the pieces I have.
I did keep my couch that I moved with me from Los Angeles.
That's a sleeper.
For me, a sleeper sofa was an essential,
and this one actually has a regular mattress.
You know, every now and then, I air it out.
I make sure there is no mold and mildew issue,
which is relatively good in this boat.
Some pillows I kept from my older apartment.
This coffee table that I moved with me from Los Angeles,
a lot of things I had to let go of, but I do feel that
if you surround yourself with colors and textures that you love,
it definitely will set the mood and create a better atmosphere.
One thing that is different from a regular apartment
is probably the view you have.
Out of my window, I can see the beautiful Las Olas Boulevard
here in downtown Fort Lauderdale.
Other than that, if passing boats create wake,
you would feel that motion in the boat,
despite that we're in a dead end and we have little to no motion.
But with hurricanes and storms, you might feel a bit of a feeling
that you are on a vessel as opposed to a tiny home or an apartment.
But I guess that is a good sacrifice for living on a boat
and enjoying beautiful nature and gorgeous views.
Now that you've seen my living room, let's check out the kitchen.
When I first got here, this space was all painted in white
that already lived its age, and it was just not looking so good.
What I wanted to achieve was just old rustic wood,
but in fresh colors and paint.
That's what I did on the entire interior, including the cabinet.
I used also table spreads that go on an accent wall.
I tried a few different peel and stick solutions.
Nothing was looking so good.
And eventually the runners that I used just for the countertops,
I used on the actual wall and it just looked good.
So there's a few things that I had to do out of box
to make it look more natural and more appropriate for the setup.
It's a bit of a small space, but everything is functional.
This is not too much different than in regular apartments.
I have a direct water hookup from the city, which the water flows
any time of the day as long as it's connected, which stays on at all times.
And then I have a water heater that produces instant hot water
on one of the spigots.
I have a split sink that I use for dish drying.
Usually the boats have options for electric and gas appliances.
I have lately had to resort to electric only option only because it is safer.
I have been living alone and I want to avoid potential issues.
And I have shut the gas.
Lately, I've replaced my fridge into a residential fridge
that only runs on electricity.
I'm directly hooked to shore power, so there is always a supply.
My next project would be to replace my gas stove that I don't usually use.
I ordered the electric stove top that I'm usually using for cooking.
I have had to optimize a lot of the cabinet space,
make different shelving for my different items and appliances.
I have had to optimize space as well here by creating shelving.
I have my little coffee station here.
Other than that, yeah, it's quite functional.
I wish I had more counter space here as opposed to there,
because usually in this area, cooking.
But it actually has space for everything I need.
Definitely a minimalistic space works.
The counter space I needed on the other side happens to be here,
so I utilized it for having whatever I can fit in here.
As you see, it's a bit cluttered.
This is my fancy water station.
This printer does a good job printing my book, which I recently written.
It's called The Honey Bee Method.
My sister-in-law in London gave me a gift, which she printed it on this fancy book.
So I use a paper trimmer to cut it into pages,
and it looks like it's doing a pretty good job.
So even having your publishing house on a boat is a possibility.
So why not dream big?
I actually wanted to run over this storage space here.
I have plenty of cabinets here.
This one in particular cabinet helps
because it has a pull-out trash enclosure.
That's pretty much it.
All right, that was my kitchen.
It works. It's small, but it fits all the boxes for me.
But whatever I want to do, cooking, printing, water station, coffee, tea,
everything that I need, I can find in my kitchen.
I grew up in a small country called Armenia.
My family moved to England following the economic downturn in the country.
That's when I spent about 10 years of my life.
Then I moved to America, where I felt like the dreams
materialize on a different level.
I was staying in an Airbnb here in my favorite city of Fort Lauderdale.
Coming out of my room, in fact, the lady stopped me right here on the docks
and she was looking for a potential buyer.
And little did I know it was me.
I bought my first boat, which happens to be next door
that I'm doing short-term renting.
And that's where I felt that new life has started on the water.
And then my other neighbor saw me working on the boat
and felt that he could use help with these other boats.
And he wanted to find a new buyer.
There was an opportunity I took advantage of.
And he parted with his boat, which I'm currently on.
It's called Amore, Love in Italian.
And I felt that, you know, that's exactly what I wanted at the time.
Currently, the market value of a boat like this,
which is a 1996 Catamaran Cruiser houseboat, is around $130,000.
When I got here, the rent was $800 per slip.
I was renting two slips, so it was paying $1,600 a month.
Then later on, due to the hurricanes and insurance hikes
and economy, prices have changed,
and market rate has substantially been impacted.
So the new management company raised the slip rent to $1,500 per slip,
which is a sharp increase, almost double in price.
It was a significant change.
However, it is what it is.
I don't think it will go down, but hopefully it doesn't go up.
The advantage of living on your boat, and especially this location,
is you avoid property taxes and housing association fees,
which can be in thousands,
depending on the size of your lot or your county.
Broward County is usually a highly sought after area,
and this location in particular are quite prestigious.
We're surrounded by multimillion dollar homes.
So here we are in the hallway.
The kitchen was just behind us.
This is the bunk bed area, which is one of my favorite parts for guests
because there's so much space in here.
There's two regular double beds, and it comes in very handy
when I have visitors or guests or family.
This is my latest addition where I added a curtain for privacy
and I have little candles up on top for ambience.
So at night, it looks romantic, it needs to be.
I've added some fire alarms here and there, just made sure it's like a safe area.
But this was probably the main addition to this area.
The frame was here, but I have had to put this marine ladder,
which actually is an external ladder just to go into the water.
But it works perfectly here.
So I have a lorry climb bar.
I mean, you've got to be a bit athletic.
It does not take too much space.
And then I can put this back, stow away.
Here I can use for storage, but under the bed, there is so much storage.
That's what I love about this boat.
All the beds have storage areas.
So I made little pull out drawers to optimize this space.
And I have my big ironing board and a bunch of stuff
I don't usually use on a daily basis.
So it's a great area to keep things stowed away.
Last bit of storage.
There's this closet space here.
And here on my left, there is the bathroom, which I'll show you next.
Here is the bathroom.
I love the counter space here because it's actually longer
than a regular bathroom on a boat.
I have this large mirror.
I love ambient lighting here in the corner.
I added this cute little lamp.
I do have a lot of storage space, shelves and drawers
that I used all my products, cleaning products or cosmetics.
Here on my left, I do have a toilet.
That is what's different from regular apartments
because it's a foot flush toilet, a fresh water toilet
that goes into a holding tank.
And here on my left is a walk in shower with a curtain.
Overall, I love this bathroom, especially because I have this gorgeous view
on a good day when there are no boats around me.
I can open my curtains and see this beautiful Las Olas Boulevard.
Just a short walk from the bathroom here, you enter the bedroom,
which is this self-sufficient space where I have a beautiful queen
bed with a regular mattress and I use mattress topper for extra comfort.
This bed has plenty of storage underneath.
I do have a large closet space here with double doors
that houses lots of dresses and shoes and lots of storage space.
Here I also have pull out drawers and for essentials and extra closet space.
Also on the right, there is a similar setup.
Since we're in Florida, all I have to do is wake up
and put a light summer dress on.
So that itself cuts my closet space significantly.
So on the back here, I have French doors opening up to the back
where I have extra sitting area and my little boat that I use for cruising.
So I can wake up, get my cup of coffee and go cruising.
When I first bought the boat, I actually used the bunk bed to sleep on
because this area I finished the last and when I slept on this bed first time,
I felt that that's the best sleep I've ever had because I left my windows
and doors open, even though there is a bit of a traffic noise.
But I love fresh breeze like we have right now and just feeling the wind
and waking up to the sunrise and on a full moon.
I can actually see from my window to right from my bedroom.
And that really makes a huge difference when you can just
boon gaze and welcome the sunrise in the morning.
Next up, I'm going to take you to my favorite part of the boat.
Welcome to the second floor of the boat, which is the upper deck.
Here is where I spent most of my time when the weather is nice.
I love creating music, which I do on my grand piano,
which I dragged here on my own.
And then this is a nice sitting area where you can enjoy dinners or have guests.
And my favorite part is probably the hammock to relax in.
And it just worked out there.
So that's my latest addition to the deck.
If you're planning to live on a boat and you have outdoor areas,
one thing to know is that everything gets affected by weather conditions
such as strong winds, hurricanes, rain and storms.
And unfortunately, I had to redo my deck cover and design
three times in three and a half years between the sun and the moisture.
Things wear out.
I have managed to cover up my piano, but rugs and anything that could
soak in moisture unfortunately gets worn out very quickly.
But I love having things around, including pillows.
And I find it that I would rather replace than not have any.
Here in the evening, you have beautiful purple lighting
and it completely transforms the deck.
And I added a lot of solar lights right here.
And I love little lanterns and the corner lights that just torch
lights that come on in the evenings that are beautiful.
Overall, I love spending time here on the deck, especially in the evenings
where you can watch the life pass you by and play along.
So looking back, I feel that the way I grew up in a very small country
half the size of South Florida and coming into the bigger world
and making things happen and just living in a way a dream life.
Looking back, I would probably tell myself not to worry too much.
I think whatever you put your mind to will happen.
But we worry too much in that process sometimes.
It's amazing when you make changes, things in you change
and on a level you never expect or never imagined.
So I'd say be brave and not worry too much.
Thank you for coming on this tour with me.
I was really happy to share the way I live and hopefully it inspires
some of you to go on boating adventures.
If you'd like to read about my free book, there is a link in the description below.
Happy boating, everyone.