No, this isn’t some illegal scam that I’ve uncovered. But to make it work you have to be, well, resilient, perhaps a bit of a hermit, and definitely non-conventional.
A few months ago I was helping a friend of mine retrieve his boat from the Bay, which had gotten stuck with the rising tide on a mud bank. We got some invaluable help from a nearby resident who lived about where the red X is in this map:
Bay Area residents may not recognize that particular suburb. That’s because it’s, well, offshore, kind of like the Cayman Islands, only closer.The gentleman that helped us literally lives on the Bay. He has lashed together five or six boats, anchored them, and apparently stocked them with food, a TV and VCR (no Tivo yet), a generator, and a couple of dogs. Once or twice a week he rows ashore with his little wooden dinghy (paddling with oars made from shovels) for a grocery store run. He’s been there about a decade apparently.
Not sure that I could do that, but I’ll tell you what: he doesn’t pay rent, he doesn’t have a mortgage, and he doesn’t pay property taxes. Hard to beat that!
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Tags: Consumer, Real estatePossibly related posts
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7 responses so far ↓
1 Dustin // Mar 19, 2007 at 1:55 pm
I’ve got another weird “cayman island” type feature in the Bay Area you may appreciate…
Years ago, there were plans to fully develop a huge portion of the bay near Hunter’s Point. For whatever reason, the City of San Francisco has designated a bunch of “official” streets that are currently in the water (literally!). Back when I used to do a lot of consulting work for the City (as a transportation planner), I’d always run into these “phantom” streets within the City’s GIS (Graphical Information System) database and they would cause all kinds of data anomalies.
Anyway, I’ve never understood why, but the phantom streets can still be scene on almost any GIS project that the city publishes… Here is a link to one such project. (Notice the streets are not on the Google Map of the same area).
2 Jay Thompson // Mar 19, 2007 at 3:42 pm
We don’t have the luxury of living in a bay (on a bay?) here in Phoenix. But we do have “squatters” that have basically moved on to relatively remote desert land parcels. They look for out of state owners and then just camp out on their land, making runs into town for food and water.
How they handle the summer heat is beyond me.
3 Kevin Boer, Realtor, 3 Oceans Real Estate // Mar 19, 2007 at 4:33 pm
Hi Jay,
Thanks for the comment. I’d have to say my Bay Area friend probably has it better off! BTW, in the Phoenix example you’re using, if I’m not mistaken, can’t they claim ownership by “adverse possession” if they do that for five years, as well as paying property taxes?
4 Kevin Boer, Realtor, 3 Oceans Real Estate // Mar 19, 2007 at 4:36 pm
Dustin,
That is fascinating! I wonder how the people after whom these streets are named (Mssrs and Mademoiselles Boalt, Fitzgerald, Egbert, Hollister, Donner, Carroll, Tevis, Gilman, and Alvord) feel about the situation?
5 David G from Zillow.com // Mar 21, 2007 at 12:31 pm
Where are the photographs? I’d love to see what this guy’s island looks like. Great story. Reminds me that I want to write a post on Stiltsville off Key Biscayne — there’s a whole community of houses built on stilts on Biscayne Bay.
6 Living the Easy Life in the Bay : First Time Home Buyers : A guide for first time home buyers // Mar 26, 2007 at 8:53 am
[…] with: bay living, boating, home buying, retiring on the bay., san fransico | Bookmark to | Permalink | filed underBlogroll […]
7 How to Live in the Bay Area sans Rent, Mortgage, or Property Tax Payments (Part II) | 3 Oceans Real Estate, A Boutique Real Estate Brokerage Serving the San Francisco Bay Area // Dec 3, 2007 at 7:03 am
[…] this year I reported on a reclusive hermit living on — literally on — the San Francisco Bay. Thanks to an article in yesterday’s New York Times, I believe I’ve stumbled upon yet […]
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