St Petersburg has a decreasing number of marina slips for rent, so properties with docks are increasing in value

Marinas in St Petersburg Florida have been decreasing, as marina properties have been sold for condominium development and other "best uses". This is happening at a time when boat ownership in Florida is increasing. Increasingly marina owners are converting from rental slips to sales of dockominiums or rackominiums. Even the Vinoy Club, which has been rebuilding its docks for the last couple of years is now seeking to sell yacht club "memberships" rather than rent dock space - joining the Pasadena Yacht Club , Maximo Marina, and others.

With docks selling for $200,000 this can be 25% to  30% of the price of a waterfront home with a dock on  "sailboat water" -  meaning both access to the Gulf of Mexico without any fixed bridges and water deep enough for a sailboat keel, perhaps 6 ft plus. Increasingly it’s time to buy a dock that happens to come with a home.

In some waterfront neighborhoods, homeowners are renting out their docks. Sometimes it’s because they no longer have a boat, don’t use their dock and can use the extra monthly income. In other cases, homeowners are building additional slips so they can rent to multiple boat owners. Current zoning allows homeowners to keep two boats at their property. It doesn’t address whether they can be rented separately from the property. Zoning laws also say that you can’t run a business from your home. When does renting one or more slips become "a marina"? That’s something of the gray area, such as how long a term does a house need to be rented to be a normal right vs running a hotel or transient lodging place? Many communities in Florida are trying to define the rental term for a house, but so far I haven’t seen any legal actions concerning dock rentals, just grumbling from adjacent homeowners.

Here in St Petersburg and Pinellas County we think $200,000 to $250,000 is a high price to pay for a slip - but other parts of the country, particularly in the northeast, are finding that a dock adds up to $1 Million to the price of a home … and on Nantucket, up to $4 Million!

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