Houseboat Magazine — January 2018

16 JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2018 WWW.HOUSEBOATMAGAZINE.COM

for a houseboat is 20 percent, so don’t

let that take you by surprise. It’s not like

buying a car or a house where you only

pay 5 or 10 percent down.

Then there’s job history. Pierce said

lenders prefer customers to have at least

two or three years at the same job and

then many more years before that in the

same line of work. Keep track of your

paystubs and tax returns so that you can

have them handy when they’re needed

because you can be sure that your lend-

er will ask to see them.

Unlike Real Estate

When it comes to fi nancing house-

boats, there’s a ten-

dency to compare

it to real estate,

but Gottfried

pointed out that

this is not quite an

accurate compar-

ison because the

houseboat fi nanc-

ing industry is not

regulated the same

way the housing

industry is. The

housing industry comes with tons of

regulations that don’t exist for house-

boats. This slew of regulations makes the

process of buying real estate far more

expensive, tedious and time-consuming.

Gottfried said that total closing

costs including UPS fees, Coast Guard

documentation, processing, underwrit-

ing and applications is under $1,000.

If you’ve ever bought a house, you know

how much higher closing costs are. The

difference is astronomical.

Financing your houseboat is also

a fairly quick process. For real estate,

you’re lucky to get through the process

in 6 weeks, but for houseboats you can

be done in as little as 7 to 10 days. How-

ever, the process usually takes an average

of a couple of weeks because buyers like

to take things in steps and not rush.

Closing Advice

Gottfried said the best advice he

could give to fi rst-time buyers would be

to get on the phone with somebody who

has experience because they can talk

you through the process and explain

what it takes to qualify. Houseboat fi -

nancing is specialized and speaking to a

specialist like Gottfried or Pierce would

be the best course of action.

So what are you waiting for? Get

on the phone with someone like Joey

Gottfried or Keith Pierce today, and

fi nance that houseboat you’ve been

dreaming about! Q

Community Trust Bank

270-789-

http://www.ctbi.com

Newcoast Financial Services

866-639-

http://www.newcoast.com

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