Water Everywhere, and Yet Home Prices Shrink

An ebbing tide lowers all boats, at least if you take the analogy to water-related real estate. Lower prices and longer times on the market mean it's easier for boating enthusiasts to find a home that puts them closer to casting off from shore.

Kathy Green and Terry Masser weren't even planning to buy a waterfront home. Masser, who works for a company that fixes properties after fire or water damage, was looking at a house in Pasadena, Md., in November with the idea of finding something he could buy, rehab and sell for a profit.

Then he discovered the house for sale just across the street. It had deep-water frontage on the Magothy River, not far from the Chesapeake Bay, outdoor decks offering wonderful views at sunset, lots of room and a reasonable price.

Out went the investment idea, replaced by a plan for Green and Masser to sell their homes in Germantown and College Park and consolidate housekeeping along the banks of the Magothy. They now commute from their waterfront home to his job in Beltsville and hers in Rockville, where she works at a digital imaging company.

"We feel we got a very fair price for the property and the waterfront location," Green said. It has four bedrooms and three bathrooms; an in-law suite; a large, heated garage; a boat slip; and a boat lift. When Masser discovered the place, it was listed at $749,000, down from $800,000. They negotiated the price down to $700,000 and closed the deal in February.

"This is not a fix-and-flip," Green said. "This is a fix-and-stay. This is a 'we aren't leaving unless you drag us out' house."

Now they're in the market for a power boat. "The empty boat slip is just killing Terry," Green said.

Different buyers value different types of water-related real estate. Waterfront homes with expansive views typically draw top dollar. Storms can tear up those shorelines, though, so boaters place a premium on sheltered waterfront along creeks that offer safer harbor for their fragile watercraft. Sailors, in particular, value deep water along sheltered shores, because it can take six feet or more to accommodate a sailboat's keel.

Prices tend to be more affordable for homes without shores of their own but situated in communities that offer water privileges, such as use of community-owned docks or boat ramps and put-ins where a boat can be slipped into the water off a trailer.

"It's a mixed bag," said William Glasgow, a real estate appraiser based in Riva, Md. "For very in-demand properties, values are holding steady." And the market has returned to a more traditional selling time of more than six months, he said.

Waterfront is always a special category, he said, and a home along the shore can cost hundreds of thousands more than a similar house just across the street that lacks water frontage.

"There's no way to compare the two," Glasgow said. When doing an appraisal on a waterfront home, he uses only other waterfront properties for comparables.