How much would a pier or boat dock add to the price of a home? Many buyers would like a waterfront home with a boat dock, but they aren’t willing to pay a huge premium for the dock. So let’s take a closer look at what is involved. First, the Olympic Peninsula may be surrounded by water, but there are not very many waterfront homes for sale with a pier or boat dock. If you would like a waterfront home, and you would like a pier, these numbers will help you evaluate the prices of homes with a pier.
How Much is a Pier or Boat Dock?
The value of a waterfront home has three components. The first is the land itself. Of course, location is everything and the view is a part of the value attributed to location. The second is the value of tidelands ownership. If waterfront property includes ownership of the tidelands, that adds significant value, although it’s hard to say precisely how much. Tidelands can be owned all the way to the low tide mark, or tidelands might be only partially owned, which means not all the way to low tide. And there is also something called “commercial tidelands,” and that would add more value. Adding $30,000 or more for non-commercial tidelands would be reasonable.
Pier or Boat Dock
The third component of value is the dock or pier itself. This is where you may be surprised by the cost or the amount that a pier adds to the total value. I just talked today to a gentleman today who has a pier, and between the permits and costs of obtaining the permits, which took many years, plus the construction of a basic pier with posts and timbers, he has about $100,000 in hard costs.
What does all this mean? It means that if a vacant waterfront property is worth $300,000 by itself, then add another $100,000 in costs for the pier and maybe $30,000 to $50,000 for the full tidelands ownership. This vacant land would then have a value of at least $450,000. Then it’s a matter of what a ready, willing, and able buyer is able to negotiate with a willing seller. Now you know how much value a pier adds to waterfront property.
Here is a list of all the waterfront homes in the Sequim area with either a boat launch, marina, dock slip, or moorage: Sequim Homes with a Pier.
Last Updated on September 6, 2019 by Chuck Marunde
