This article is based on a conversation with Amanda Williams, a real estate investor who has signed a 12-year lease with her partner for an apartment in the Storylines MV Narrative. Business Insider has documented her income and her place on the cruise. The text has been edited for length and clarity.
My boyfriend and I love to travel and one of my dreams was to buy a boat to sail around the world. A few years ago we did a test with a friend’s yacht in the Bahamas for a month, but fixing all the things that broke on it it was more expensive than the trip itself.
We spent between 15,000 and 20,000 euros for fuel and it also cost us about 23,000 euros to fix the broken motor of the yacht that had broken down.
This family of 5 members lives in a sailboat of about 13 meters: this is the interior of the ship
So instead of that, We decided to buy an apartment by signing a 12-year lease for almost one million euros in the MV Narrative of Storylines, which will set sail in 2025. It is a cruise that will allow us to travel around the world living permanently at sea.
I am 39 years old, I am a real estate investor and I spend my life between Raleigh, North Carolina, and Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. But now, I will continue to run my real estate empire with my boyfriend as we navigate the world.
Choosing to live on a cruise ship rather than on a yacht
While taking care of our friends’ boat we realized that required a lot of work: we spent the day sailing and when we arrived at the port we were exhausted. In order not to give up the idea of traveling across the sea touring the world, a cruise was the perfect option.
After seeing an ad for Storylines, I made a call and put down a deposit of €10,000 right then and there. I tend to make very impulsive decisions.
What really appealed to me about the Storylines option is that they did all the hard work. Maintenance fees are 4,400 euros per monthbut at least you don’t have to worry about paying 23,000 euros for a broken engine.
Right now we live in a one-bedroom apartment. The walls are almost all glass so it seems bigger and it has a spacious balcony so it also we have plenty of space for outdoor living.
Adjusting to a smaller space can probably be difficult, but I have a small house in North Carolina and I love it, so I don’t think space is really an issue.
Yes, with almost a million euros I could get a 4 or 5 bedroom house in Raleigh, but I don’t want to be stuck there, or anywhere else.
In our future home we will not be able to make many changes to the interiors, since everything is supplied by Storylines because it has to be fireproof.
However, I have asked to change the sofa to a Murphy bed so my mom can come visit us, even though Storylines charges $70 a day for an extra guest.
Living on a cruise or paying the mortgage, which is cheaper?
We will pay 40% of the expenses before boarding the boat, and the rest in installments. Hopefully, interest rates will have come down by then and financing will be a little less expensive.
Manage our properties from the sea
I have been related to the real estate sector since 2008. I started by helping a friend swap houses and then bought my grandmother’s house in 2013 after her death.
I got my real estate license that same year and have been investing ever since. My boyfriend and I we have 25 properties in Raleigh and an overwater bungalow being built in Belize.
Each property generates us around 1,000 euros per month. The last time I did the accounts of the total net benefits for 2022, the figure amounted to 680,000 euros of income.
My boyfriend handles the day-to-day running of the properties, contacting the guests and tenants who live there, but we hope to hire someone to handle that soon, even though we have a couple of years to do it.
Also I am planning to create a new business. I partnered with a company called eXp Realty, with whom I receive a portion of the commission from each agent I refer to the company. They are present in 23 countries, so I plan to expand my business when I visit them on the cruise.
I’m looking forward to getting on the ship and taking me from one country to another, to have enough time in those countries to make presentations and organize events. Right now I am establishing contacts in Spain, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico.
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A new life
Beyond the appeal of developing my business, I The idea of traveling and living on the ship enthuses.
We signed the 12-year package, but we’ll most likely sell it at 6 depending on whether or not we’ve gotten tired of it.
And although it sounds strange, I am very excited to continue having a home while I travel. You get off the boat, you go and have fun, but then you come back and everything is exactly the same as when you left. To me, that’s comforting.