Valuation & appraisal

What is a marina actually worth?

Ask three people and you'll get a multiple of EBITDA, a price per slip, and a number the owner heard at a boat show. None of those is a valuation. A marina is a real-estate asset and an operating business sitting on a government permission, and a defensible number has to value all three — then say which is which.

Request a valuation Why marina deals are different

Why this is its own discipline

Four reasons the usual shortcuts miss.

It's a going concern, not a building

A marina's value splits across real property, the fixtures and equipment that make it work, and the intangible value of an operating business with contracts, staff, and a customer base. Getting the split right isn't academic — it drives depreciation, lender advance rates, transfer taxes, and what the assessor does to you the year after closing.

The entitlement can outweigh the asset

Permitted slip count versus what's in the water. Remaining lease or concession term against the buyer's hold period and loan. Riparian rights, public-access conditions, expansion capacity that will or won't ever be permitted. These routinely move value more than the condition of the docks.

Revenue per linear foot, not price per square foot

Slip mix, beam, draft, covered versus open, annual versus transient, dry stack turns, fuel margin, service throughput. Two marinas with identical slip counts can be different businesses. Normalizing before comparing is most of the work.

The comps are thin and half-reported

Marinas trade privately, allocations are rarely disclosed, and a recorded deed price can include a rental fleet, a restaurant, and a house. A sale you can't decompose isn't a comparable — it's a rumor with a dollar sign.

Two different products

A broker opinion of value is not an appraisal. We'll tell you which one you need.

They're built differently, they cost differently, and they're accepted for different purposes. Anyone who offers you one without explaining the other is doing you a disservice.

Broker opinion of value

Our own analysis, for decisions

Prepared by MARINAmerica’s transactions team: normalized operating history, slip and rate analysis, entitlement review, capital plan, and a supported value range with the reasoning attached.

Pricing a sale, or deciding whether to sell at all
Estate and succession planning conversations
Testing a capital project before you commit
Understanding an offer already on the table
Typically two to three weeks from a complete file

A broker opinion of value is not an appraisal and is not prepared under USPAP. It cannot substitute for an appraisal where one is required — including most federally related lending.

USPAP appraisal

A certified appraiser’s signature, for the record

A narrative going-concern appraisal prepared and signed by a state-certified general appraiser under the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice, with the allocation across real property, FF&E, and business value stated explicitly.

Bank and agency financing, and refinance
Gift, estate, and tax filings
Litigation, partnership dissolution, and divorce
Property-tax appeals and insurance disputes
Purchase-price allocation after a closing

Delivered through certified appraisers engaged for the assignment in the state where the marina sits. We assemble and support the file; the appraiser reaches their own independent conclusion.

How the number gets built

Three approaches, one marina, and the arguments between them.

Income

The approach that carries most of the weight, and the one most often done badly. Contracted slip revenue is not transient revenue and should not be capitalized as if it were. Owner compensation, family labor, personal expenses, and deferred maintenance all have to come out before anything is capitalized at all.

Revenue normalized by stream: annual, transient, storage, fuel, service, retail, F&B
Rate study against the competitive set — what you could charge, not just what you do
Occupancy and waitlist as leading indicators, not as a single year's snapshot
Owner add-backs identified line by line, not buried in a lump adjustment
A capital reserve that reflects piles, decking, pedestals, and the dredge cycle
Capitalization supported by the entitlement and the lease term, not a market rumor

Sales comparison

Useful, and treacherous. Marina sales are private, allocations are usually unknown, and headline prices frequently include assets that have nothing to do with the marina. A comparable that can’t be decomposed into what was actually bought gets weighted accordingly — which sometimes means not at all.

Adjustments for land control: fee, submerged lease, or concession
Slip mix, beam and draft capability, covered versus open
Dry stack, service yard, and F&B included or carved out
Market depth, water body, and drive time from population
What actually conveyed — fleet, restaurant, real estate, or all three

Cost

A reality check, and the only approach that speaks plainly about the thing an income model tends to hide: what it would cost to put this facility back in the water at today’s marine construction prices, and how much life is left in what’s there.

Dock, pile, and pedestal replacement at current marine pricing
Seawall, ramp, fuel system, and upland improvements
Effective age and remaining life, not just chronological age
The capital most owners have been deferring, priced
External obsolescence where the entitlement limits what can be rebuilt

Then the part most people skip

Reconciling the three into one conclusion — and allocating it across real property, FF&E, and intangible business value. A single number with no allocation is not much use to a lender, an assessor, the IRS, or a buyer’s accountant.

When owners need a number

Most of these have nothing to do with selling.

A valuation is a planning instrument. It prices your estate, sets the terms of a partnership agreement, defends an assessment, supports a loan, and tells you whether the capital project pays. We do this work for owners who have no intention of selling and are glad to say so.

If you are thinking about selling

Estate and succession: Gift and estate planning, family transfers, and buy-sell agreements that need a defensible number rather than a family opinion.
Partnership events: Buyouts, dissolutions, and disputes — where the valuation has to survive being read by someone whose interest is the opposite of yours.
Lending and refinance: Lenders on federally related transactions require an appraisal from a certified appraiser. We prepare the file that appraisal is built from, and we coordinate it.
Insurance: Replacement cost for docks, pedestals, fuel systems, and structures — the number that decides whether you're made whole after a named storm.
Property tax: Assessments that treat a marina like generic waterfront, or that capture business value in a real-property assessment, are appealable.
Purchase-price allocation: After a closing, the allocation across land, improvements, FF&E, and intangibles has to be supportable. It's easier to defend when it was built, not backfilled.
Capital decisions: What a dry stack, a dock replacement, or a rate restructuring is worth before you commit the capital — value created, not just cost incurred.
Pre-sale pricing: The number that sets the guidance, and the reasoning that survives a buyer's analyst. Free of charge for owners considering a sale with us.

What we need, and what you get

Bring the paper. We’ll walk the docks.

Every engagement includes a site visit. Nobody values a marina from a spreadsheet — the condition of the pedestals, the state of the piles, and what the dockmaster says about the waitlist are all part of the number.

What we ask for

Three years of operating statements and the current year to date
Rent roll: slips, sizes, rates, terms, and the waitlist
Deed or lease, plus every permit and agency agreement
Any environmental reports, tank testing, and dredge history
Capital spending history and anything on the deferred list
Insurance declarations and the last two renewal quotes

Engagement terms

Broker opinion of value: Flat fee, quoted before we start, and credited in full against our fee if you later sell with us. Two to three weeks from a complete file.
USPAP appraisal: Quoted per assignment based on scope, purpose, and state. Engaged directly with the certified appraiser so their independence is unambiguous.
Confidentiality: Standard on every engagement. We don't contact your staff, tenants, lender, or competitors, and nothing is marketed without your written instruction.
No obligation: A valuation engagement is not a listing agreement and never converts into one automatically.

We’ll tell you at the first call which product your situation actually needs — including when the honest answer is that you need a certified appraiser and not us.

Request a valuation

Start with the marina.

Tell us where it is and roughly how big. We'll come back with the scope, the fee, and which of the two products fits — usually the same day.

MARINAmerica provides brokerage and advisory services. A broker opinion of value is not an appraisal and is not prepared under USPAP. Appraisals are prepared and signed by state-certified appraisers engaged for the assignment. Nothing here is legal, tax, or investment advice.

You should know this number even if you never sell.

It prices your estate, sets your partnership terms, defends your assessment, and tells you whether the next capital project is worth doing. Most owners find out what their marina is worth at the worst possible moment.

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