Lifestyle

Virginia, 73, Sold Her Apartment to Clear Her Debts. Then She Moved Onto a Houseboat: “You Couldn’t Rent Anything for That Amount of Money on Land”

By Erica Coleman · November 13, 2026

Four years ago, Virginia Frost would not have guessed she would spend her retirement living on a boat.

But the 73-year-old had a huge credit card debt, a mortgage and no family to lean on, she told ABC News in Australia. In 2021 she sold her unit in Surfers Paradise, on the Gold Coast in Queensland. She said she had no other option.

There was money left over after the debts were paid, but not enough to rent a house. So she bought a 13 metre floating home instead, according to ABC reporter Danielle Maher.

Today the boat sits in a marina at Hope Island, where she pays 930 Australian dollars a month to berth it.

“You couldn’t rent anything for that amount of money on land,” she says in ABC’s video report, adding that you would basically have to live in someone else’s house.

In ABC’s written story, she put it this way: “That is cheaper than any place I could possibly rent on land … and it includes power and water.” She also gets rent assistance with her pension, she said, so it ends up costing her a lot less.

Frost had no sailing experience, and she told ABC the change was hard at first. She does not sound sorry now. “It’s a very good lifestyle. It’s a very economical lifestyle because you pay so much less,” she said. “I own my boat so I still have an asset.”

She is not the only one. ABC found other older single women on the same water. Stacey King, 69, sold her home after her husband died because, she said, the thought of living alone in the family house was daunting. In the video, she says that being on her own in a house after losing a partner “could be so isolating.” She bought a 47 foot catamaran for 500,000 Australian dollars, ABC reported, and pays 350 Australian dollars a week to moor it.

King describes the marina as “like a village atmosphere,” where everybody knows everybody. Neighbor Lynn Emmett lives aboard a boat built by her late husband. “It’s peaceful, it’s free, it’s easy,” she says in the video.

The numbers behind the trend come from Australian agencies cited by ABC. The Australian Institute of Family Studies found in 2023 that 55% of people living alone were women, and about half of those were 65 or older. The Australian Bureau of Statistics counted about 480 people aged 65 or older living in marinas in Queensland in 2021.

There is a catch. Neil Patchett of the Boating Industry Association told ABC that berths are in short supply across the country, and demand is expected to keep rising. ABC also reported that Queensland is one of the few Australian states that allow people to live aboard.

For anyone in the U.S. who finds this idea tempting, the same basic questions apply. Not every marina allows full-time liveaboards, and many that do have waiting lists, extra fees or rules about how the boat must be kept. A boat is also an asset that needs upkeep. Queensland officials told ABC that people living on a boat must keep it seaworthy, follow sewage and garbage rules, keep it registered and moor only in approved areas. Ask any marina for its liveaboard policy in writing, and get a marine survey and insurance quote before buying.

Frost made her choice because the math on land did not work. On the water, she says, she is living very cheaply, and she still owns her home.

This article is for general information and is not financial or legal advice. Details are from ABC News Australia’s January 2025 video and written report; dollar amounts are Australian dollars, and rules for living aboard vary by place. This article was produced with the assistance of AI and fact-checked against the sources cited by LightWave Reports.