I have a close family member who did this in Auckland, NZ and it certainly didn't save them any money. The main issue was that boats are expensive to keep afloat and maintain, and depreciate in value over time (unlike a house).
Maybe the Bay Area is so absurdly expensive that a boat is a good investment, but I would be highly dubious about it myself.
Wait list for a berthing that allows house boats is at least 9 months when I looked into this several years back. IIRC there's a restriction that no more than 10% of any marina's berthing can allow live-aboard tenants.
In some european countries docking is super cheap and you can buy a used sailboat for 2000euros. 4g mobile net is great. Croatia, greece, spain, italy. Of course not the best ports. I know it doesnt answer the question but wanted to chime in about our situation. Currently thinking about a live in sailboat in the canary islands. I work remotely.
Might not be as much as you expect. Boats are notoriously expensive to maintain. Not to mention docking fees, etc. In other parts of the country owning a houseboat will definitely cost you more than owning a house. At that point, why not move?
You can probably save some considering how expensive the bay area is, but you're also living in cramped quarters with downsized appliances (which I guess is normal for the bay area :P). Also, boat showers really suck.
