I have an inquiry to shoot some waterfront real estate at night from a boat 

Night photography is one of my specialties, however not from a boat for obvious reasons.

As far as I can check the location of the property on Google Maps there is a little island about 600 yards on the opposite side. I doubt though that even with a telephoto with converter I can get a good shot.

Other than that, how would you shoot night images from a boat? Does anyone have experience with larger boats (yachts) that don't wobble around that much where the images stabilizer can compensate the movement? It's in a bay area but still...

Thanks for your help.

I've taken several photos from a boat at night before without any problems...just make sure you set up on the stern (back) of the bottom deck, that would be the place with less motion, as you mention the photos are to be taken  on a yacht or large vessel and on the bay, those two components should make it stable enough for you to take some nice photos...also if the vessel is moving at a slow speed you'll get less wobble than the vessel standing still. I hope this helps.
Good luck!

Great, thanks. I only shot from sturdy ground before using exposure times up to 3 minutes (in the city).

What kind of exposure times are you talking about?

I'm shooting with a D90 so I'm not too happy about the low-light performance there...

You may have to play around with your exposure time, it's hard to pin point without knowing the lighting conditions in the area you will be shooting at, it really varies from place to place depending on your surrounding lights and reflections...but starting at 3 minutes may not be a bad idea...hard to tell from here. lol

PS: please post back with the outcome...

I know you can't tell me what I have to use. I was just wondering what the exposure times were that you used when you shot at night from the boat.

Obviously I can't shoot from the boat with a 3 minutes exposure.

I will have to push the ISO and then just hope I can get away with it using 1/2 a second or less.

It's just a quote I have to provide at the moment. No idea if I will get the job. It was just tickling me to know what to look out for shooting from a boat...

how about renting a canon 5d mark2 - this camera is unbeleivable in high iso exposure
I dont know ehat the budget of the client is but I would have that as an option

Lets see, calm night? Shoot at the peak of a wave, when the motion is relatively stopped for a brief moment.

Why at night? Sounds strange?

Anyway, real estate at night is best shot at Sunset and dusk, not actually at night. That way you get the extra real light and the effect if someone wants light bulbs or artificial lights to appear in windows or along paths.

Shoot in daylight and use a night filter? It works for the movies.

Sounds like someone is pulling your leg. "I want a shot in the dark from a moving boat."   Really? Have any friends with f/2 lenses and 5Ds or a 1D Mk III or newer?

Surely, a dusk scene would be best for the reasons you mentioned.

It would be my first time shooting on moving ground, that's why I asked.

And that's why I thought someone was pulling your leg. Night shot from a boat? LOL 

There are probably 100 sites like this, but just in case. Here's a starter. Good Luck!

http://point2agentblog.com/2010/11/18/how-to-listing-photos-at-dusk/