2019: A Review of Seattle Floating Homes Sales and Activity

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2019 proved to be another happy ending for Seattle floating home sales in Seattle, Wa. 

We saw 22 Seattle floating homes successfully sell on Lake Union and Portage Bay.  We saw more activity than ever in Portage Bay this year!  Could this be the new hot neighborhood for Seattle floating homes?  NINE sold in Portage Bay, THREE in Westlake and the neighborhood which has more floating homes than anyone… Eastlake saw TEN floating homes sell.

What type of homes sold around Lake Union and Portage Bay and how long did it take?   

A cute Westlake floating home for $500,000 sold in about 88 days.  It’s one bed, one bath, and 500 square feet. It’s your typical 1920’s cabin style one story floating home.  $3,438,000 tipped the scales for the largest sale this year which goes to the beautiful Ward’s Cove community. City views, boat moorage, luxury high end finishes for a 2016 built floating home with gated parking are just a few of the perks.  Whether it’s a small charming floating home or a new or remodeled floating home the average purchase price when you include all the sold floating homes rounded out at $1,393,205.  Let’s not forget the average square footage was 1,280.  Calculating these two numbers gives us our price per square foot which is $1,088.  And it took all 21 of these homes an average of 67 days on the market.

Speaking of days on market, SeattleAfloat/Cooper Jacobs successfully listed or sold 63% (14 out of 22 homes) including four off market sales for clients.

What does 2020 look like for buying and selling Seattle floating homes?

We had some creative connections in 2019 which makes it so incredibly gratifying to know the people in this community so we can connect the dots.  We saw people moving up, scaling down, and literally moving their floating homes on the lake. Looking ahead, Seattle real estate has all indications to continue our growth.  More people moving here because of more jobs which means more home developing. We describe our business of selling floating homes sometimes like balancing on a paddle board. These properties do feel slight ups and downs as related to land homes but they continue to ride the wave skimming just the surface without much turbulence at all.  To add to the purchasing power, we have better than ever floating home lenders we continually work with and not surprising competitive for your business.  

When is a good time to sell?

Every year is different.  This is not just me saying something vague.  This year we saw no sales in the first quarter!  It picked up in May with three closings. June there were four.  And July saw THE largest closings in a month which was 5. September was right behind with four closings, October saw 2 and November there were THREE closings!  In a nutshell, 2019 saw a very slow start and then…well then it was no stopping. The number of buyers came out ten fold in the last quarter of 2019. So sellers – the objective is to have your home ready for the most pickiest buyers to attract them from January to December.  Because I guarantee there are always buyers shopping online for a floating home. They’re just waiting for the right one. 

 Case in point:  We listed a wonderful end of dock floating home in December (right in the middle of the holidays!) for $750,000.  It’s the brown one in the middle pictured here. It got immediate attention and now is pending after 5 days on the market.

As always, we appreciate your time in reading our material and if you ever have a question – ask us!  We love to hear from our audience. 

Quick Explanation for those who need it:

Floating homes by definition are homes registered by the city and county as floating on logs (old growth cedar logs) or concrete and are locked into a dock by way of moorage arms or chains.  They are connected to the city’s sewer, water, and electric. Floating home owners enjoy including their moorage slip as part of their real estate footprint and do pay taxes on this. By comparison, there are still a couple of docks which have a landlord instead of a co-op or condo ownership.  They enjoy rent control for their slips. Ask us more about this topic if you’re interested.

Happy 2020 Everyone!

Check our current floating homes listed RIGHT HERE.  There are currently 4  floating homes listed active right now.

Seattle Houseboats: Floating Homes Market Report

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Seattle Afloat’s Molly & Courtney sold three of the FOUR floating homes in the two months.

We are deep into the 2019 holiday season now and Molly and I are so thankful for the fabulous year that we have had. We love this community so much and appreciate that you think of us first when it comes to buying or selling your Seattle floating home. We look forward to 2020 and serving the Seattle floating homes community well into the future.

Let’s catch up on the Seattle floating homes market over the last couple of months! There are five floating homes for sale in Seattle currently. They range in price from $550,000 for a two bedroom with a long term lease in Portage Bay to $3,200,000 for a brand new construction luxury floating home with a basement in Portage Bay. Three of these Seattle floating homes are in Portage Bay, one is in Fremont, and one is in Eastlake. The average list price is $1,710,000 and the average dollar per square foot is $1061.82 with a range from $672.37 to $1,315.79.

Looking at closed sales in the last sixty days, there have been four Seattle floating homes for sale that have sold through the MLS that range in price from $500,000 to $2,700,000 with a median sales price of $882,500 and an average days on market of 54 days. Three of these were in Portage Bay and one was in Westlake. The average sales price to list price for these floating homes was 95.67%. Molly and I sold three out of four of these! We definitely know the market and are happy to help you if you want an evaluation. We have specialized in Seattle Houseboats for over a decade and can offer you a wealth of experience and knowledge. Living in, working in, and giving back to this community is what we do. We also have a FOWR Seattle houseboats specialist on our team now to serve the many Seattle houseboats that are not floating homes. Reach out and we can introduce you to one of our houseboats agents Susan so you can learn about this special segment of the Seattle houseboats lake market, too. There’s lots of real estate on the lake in Seattle and we are here to help you with all of it.

Want more information? We at Seattle Afloat are Seattle Houseboats Experts and the only team working on the lake today that has been successfully representing clients together for almost two decades.

Courtney Cooper & Molly Cartwright 206-850-8841/206-841-6800 houseboats@cooperjacobs.com

The Dox Seattle floating homes Dock is So Pretty and offers great views!

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Seattle houseboats docks on lake union

When people are looking at Seattle floating homes, they almost always want to know about the end of the dock moorages. The Dox dock has two docks so there are four end of dock locations and lots of floating homes toward the end. If you can find a floating home on this dock community, it offers stunning panoramic views of Lake Union, from the Seattle skyline to Gasworks Park – if it has good dock position.  

Located in a charming floating home neighborhood, this floating home dock features a clean, well-planned open design and remarkable views.  This dock is a  Coop moorage & there is room for boats on some slip.

Lake Union is your own private “swimming pool”

off street parking

seattle houseboats realtors
Molly & Courtney, your floating home advocates. We love our special community.

Want to see any floating homes? Courtney Cooper & Molly Cartwright 206-850-8841/206-841-6800 houseboats@cooperjacobs.com We specialize in Seattle houseboats for sale. Our Seattle Realtors are waterfront experts and have been in the floating homes community for well over a decade. We are huge advocates for the community and promise to honor your special home and our neighborhood.

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End. Of. Dock.

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There are not that many end of dock Seattle floating homes. A small fraction of the 517 Lake Union floating homes are in end of dock slip locations. If you are longing for a daily boat parade and beautiful open water, then pay attention! call/text 206-850-8841 for more info or a private showing.

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Look at this amazing location! Portage Bay is part of Lake Union which you can see in the distance and then the Space Needle in front of the Puget Sound.

The Location.

Portage Bay is Lake Union’s Eastern arm, but also a charming neighborhood in North Capitol Hill. It is a unique residential pocket that despite being cut off like an island from the rest of Capitol Hill and Eastlake by two freeways, it offers a quiet and peaceful serenity like no other. Floating homes here are colorful and range from derelict to upper crust and the adjoining upland neighborhood is full of the most charm you can possibly fit in one corner of Seattle and anchored by the acclaimed neighborhood hot spot Little Lago.

By boat, you can travel to Ivar’s, the main portion of Lake Union, the Ballard Locks, the Puget Sound, Islands, and more or go the other direction through the Montlake Cut and head into Lake Washington for open water sports and an annual visit from the Blue Angels. By car or bike, you are close to everything.

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The Shelby Dock’s new beautiful dock.

The Dock Community

Situated at the base of Shelby Street, the Shelby Dock recently went through an entire dock rebuild and upgrade. It is state of the art and all systems have been upgraded and most importantly moved UNDER the dock (no hanging power lines). This was a large undertaking that took a lot of time and money and the result is stunning. The Shelby dock has three loading zone parking spaces for deliveries, temporary parking, and other short term uses. There is an on land cottage that is shared by all 19 floating homes on the dock which includes communal space and also individual locking storage units for members of the dock. The Shelby Dock also has an incredible private garden at the head of the dock and two community boat moorage spaces which are available on a first come first serve basis.

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Look at that reflection of University Of Washington!

The House

One bedroom open floor plan floating home has large grandfathered in floating waterside “yard”! Lots of really cool wood details in the home. Lots of windows and large views, great breezes on a warm day as you gently rock. It can be remodeled or replaced with same float size. $1,500,000

seattle houseboats realtors
Molly & Courtney

The Realtors

We are Seattle floating homes experts and we are here to answer all your questions. This dock is for floating homes and not other kinds of Seattle houseboats.

Courtney Cooper 206-850-8841 / Molly Cartwright 206-841-6800 e:houseboats@cooperjacobs.com

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Seattle Floating Home For Sale In Eastlake

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There are only a few Seattle floating homes for sale right now…

South facing on a well organized dock, this great Seattle floating home has incredible upwards potential. Don’t miss your chance to get your feet wet in the least expensive Seattle waterfront property option. Lake Union is an incredible place to call home!

Looking at Seattle floating homes? Courtney and Molly at the SeattleAfloat / Cooper Jacobs Real Estate team bring you another fantastic Eastlake Seattle floating home for sale ready for your own personal design! We love the generous light and roomy spaces of this gorgeous ultimate in city Seattle waterfront property. Hardwoods throughout the main level extending to your back french doors offer constantly changing reflections from the water just outside your doorsteps. A super cozy free standing gas fireplace huddles in the corner, one full bath and a bedroom on the main plus lofty space/bedroom upstairs. This one has a tremendous amount of storage as far as Seattle houseboats living goes. Two fantastic decks to welcome the southern exposure on a wonderful Co-Op dock. Never miss a sunrise or sunset again, and tie your boat up to the house for easy access to all that Lake Union has to offer.

Just $799,000, this Seattle floating home has an extremely large float and there are views of the Space Needle and city from the upstairs floor. We will have this open on Sunday 2/17/2019 from 1-4PM and look forward to seeing you then. If you are interested in seeing it prior to that time, please let us know. We are happy to offer you a private showing. You can schedule a showing here or call/text/message/email us. houseboats@cooperjacobs.com 206-850-8841/206-841-6800

Imagine sitting on this South facing deck with the gentle waves from passing boat traffic lapping against the float of your home. This one is listed currently and open on Sunday.

Courtney Cooper & Molly Cartwright are the premiere Seattle floating homes experts and happy to show you this floating home or other floating homes on the market. call/text 206-841-6800 /206-850-8841

Life Afloat In Seattle is one of the most interesting and unique lifestyles in the city. If you are lucky enough to live on one of our floating homes, then you are lucky indeed.

We are available to talk now.