Deep water moorage, basement, and rooftop on the best part of the Lake Union Loop.
2466 Westlake Ave N #11 Seattle, WA 98109: The warmth of this home is remarkable. First time on the market, a masterpiece 3 leveled custom home built in 2009. Metal tile roof surrounds large entertainment rooftop view deck, radiant gas heat. Gorgeous cook’s kitchen w/ large eat in area & functional open concept. Two beds up includes master w/ fireplace & views. Nice boat moorage on one of the widest water channels in Westlake. Large underwater downstairs is the perfect quiet retreat, guest space, rec room, music, art, or just storage! $2,660,000
Serene spaces and double boat moorage close to Downtown and South lake Union.Courtney Cooper 206-850-8841 | Molly Cartwright 206-841-6800 houseboats@coopercartwright.com
Contact us. We are your Seattle Houseboats Experts and look forward to helping you and answering all your questions. Courtney Cooper 206-850-8841 | Molly Cartwright 206-841-6800 houseboats@coopercartwright.com
This is an interesting topic in the Seattle houseboats world. When you move into a home on land, you schedule the moving truck and they back into your driveway or park on the street in front of your home. What happens when you move in or out of a floating home? The answer is it depends. It depends on a number of factors and features really of your dock.
Seattle views on the water…
Location. You hear about location, location, location in Seattle real estate, but never does that come into play more than when you are moving in or out of a floating home in Seattle. The neighborhood in which your dock is located is a crucial part of the puzzle when it comes to figuring out logistics of a move. Floating homes are at street ends and alleys in many cases in Portage Bay, and tight streets exist in Eastlake, Fremont, Wallingford, and Westlake. Taking the time to find out if the moving truck can even fit close to your dock is important. Make sure to have the movers come out and map out the plan.
Communication. Let your dock know the plan. There may be a loading zone or parking spaces which need to be reserved.
Security. You may need to ask for help from someone who can physically watch your belongings while furniture and boxes are moved up or down the dock so that the truck is not left unattended at any time.
Use of Dolly, Cart, etc. First of all, make sure that the wheels of a third party cart or dolly are not going to be damaging to your dock surface. Seattle floating home docks usually have great carts for moving your belongs up and down the dock, but you might want to ask the dock board if it is okay to use them for a floating home household move. They are in place at the head of the houseboats dock so that all the floating home residents can use them in every day life. Additional wear and tear on them may not be welcome.
Moving from dock to dock or from one floating home on the dock to another on the same dock? Consider filling a boat! This is especially great for planters and outdoor furniture, but can be a great mode of transport for indoor belongs as well.
Leveling it. Last note and important!!! When you move furniture in and out you may need to call a diver to come level your home – especially if you are moving a particularly heavy piece of furniture! The diver may need to come out and move flotation around or add more…
There are some great choices available right now – both on land and in the floating home world. Let us know if you are interested in exploring our amazing Seattle neighborhoods. Molly and I live and work in Seattle and are your absolute advocates in the Seattle houseboats world. Current Seattle floating homes listings range in price from $995,000 to $2,950,000 and can be found in Eastlake and Portage Bay.
Court & Molly at the head of an Eastlake dock.
Contact us. We are your Seattle Houseboats Experts and look forward to helping you and answering all your questions. Courtney Cooper 206-850-8841 | Molly Cartwright 206-841-6800 houseboats@cooperjacobs.com
Not much on the market as far as Seattle houseboats go in the floating home world right now. Looking for the charm of a historical home with the sleek finishes of new construction? Interested in living on the water in Seattle? This is Seattle houseboats living at its finest and a great combination of the two things you like best! This is an adorable newly redone from the inside out Portage Bay floating home.
From the marketing remarks for this Seattle floating home for sale in the MLS listing: “A classic floating home bungalow is transformed into a modern, energy efficient home. Newly renovated 2 bed/2 bath floating home in Portage Bay w/ all updated features and systems. Inviting kitchen for the chef includes Fisher Paykel appliances, glass tiles, quartz counters, and hand built wooden cabinets. Master bdrm w/ walk-in closet. Hardwood floors, bountiful natural light, extends to a beautiful sliding door wall maximizing your views to the west. Awesome lifestyle. Boat moorage included!” $1,098,000 Call/text Molly Cartwright 206-841-6800 or email houseboats@cooperjacobs.com
Check out the cool finish work on this one. High end finishes including Fisher Paykel appliances and lots of stone, glass,and marble!
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 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
