Seattle Floating Homes November 2015: Catching up with Life Afloat on Lake Union, Seattle floating homes are still in high demand and Seattle Houseboat Living is very popular. In the last 60 days, three of these Seattle houseboats have closed in escrow through the MLS, although we also know of a couple private floating home sales if you interested in learning more about those or others.
Seattle Floating Homes that have closed in escrow:
2019 Fairview Ave E #D
This Seattle floating home is located on the middle dock of The Log Foundation cooperative which has three docks. It is an extremely well run coop and houseboats on these lovely docks are always sought after. The Log Foundation floating homes are located on the southern most docks in the Seattle neighborhood of Eastlake. This particular Seattle floating home was represented by Cooper Jacobs Real Estate and was south facing on the middle dock. It is a two bedroom and 1 bath Lake Union floating home with 1300 square feet of living space. It closed on 10/13/15 for $677,500. (You can reach out to us for more info on this or other Seattle floating homes that are available both on and off market.)
This amazing Seattle floating home is located on the Flo Villa dock. Flo Villa is a beautiful dock with a willow tree on it. It is further north than The Log Foundation dock and the floating homes on it are well maintained. This houseboat was the ultimate in Seattle Waterfront Living. Built in 1994, it has two bedrooms and 1.5 baths plus 1550 square feet of living space. It closed on 10/7/2015 for $1,150,000
Welcome home to Mallard Cove floating homes. Mallard Cove is one of the Seattle luxury floating homes docks. Most of the floating homes on this dock have been updated and seem more modern than they are. The dock is always at the top of houseboat buyer lists. This 2000 square foot home was built in 1978 and has two bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. It closed in escrow on 10/30/2015 for $1,350,000.
Pending Seattle Floating Homes For Sale:
There are two Pending in escrow Seattle floating homes right now as well. The price range on these is between $499,000 and $925,000.
Active Seattle Floating Homes For Sale: Just one at Wards Cove. Price? $3,295,000 43 days on market.
Additional information: Here are the details for the sold Seattle Floating Homes on Lake Union as well as an overall market report.
Please let us know if you have any questions at all or if you would like more information about Seattle Houseboat Living. We are happy to share and look forward to speaking with you whether you are a buyer or seller.
Seattle Houseboats For Sale: Just SOLD in Eastlake!
Seattle Houseboats Just Sold: Let’s look at 2019 Fairview Ave E in Lake Union’s Eastlake neighborhood
This particular Seattle floating home has a special place in our hearts due to its sentimental background. Though not as famous as its Sleepless in Seattle cousin across Lake Union, this Seattle houseboat is perhaps just as iconic! Located on one of Eastlake’s longest running and most organized cooperative dock, The Log Foundation, this 1930 floating home has had lots and lots of action – even as it was moored in one place and not moving. It was owned by a very longtime and loved Seattle houseboats resident and the home was practically a floating dance hall in its day. We have recently nicknamed the home “Art” after its previous owner and look forward to seeing the new owners enjoy it as much as he reportedly did. There are lots of stories across the lake about the parties that almost always broke out into full on dance soirees and you can tell just by walking into this houseboat that it has had a happy life. We are so thrilled to see it have a loving new chapter.
A little more about this special home…..
So back to the sale itself – Seattle houseboats for sale always are exciting, but closing one is also a cause for celebration. Congratulations on doing such a great job getting it sold. It closed in escrow on 10/13/2015 at a final sales price of $677,500. The floating home has two bedrooms and is 1300 square feet. It has a rather large float for its size and great dock position. It also is well oriented to the lake which is something you don’t always get. Moorage for a recreational boat is possible alongside the home with the permission of the co-op. It also had extra spaces which could function as an office or another nonconforming bedroom. The home is all one level and has the most charming curved ceilings. I was always very taken in with the large open living space and the beautiful spaces throughout. It never felt like a two bedroom home – more like a home with all kinds of possibilities in every corner. As I write this, I personally regret not buying it myself – such a wonderful place with great energy, but alas, there will be other Seattle houseboats for sale and each one is unique and special.
Please call us if you are interested in learning more about Seattle houseboats for sale – We look forward to helping you buy or sell your next Seattle houseboat, whether it is a Seattle floating home, a house barge, or a floating on-water residence. We are excited to help you learn about the lovely Lake Union as well as Seattle Houseboat Living℠.
Courtney /206-850-8841 | houseboats@cooperjacobs.com
Colorful Seattle Houseboats History on The Log Foundation docks of Eastlake in 2014. Image courtesy of Cooper Jacobs Real Estate.
Seattle Houseboats History Has A “Colorful” Background & Entrepreneurial Spirit Transcends Time…
To look at all the colorful and cheery Lake Union floating homes today is to never know how truly Seattle houseboats history is. Seattle floating homes are a living and evolving part of Seattle’s history. From their humble beginnings over a hundred years ago as floating shanties compiled of pillaged lumber, it is amazing to see that some sell for over $3 Million dollars in today’s real estate market.
Seattle houseboats were originally built in two different ways. Either the worker would utilize his commuting work boat and build living quarters above it, or they would gather “loose” logs and raft them together to build a completely free floating structure. It was an inexpensive way of living and was tax free on top of it.
Map of Seattle houseboats along shores of Madison Park. Image Courtesy of Seattle Municipal Archives Item #944
At the peak, the Seattle floating homes community was as large as two thousand houseboats lining the shores of the city in various locations which even included Madison Park in Lake Washington. The residents of the surrounding Seattle neighborhoods reportedly snubbed them and looked down at this way of life. They apparently felt that it was beneath their standards and so began the struggle of Seattle houseboats to Stay Afloat In Seattle™. Today there are around 500 Seattle floating homes and probably another two or three hundred liveaboards that are officially newly categorized as Seattle Floating On-Water Residences (final count once all have registered themselves in the latest legislation). The latest Seattle floating home dock was a new construction floating home development called Ward’s Cove. Very specific requirements need to be in place in order to develop new construction Seattle floating homes, so it is next to impossible to do so.
If The City Historically Wanted Them Gone, Why Did They Allow Docks To Begin With?
Here is a view towards Downtown from the South slope of Denny Hill in 1886 (photo courtesy of Seattle Municipal Archives Item # 2869)
The short answer is The University of Washington. Wait. What? The long answer is that Seattle has a very long history of making some incredibly hairbrained decisions as far as infrastructure goes. A perfect example (and my apologies for going off subject here for a minute, but….) The Denny Regrade: The hill is too big? Scrape it into the Puget Sound.In 1900, the city decided to basically eliminate a whole hill which covered 62 city blocks. Denny Hill was a significantly beautiful hill in Seattle. It had a gorgeous crowned jewel of a hotel atop it that was so grand that even President Theodore Roosevelt stayed there! It had an old cemetery and a beautiful park on it with expansivel views in all directions. In all, they removed a reported six million cubic yards of earth.
Connecting the dots: What does this all have to do with Seattle houseboats and The University of Washington? Let’s go backwards. The modern day campus of The University of Washington was largely laid out and shaped by The Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition of 1909. In 1907 the city of Seattle platted and sold the submerged “parcels” in Lake Union to the adjacent waterfront property land owners. This enabled docks to be built and Seattle houseboats to be moored to them. According to The Lake Union Mail on an article about Submerged Parcels Park on the Cheshiahud Loop, “The “Lake Union Shore Lands” were created in 1907 as a funding mechanism for the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition (S.B. #101). Water extending from shore approximately one block (roughly 400 feet) was platted as buildable land, then sold. These parcels didn’t sink, they started sunk. And they were considered valuable.” Now you know how a World’s Fair, Denny Hill, The University of Washington, and Seattle Houseboats are related.
While replacing the carpet for one of our Seattle historic houseboat listings in 2010, we found an old booze hatch left over from Prohibition days. Image Courtesy of Courtney Cooper.
More Shady Past on The Lake: Life Afloat In Seattle℠: You Want To Stay Dry, Except When It Comes To Your Drink…..
Creativity has always been a strong characteristic of the Seattle floating homes community. This was never so true as during the prohibition era. According to the 1996 article by Sharon Boswell in The Seattle Times, “But for those who couldn’t afford the pleasures of Doc’s or one of the hundreds of other boozy night spots and music clubs along Jackson Street, in Belltown or even on Lake Union houseboats, there was always a bottle of locally produced bootleg available to consume in the privacy of home.” If floating homes seem like an unlikely place to get your alcohol fix then consider thatIn his highly acclaimed book,“Seattle’s Unsinkable Houseboats”, Howard Droker tells the story of a very enterprising entrepreneur who along with the cedar bark he sold off his boat, also sold smuggled Canadian liquor.
It’s absolutely true. If you take a peek under carpets of older floating homes you will see the leftover evidence of the Prohibition era and how crafty houseboaters were able to not stay dry. Many of them have hidden trap doors under the floor that were used for storing alcohol. At one point in time there were regular “rum run” routes such as the one Droker writes about which would make their rounds delivering to Lake Union floating homes. These booze hatches were ingenious and stored between the floating logs with a wire cage so that the waters of the lake itself could keep the liquor cold and well hidden. According to HistoryLink.org, The Seattle Times noted at one point that in regard to those wild times, “Some of the stories behind the houseboat population are as colorful as anything that ever came out of Seattle’s history, but respect for another’s privacy and past is an unspoken code on the lake.”
This historic Seattle houseboat was once used as a floating dance hall. It is for sale today for $697,000. Listed by Cooper Jacobs Real Estate.
Seattle Houseboats Are Still Afloat & Strong Today
Go experience their magic – Take a kayak tour through Lake Union and Portage Bay where you will find what is left of the Seattle floating homes community. Take a walk around Lake Union on the Cheshiahud Loop. Lake Union is the very heart of the city. Try and imagine the colorful past as you look at the beauty and creativeness which is so abundant today. This is a living and breathing Seattle neighborhood, but also a significant part of Northwest history. It is as vibrant as the wonderful people who live in it. I am so thankful to have known so many of them and appreciate how they have enriched my life so far. Please also take a minute and donate to the Seattle Floating Homes Association if you can.
Want more information on Seattle houseboats?
We are happy to help! Please call Courtney. We are Seattle Houseboats Experts ℠, and have been Seattle Realtors specializing in floating homes and waterfront for many years. We look forward to helping you find your piece of Lake Union.
Seattle Houseboats On Lake Union – Inventory Is Afloat!
Seattle Is Afloat! There are several pending Seattle houseboats in the MLS as well, but I wanted to go ahead and get some basic info about what is available for sale on Lake Union right now. There are FIVE ACTIVE Seattle floating homes for sale currently in the NWMLS. There are also a couple Seattle houseboats for rent if you are interested in those so please let us know.
A quick note about Lake Union water homes definitions… (This post is about justSEATTLE FLOATING HOMES for sale. The term “Seattle houseboats” is an umbrella term which covers floating homes, vessels, barges, and now Seattle floating on-water residences. It has recently become unnecessarily more intricate than it ever needed to be, but it is what it is and we would be happy to help clarify it for you. Historically, though, Seattlelites refer to all forms of these types of floating abodes as “Seattle Houseboats“.)
OK, back to the Lake Union news! There are five Seattle floating homes that are for sale currently. They range in price from $395,000 for a 1 bedroom in Portage Bay to $1,595,000 for a 2 bedroom floating gem in the prestigious Mallard Cove floating homes community in Eastlake. The median list price of these incredible Lake Union floating residences is $948,000 which also happens to be the list price of our Westlake floating home for sale right now. There are two Eastlake houseboats for sale in this mix, two in Portage Bay, and one in Westlake. All three Lake Union houseboats communities offer different Seattle Waterfront Living℠ styles and each one is unique in character and charm. The average days on market is 21 days currently and the average dollar per square foot is $802.91 per square foot. Square footage on floating home docks is not a reliable source of value always because there are so many structures of ownership to take into account. Each Seattle floating home is different and there are also no two docks alike on Lake Union.
Interested in Living On A Houseboat In Seattle?
If you are interested in Seattle Houseboat Living, then please let us know. We would be happy to help you find your perfect spot to live Lake Union Afloat℠! Call/Text/Email anytime.
Courtney Cooper 206-850-8841 Courtney@CooperJacobs.com
In the last sixty days, there have been many significant sale in the Seattle houseboat community. There have been nine closed sales in the NWMLS for Seattle floating homes and also for Seattle houseboats which are classified as a barge (house barge).
Here are some of the details of the Seattle houseboats which have closed in escrow:
2727 Fairview Ave E #3 This is a grandfathered in Seattle housebarge which was gorgeous. It has 2 bedrooms and was listed on 4/5/2015 for $399,000 and sold for $404,000 after 6 days on the market. It is located on the Hamlin Pier in Eastlake. No sales tax on Seattle housebarges for sale if you can find them.
3125 Fairview Ave E #B This 2 bedroom 875 square foot Seattle floating home was listed on 4/30/2015 for $575,000 and sold for full price three days later. I closed in escrow 5/29/2015.
2727 Fairview Ave E #12 This Seattle floating home is on Hamlin Pier which is a leased dock in Eastlake. It was listed for $695,000 on 3/6/2015 and on the market for 22 days before closing on 4/30/2015 with a final sales price of $675,000.
2031 Fairview Ave E #P The Lake Union Dock in Seattle’s Eastlake neighborhood. The next three sold on this dock. The floating home in slip #P is 1050 square feet and 2 bedrooms. It was listed for $725,000 on 4/28/2015 and after 3 days on the market sold for $715,000 and closed on 6/5/2015. It is the first houseboat on the dock.
2031 Fairview Ave E #B Another Lake Union Dock gem, we sold this gorgeous Seattle houseboat to our lucky clients who came out ahead in a fierce multiple offer situation. This two bedroom 1200 square foot floating home was listed on 4/1/2015 for $895,000 and sold after six days on the market and closed in escrow on 5/19/2015 for $900,000.
2031 Fairview Ave E #G we had the pleasure of listing this one with LeAnne. We listed it on 4/27/2015 for $975,000 and after 5 days on the market it went under contract for full price. During the inspection, we adjusted the price somewhat for a final sales price of $971,000. It closed on 6/10/2015. This Seattle floating home is a two bedroom 1184 square foot houseboat in Eastlake. It is second from the end of the dock and offers some pretty great views and nice finish work.
3236 Portage Bay Pl Moving over to Portage Bay, this two bedroom Seattle floating home was listed on 9/15/2014 for $1,100,000 and after 152 days on the market, it closed in escrow at $1,067,000 on 5/15/2015. This houseboat offered a unique situation which make it difficult to price – a couple parking spaces and an on land rental income opportunity. People looking for Seattle houseboats for rent would like the land rental and this one also has no HOA so no dues.
10 E Roanoke Reef St #12 Awwe… Roanoke Reef floating homes! Roanoke Reef is one of the three standards in Seattle luxury floating homes. This three bedroom floating home is on the back row and offers 1562 square feet of living space to stretch out for your life afloat in Seattle. It was listed for 4/5/2015 for $1,690,000 and after 276 days on the market sold for cash. It closed on 5/8/2015 for a final sales price of $1,640,000.
3212 Portage Bay Place #B Brand new! Seattle new construction floating homes in Seattle are few and far between. This one is back over in Portage Bay again and is one of the latest Seattle luxury floating homes to hit the houseboat market. It was listed for $1,750,000 on 3/28/2015 and after 35 days on the market it sold for full asking price and cash and closed on 5/27/2015. The square footage is 1850 square feet of stunning interiors and three bedrooms which is difficult to find outside of Roanoke Reef, Mallard Cove, or Wards Cove.
So the average days on market for these Seattle houseboats for sale is 56 days. The average dollar per square foot is $751.95 with a range of $657.14 to $1,049.94 for the Seattle floating homes and $404 for the Seattle housebarge Big Brother that closed. The median sales price for all of these Seattle houseboats is $900,000.
One Final note on The Seattle Houseboats Market:
The sales price to list price ratio is 99.02% making the Seattle floating homes market a healthy opportunity for Seattle buyers who want to be in city but can’t seem to compete in the current market. In Seattle land homes for certain neighborhoods, homes are selling for $100,000 to $200,000 and more over list in the same price range. Why not take your buying power and apply it towards Seattle’s most affordable waterfront and closest in city neighborhood? We still have multiple offers in the Seattle floating homes market, but the competition is at a more reasonable pace. I think if more buyers were aware of the attainability of this amazing lifestyle, then more people might jump in and enjoy this unique lifestyle of life afloat in Seattle.
Please call us if you would like to learn more about living life on Lake Union. Courtney Cooper Seattle Houseboats Realtors. We specialize in Seattle floating homes, Seattle waterfront, Seattle luxury homes, and Seattle neighborhoods. Cooper Jacobs Real Estate, SeattleAfloat.com for Life Afloat In Seattle’s Lake Union Neighborhood.
You have to go back over a hundred years and look beyond Lake Union to see the roots of Seattle houseboats. Beth Means and Bill Keasler wrote a great piece about Seattle houseboats history on The Seattle Floating Homes Association website. Seattle Floating homes have played a significant part in shaping the city’s history and landscape. We at Seattle Afloat have a whole category on this site dedicated to it: Seattle houseboats history on Seattle Afloat.
There is also a great spot to see amazing pictures and get more information on HistoryLink where the site describes various houseboats around Seattle and their origins:
“Some of these communities — especially those off the Madison Park and Leschi neighborhoods on Lake Washington — were formed by the well-to-do who enjoyed summering aboard their fancy abodes. Others — along the Elliott Bay waterfront, the Duwamish River, Harbor Island, Salmon Bay, Lake Union, Portage Bay, and Union Bay — were mainly inhabited by workers struggling to stay financially afloat.. “
Howard Droker wrote the fascinating book Seattle’s Unsinkable Houseboats in 1977 and there is a great video about Seattle houseboats featuring him on the http://www.lakeunionhistory.org/ website. I have embedded it here because it is worth a watch:
If you are curious about Seattle houseboats and interested in purchasing a Seattle floating home, then please let us know. These are special homes and the ultimate in Seattle waterfront living. You should work with real estate agents who understand the ins and outs of Seattle houseboats. We understand all of the unique intricacies of the Seattle floating home world and we are happy to help you. We can also help you with the various FSBO floating homes available across the lake.
You can reach me at 206-850-8841 or Courtney@cooperjacobs.com
Cooper Jacobs Real Estate for all your realty needs – we have brokers who specialize in all Seattle neighborhoods and suburbs.
A few random Lake Union thoughts – Would love to hear some of your thoughts, too….
Seattle Floating Homes Association Website – One word: Gorgeous. The updated Floating Homes Association website is fresh and beautiful.. I am jealous I didn’t make it myself. Love it. Kudos! You can see it here: www.seattlefloatinghomes.org Jann, I know you had a hand in that and it’s amazing! You can see all the newsletters, updates, tour info, etc. I particularly am fond of the Seattle houseboats history page.
Reality TV and Seattle houseboats. It’s been overdone already. Have you watched those shows on HGTV and other channels? We get phone calls almost every other week from producers hoping to film the next reality TV show featuring Seattle houseboats and us. They ask us to be on these shows, but we say NO. We STRONGLY believe that protecting the Seattle houseboat community’s privacy is far more important than cheap fame for ourselves. We appreciate all that the Seattle floating home community has given to us and we would never ever cross what we feel is a strong trust boundary.
FSBO Seattle floating homes – Word on the docks is lots of private sales going on. Last night it was the talk of the Seattle Floating Homes Association meeting. We verified it with Krista Todd at Sound Community and I verified it with Phil Miller who is a local legend and closes most of the floating homes in escrow. Of course being real estate agents, we are partial to the idea of listing your home in the NWMLS (with Cooper Jacobs Real Estate preferably), but putting that aside, why aren’t you listing your floating home with a Realtor (please also make sure they are actual dues paying Realtors who abide by a code of ethics)? The Realtor’s commissions aren’t that high in comparison with how much more money the open real estate market would bring you in the form of a higher sales price. I know news travels fast on the docks when someone is ready to sell, but even that can’t compare to the global exposure the MLS and the internet offer. I would love to hear some feedback on this. Many FSBO buyers have the false misconception that if they go around the listing agent then they will be able to get the home for a discount to the tune of that full listing broker and selling broker commission. That simply isn’t true. While the seller may be willing to give you somewhat of a discount, in most cases they will more likely want to pocket the savings of not listing it themselves. Any discount you could have gotten would easily be beaten by a skilled real estate agent in a negotiation.
That’s it for now – as always, thank you for your business. We love serving this community and look forward to doing it for a long time. please email us or call us if you need anything at all Courtney Cooper 206-850-8841 Courtney@CooperJacobs.com We are Seattle Houseboats Realtors.
Seattle Houseboats: Enduring Over 100 Years And Still Floating. This particular one hasn’t been around quite that long, but long enough for it to be a site!
Yes. It floats.
Seattle houseboats have been afloat for over one hundred years now. It all started when a few resourceful and down on their luck people decided to basically start tying loose logs up and forming rafts. A little time before 1909 Seattle came up with an ingenious way to raise money for the Alaska Yukon Pacific Exposition. This world’s fair eventually shaped the campus of The University Of Washington! And it was financed largely by the beginnings of Seattle houseboats:
Over one hundred years ago the city of Seattle platted and sold the submerged “parcels” in Lake Union to the adjacent waterfront property land owners. This enabled docks to be built and Seattle houseboats to be moored to them. It was quite a popular and thrifty idea! The city now regulates them heavily and as a result of this regulation, Seattle houseboats have dwindled down considerably from well over two thousand Seattle houseboats at one time to just around five hundred or so of the floating home variety. They are scattered throughout Lake Union and in Portage Bay.
Speaking of dwindling.
The Seattle houseboats market has had a dwindling inventory and we are down to just a couple options right now in the floating homes world. This particular home is my favorite. “Annie O” is her nick name. She is houseboat “O” because the slips on the dock are lettered according to the alphabet, but I like her nick name personally. She is a jewel and is priced perfectly at $599,000. Two bedrooms are not always easy to come by in the land of Seattle houseboats, but this is a beautiful two bedroom and it has been lovingly restored by the famous Sid McFarland and also upgraded and improved by its current owner who has a real artist’s eye. If this doesn’t make you want to go buy a boat or a kayak to tie up to it, then that is okay because there is lots to do in this community. Annie O happens to be on one of the very best docks in one of the very best co-ops on Lake Union. You will own the slip you and your home are in so there is security of knowing that this log pack is not going anywhere. Let us know if you would like more information on this perfect little Lake Union gem! Courtney 206.850.8841 Please call or text for more info.
Seattle Floating Homes Real Estate Market Report
located on the middle dock of The Log Foundation cooperative which has three docks. It is an extremely well run coop and houseboats on these lovely docks are always sought after. The Log Foundation floating homes are located on the southern most docks in the Seattle neighborhood of Eastlake. This particular Seattle floating home was represented by Cooper Jacobs Real Estate and was south facing on the middle dock. It is a two bedroom and 1 bath Lake Union floating home with 1300 square feet of living space. It closed on 10/13/15 for $677,500. (You can reach out to us for more info on this or other Seattle floating homes that are available both on and off market.)
Pending Seattle Floating Homes For Sale: 
