Floating Homes vs Houseboats in Seattle…

Seattle Floating Homes vs Seattle Houseboats: A Cost Comparison Report During a Hot Real Estate Market

Let’s start with the terms…  Intro by Courtney Cooper   Call/Text 206-850-8841 courtney@cooperjacobs.com

I call all of them Seattle houseboats.  That’s my choice and also one of many of the old timers on the lake.  I live on a 100 plus year old Seattle floating home in Portage Bay.  Long before the more recently added  categorization of Floating On Water Residences came into being to add liveaboards to our MLS database, they were all houseboats.   Houseboats was an umbrella term and still is for some like myself. It’s a lifestyle and I will continue to call floating homes “houseboats”, too.  I use the terms interchangeably, actually.   Molly, my business partner tends to go a different direction on terms.  She breaks them out into EITHER floating homes, houseboats (what I consider the vessel type), and barges.  See below if you need a visual on our views.  Neither is correct or wrong, but Molly wrote most of this post so I am clarifying….

Courtney’s way:

“Houseboats”  are any of the following:

• Floating homes
• Liveaboard Barges
• Liveaboard Vessels

Molly’s way: 

Specific terms for each (although I have also heard her use my way on occasion…..):

• Floating homes
• Houseboats
• Barges

And now… Back to the originally scheduled program.

Seattle Floating Homes vs Seattle Houseboats

by Molly Cartwright call/text 206-841-6800  molly@cooperjacobs.com

We’d like to give a little insight for those who are looking to purchase (or have purchased) an iconic floating home or houseboat in Seattle.   Do they appreciate the same as land Seattle homes? We get this question quite a bit.  What do I look for in these types of properties?  We get this one a lot too.  We’d love to hear from you to better answer your questions on an individual basis.  

But above all the questions, this is the number one most asked question:

“Do I buy a floating home or a houseboat?”  We know it can be confusing!  So hopefully with this break down and after talking to a Floating Home Lender, we can help answer that question.

Since January 1, 2016 until TODAY August 10, 2017.  Here’s the breakdown:

Of Seattle Floating Homes, there have been a grand total of 31 sales.  This DOES NOT including Private Sales which we know of at least four on the lake between the $1M and $2M price tag.  

Sold Floating Homes                   31

Median Price                               $1,209,676

Average Square Foot                  1,172

Average Price Per Square Foot  $1,147

Average Days On Market            38

Of Seattle Houseboats, here is the break down:

Sold Houseboats                         22

Median Price                               $354,148

Average Square Foot                  564

Average Price Per Square Foot  $651.00

Average Days On Market            37          

Please call me if you are curious about getting more information. I am happy to talk to you about buying or selling Seattle real estate.  Seattle floating homes are the ultimate in Seattle waterfront living and we are happy to show you these or other Seattle waterfront homes. I look forward to showing you this lifestyle.  – Molly  206-841-6800