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Posts Tagged ‘lake union waterfront’

Seattle Floating Homes and Houseboats Guide – Part 5 – Locations

Wednesday, October 21st, 2009

Seattle Floating Homes and Seattle Houseboats – Part 5 – Locations

Seattle Houseboats and Floating Homes Map

Seattle Floating Homes Listings – Seattle Houseboats For Sale

The floating homes and houseboats in the Seattle area are all centered around Lake Union. The Puget Sound waterfront is usually too rough for year-round moorage, and even Lake Washington with its great size can pick up a lot of wind and boat traffic, causing some rocky waters. Lake Union, on the other hand, has caps on boat speed and a smaller surface area to pick up bad weather. It’s fairly calm year-round.

Eastlake – This is the home of the most magnificent floating homes. While you can find some smaller homes for around $400k, there are also high-end communities with $2 million+, two story modern floating homes. These are well-established communities and some newly-constructed communities. Eastlake is the most well-known neighborhood and houses a large number of homes.

Portage Bay – This area also has a large number of floating homes, and is well protected in its small cove. Many floating homes reside here, from small huts to full-sized traditional homes. Located off the Montlake neighborhood, just across from the Seattle yacht club, there’s plenty of boat traffic to view from the decks.

Northlake – This shoreline on the South end of the Wallingford neighborhood has quite a few houseboat/liveaboard communities. You’ll find everything from small sailboats to paddlewheel boats that are used as residences. Gasworks Park is on this shore along with some marine industrial properties.

Westlake – Welcome to Sleepless In Seattle. Tom Hanks’ houseboat is here, along with a small outcropping of other floating homes. This area is not as well-known for houseboats, save the movie star residence. There are a lot of commercial/entertainment businesses in Westlake, which is separated by a steep slope from the East end of Queen Anne.

Canal/Queen Anne – Some of the least expensive houseboats/floating homes can be found here. The views aren’t as good as on Lake Union, but it still has great access to the lake and to the Puget Sound. Most of the homes are located on the North shore of the Queen Anne neighborhood.

Searching for houseboats on the MLS can be difficult. Real Estate agents vary in how they identify the neighborhood of the homes. One houseboat could be listed 3 different ways–Lake Union, Northlake, or Wallingford. Here are some of the most common:

Eastlake Floating Homes

Lake Union Floating Homes

Portage Bay Floating Homes

Queen Anne Floating Homes

Wallingford Floating Homes

Westlake Floating Homes

Although there have been other houseboats moved around to different parts of Seattle, the permanently established communities are all based within these neighborhoods and offshoots of the Lake Union waterfront.

Sam DeBord and Brian Wiegand
Seattle Real Estate Brokers
Seattle Waterfront Homes
SeattleHome.com (206) 552-8820

Tags: lake union houseboats, lake union real estate, lake union waterfront, seattle floating homes, seattle houseboats, seattle waterfront homes
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Seattle Floating Homes and Houseboats Guide – Part 4 – Financing

Wednesday, October 21st, 2009

Seattle Floating Homes and Seattle Houseboats – Part 4 – Financing

Let’s reiterate again – Houseboats and Floating Homes are different. Financing is one of the biggest differences. Floating homes can be financed with regular 30 yr mortgages, traditional interest rates, and pay regular property taxes. Insurance is a bit more expensive than a traditional home.

Financing a houseboat (vessel), on the other hand, is nothing like financing a regular home. There are quite a few differences, the most important being:

Down Payment – Forget your No-Money-Down purchases. Most lenders will require 25%-30% as a down payment. These numbers change over time and with different lenders, but you must have a sizable down payment. The least expensive Seattle houseboat right now is about $60,000. That would still probably require $15,000 down. Add to that…

Sales Tax – In most cases, houseboats are sold as personal property. These “recreational vehicles” will pay almost 10% in sales tax at closing. The buyer pays this tax. You’ll also pay yearly licensing fees. This $60,000 houseboat now requires $15k down, $6k sales tax, plus closing costs. Most buyers should figure on needing about 40% of the houseboat’s price available in cash to make the purchase.

Interest Rates – Rates will typically be at least 1 percentage point higher than comparable home mortgage rates, and sometimes 2-3% higher. A water-based house clearly has more potential for damage than a land-based house, and the lenders factor that risk into the rate. Only a few banks will finance these loans, so you must find a specialized lender.

Insurance – Insurance costs are higher for boats than they are for homes. A monthly policy for a house might be $80, while a monthly policy on a houseboat could be $200.

Still on board? It’s better to know these issues up-front, and if you still feel like houseboat living is for you, let’s move on.

Sam DeBord and Brian Wiegand
Seattle Real Estate Brokers
Seattle Waterfront Homes
SeattleHome.com (206) 552-8820

Tags: lake union homes, lake union houseboats, lake union waterfront, seattle floating homes, seattle houseboats, seattle waterfront homes, seattle waterfront real estate
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Waterfront Regulations for Seattle Floating Homes

Wednesday, October 21st, 2009

This is an interesting article by Diana Forman with the Floating Homes Association. The Shoreline Master Program (SMP) consists of regulations for the use of waterways in the Seattle area. There is a committee that consists of land owners, businesses, developers, and recreation groups that all have a stake in the management of the floating homes, waterfront real estate, environment, and atmosphere on Lake Union and the other bodies of water in the Seattle area.

From noxious weeds to new Seattle floating homes and construction requirements, these folks have their hands full. The SMP is trying to combine conforming and non-conforming regulations for Seattle houseboats and homes on land–no easy job.

Sam DeBord and Brian Wiegand
Seattle Real Estate Brokers
Seattle Waterfront Homes
(206) 552-8820

SeattleHome.com

Tags: lake union homes, lake union waterfront, seattle floating homes, seattle waterfront homes, seattle waterfront real estate
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Lake Union’s New Community Wharf Plans in Northlake

Wednesday, October 21st, 2009

Residents of Seattle’s Lake Union neighborhoods, especially those living near the waterfront, should take note of the proposed community center planned for the north shore of the lake near Gasworks Park in Wallingford. In my opinion, this is a much-needed improvement for such a beautiful area with so little community development. The Lake Union waterfront on the north end has plenty of unused potential. From Jake Beattie of the CWB:

There is an effort underway to create a maritime community center on the north shore of Lake Union adjacent to Gasworks Park. The Northlake Community Wharf will serve several functions.

1. Interpretive shipyard where the community can get involved and learn about historic ships undergoing restoration.

2. A place to extend the activity of the park on to the water of Lake Union via a hand-launch site or programs through The Center for Wooden Boats.

3. Serve needs for community meeting space at the water’s edge.

Northlake Community Wharf is a public/private partnership that will use non-profit led community engagement to activate public land to create a park-like experience without tax dollars for operations.

For more information on the project and how you can get involved, visit the project website at northlakewharf.wordpress.com

The Floating Homes Association has written a letter endorsing the project.

-Jake Beattie, Deputy Director for the Center For Wooden Boats