Advantages to Living on the Water
1. In some parts of the country a houseboat isn’t considered real property, so you won’t be paying property taxes.In others it may be considered personal property, and you’ll be levied a small personal property tax annually. Still others differentiate between floating homes, which they tax as real property, and houseboats, which are taxed as personal property. Your real estate agent can let you know the rules in your area.
2. You also won’t need a gardener or a snow shovel when you live on the water. Plus, you are guaranteed a water view and nobody can build anything that will block that view.
3. The interest on your loan payment is tax deductible as long as the houseboat is considered a qualified residence, meaning that it is either a first or second home and has a toilet, sleeping areas and cooking facilities.
4. If being surrounded by water puts you in a good mood, then a modern houseboat may be your perfect escape.
5. Close to 90 percent of the world’s largest cities are located along the sea, rivers, lakes, or canals. With shrinking real estate in urban centers, more homeowners are making the decision to live on houseboats or floating homes.
6.If you're toying with the idea of moving from land to water or just want to get away for the weekend, one of these floating homerentals could offer a great way to experience what it feels like to live on water.
Floating Homes & Houseboats
One of the most unique ways to live in Seattle is on a Floating Home (sometimes affectionately, although inaccurately referred to as Houseboats). Floating Homes are a rare commodity, found only in a few unique communities in the United States, and are even rare around the world. Seattle’s floating home community can trace its roots back to the very beginning of the city, when crude shacks were built on logs to allow workers to move from one logging site to another. Originally, these homes were designed to be mobile (hence the term Houseboat), but as time passed and regulations changed, Seattle’s original ‘houseboats’ became more permanently fixed to their docks and became know as Floating Homes. These properties are now subject to the same building codes that govern houses on land, and Floating Homes are also subject to special regulations unique to Floating Homes. Floating home owners pay property tax and the seller pays state excise tax when sold.
The Floating Home: Think of the Sleepless in Seattle boat. These are homes that are built on a floating hull. These homes are required to adhere to the traditional building codes of homes on land. These floating homes are permanently connected to city water and sewer and must be moored in an approved floating home marina. These floating dwellings are most like real houses inside. They have real toilets, standard appliances and feel like the houses you grew up with. There are only 500 floating homes in Seattle, and the scarcity of these homes is a driving factor in the high prices to purchase, but on the same side of that coin, they hold their resale value. The floating home pays property tax, but it is immune to paying vessel registration fees. These homes are also the only homes on water that qualify for traditional 30 year mortgages.
House Barges: These are the rarest of the live-a-board vessels. There are only 33 (as of today) of these types of vessels on the lake, and no more will ever be permitted. Seattle changed the laws around barges in the 1990’s and at that time, only existing barges were grandfathered in. If an existing barge sinks. or is no longer used as a live-a-board, it loses its barge designation and no new barge can be built to replace it. The barge is a vessel built primarily as a place of residence, but has the ability to navigate waters but has no means of self propulsion. That is a long winded way of saying that barges can act like boats, but they have no motors and need to be towed to get around on the lake. Barges are not connected to City water and sewer, but are still required to pay property tax. The good news is that Barges do not have to pay sales tax or vessel registration fees and can qualify for financing much easier than Houseboats.
Houseboats: These are the most common types of liveaboards on Lake Union (and the type of boat that I live on). A houseboat is an actual boat that is used as a residence. These types of boats come in all shapes and sizes. From motor boats, to sail boats to luxury yacht cruisers and everything in-between. Houseboats are defined as being designed and used for navigation, have a seaworthy hull, and are able to navigate under their own power in open waters. In short, they have to be able to withstand navigation on the lake and do so under their own power. The DPD and the City of Seattle are in the final stages of refining the definition and regulations surrounding houseboats, so stay tuned for updates once the law revisions are final and published. Buying a houseboat is a lot like buying a car. When you purchase your houseboat, you pay sales tax and a vessel registration fee (and that fee has to be paid annually as long as you own the boat). Houseboats are not subject to property tax.
As you can see, life on the lake comes in many shapes and sizes. Us liveaboards trade square footage for million dollar views. We forgo some of the conveniences of life of land (like a driveway and a yard) for the privilege of having mother nature rock us to sleep at night. We spend more time on the outside spaces of our boat than we do inside. We know our neighbors, we respect the amazing nature we so closely share space with and we know that the little moments in life are often the most amazing. If you want to know more about this funny little lifestyle, feel free to contact me. I would love to show you some liveaboard vessels, or just have you over to my humble houseboat for lemonade and to watch the sunset.
