Seattle Houseboat & Floating Home Specialists — Life Is Better When You Own It™
Life Is Better When You Own It™
Special Agents Realty helps buyers and sellers across Seattle and the Puget Sound choose homes that match how they want to live — neighborhoods, outdoors, waterfront, and everything between — with personal care and special attention.
What we do
They are also three genuinely different purchases — different lenders, different inspections, different paperwork, different deadlines. Start with the guide for the one you are considering. No form, no email required.
The familiar path — you own the land, and the lender underwrites you rather than a building. What Seattle adds is the diligence: hundred-year-old craftsman stock, clay side sewers, steep lots, and septic and wells once you pass the city’s service boundary.
How buying a house worksAlmost nothing above still applies. No deed and no certificate of title, conventional mortgage desks are not permitted to lend, federal flood insurance does not cover it, and the moorage can matter more than the home. Linda M. Bagley lived aboard for nearly 15 years.
How buying a floating home worksAlso: floating home vs houseboat · the whole on-water specialty
Here the building has to qualify for the loan too, and a perfect borrower can still be declined. You are reading a declaration, a reserve study, and a resale certificate against a cancellation window that changed in June 2026 — and ‘townhome’ is not even an ownership type in Washington.
How buying a condo worksFind your guide
Waterfront with its dock and bulkhead diligence, selling instead of buying, or just the financing question — pick your home type and where you are in the process, and the matching guides, real sales, and neighborhood pages appear.
A totally different process from a traditional house — moorage, floating-on-water residence classification, floating property lending, and Seattle's shoreline code, from a broker who lived aboard for ~15 years.
It's a complicated conversation. Schedule a 30-minute consultation.
Want the whole library? Browse every buyer & seller guide by home type in the Learning Center.
Home search
Northwest MLS is the database Washington brokers file their listings into. Linda M. Bagley will set you up on its app, so you are searching the same inventory she is — with her attached to it, not a call center.
Linda’s connection code
8365E820
Enter it when the app asks who your broker is. That one step is what routes your saved searches and questions to Linda M. Bagley.
Neighborhoods
Linda M. Bagley lives on Green Lake. Out from there: the ring we know block by block, the floating-home docks and estate streets most of this brokerage’s work happens on, and the view bluffs in between. Each one is a lifestyle magazine or a buying and selling guide — never a brochure.
Lifestyle
Duck Dodge on Lake Union, the Green Lake loop, Burke-Gilman rides, San Juans weekends, pickleball, gardening, markets — a magazine for living in one of the most beautiful places in the world.
Meet your broker
Owner | Designated Broker · Special Agents Realty
With over 25 years of real estate expertise, Linda’s business is founded on honesty and integrity. She lived aboard a floating-on-water residence for nearly 15 years and now lives in Green Lake. Instrumental in founding the Lake Union Liveaboard Association (LULA), she helped formulate legislation safeguarding Seattle’s floating properties and bring them into the Northwest Multiple Listing Service. Her work has been featured on HGTV, House Hunters, and KIRO.
Why Special Agents
Our responsibility isn’t to sell houses — it’s to help you make a wise real estate decision, whether that means moving forward, waiting, or walking away.
Special Agents Realty specializes in waterfront, floating properties, luxury homes, and residential real estate — a niche most brokerages never touch.
Over 25 years in business and a cooperative relationship between all parties involved, so every side of the transaction stays aligned and informed.
Moving beyond Puget Sound? We leverage our extensive network to connect you with reliable, experienced brokers wherever you need them.
Serving Seattle · Lake Union · Portage Bay · Wallingford · Northlake · Queen Anne · Magnolia · Madison Park · Broadmoor · Laurelhurst · Ballard · Sunset Hill · Green Lake · Phinney Ridge · Northgate · Ravenna · Maple Leaf · Roosevelt · Bellevue · Medina · Clyde Hill · Hunts Point · Yarrow Point · Mercer Island · Bremerton · Manette · Brinnon · Marysville and the wider Puget Sound region — see all areas we serve.
Run the numbers
Sketch a budget in thirty seconds — price, down payment, the rate a lender quotes you, and the monthly costs most calculators forget. Educational estimates, not a quote.
Switching resets the numbers to typical assumptions for that type.
House estimate
$5,086/ month
$4,298 principal & interest + $788 taxes, insurance & dues
Conventional financing on real property. Under 20% down you will usually pay mortgage insurance until you reach 20% equity, which is estimated above.
Estimates only, for education — not a loan offer, quote, or pre-approval. Special Agents Realty is a real estate brokerage, not a lender; actual rates, taxes, insurance, and terms vary. Talk to a lender before you shop.
Buying on the water? Floating homes and houseboats are usually financed differently — portfolio or floating-property lenders, different down-payment expectations, and moorage underwriting a standard mortgage desk won’t touch. Pick the floating homes & houseboats tab above, and the floating-home buying guide walks through the rest.
First time here?
Thirty minutes, your questions, zero obligation — including a complimentary pricing opinion if you own a home you’re curious about. Linda answers personally.
Client words
4.89 average across 46 Google reviews as of July 2026. Every quote below is word for word from her Google profile (opens in new tab) — never reworded, never trimmed to fit.
“Over the years I’ve noticed that there always seems to be one person who is at the center of the houseboat market, and right now Linda is that person. Knowledgeable, hardworking, and a good communicator.”
“Linda was invaluable in helping us dispute our latest tax appraisal. She provided us with the data, and how to describe our situation to the Tax Board. Ultimately, the tax appraisal was lowered by over 30%. Her recommendations were specific…”
“Linda is a consummate professional and possesses a wealth of knowledge about Puget Sound real estate. She leverages data to inform her strategies and recommendations, and has a strong professional network. I would strongly recommend Linda to…”
From the journal
Learn · October 3, 2025 · 1 min
Ask Linda What are the differences between a condominium, a townhouse and a co-op? A townhouse is a style of construction, whereas condominium and co-op are…
Read Linda's answerAct · October 3, 2025
Noble Firs Condo in Park Like Setting 2 bed/2bath Stunning Vaulted Ceilings 1522 NE 140th St. #C-5, Seattle, WA 98125 MLS #2040637 SOLD – $511,999 Welcome…
View this propertyAct · October 3, 2025
Meticulous Ballard Sunset Hill Craftsman Location~Location~Location 7304 28th Ave NW, Seattle, WA 98117 SOLD!!! MLS # 1795286 Incredible Ballard Location…
View this propertyAsk Linda
Whether you're buying your first floating home, selling a houseboat, or searching for the right residential property, Linda M. Bagley brings 25+ years of Puget Sound expertise to your side of the table.
Life Is Better When You Own It™
