The specialty education brand
Lake Union Living.
Everything a Seattle floating-home or houseboat buyer needs in one free resource — how prices and leased moorage actually work, the history of the docks, and specialized consulting for life on the water. All of it is free, whether or not you ever transact with us. Informed clients make better decisions; this is where they get informed.
Why this exists
The story behind the resource.
Lake Union Living didn’t start as a marketing idea — it grew out of decades of advocacy for the people who actually live on Seattle’s water. Linda M. Bagley, together with her late husband Kevin, co-founded the Lake Union Liveaboard Association (LULA) to provide resources, educate buyers and sellers, and protect Seattle’s houseboat liveaboard community.
That advocacy went beyond the docks. Linda and Kevin helped formulate Washington State legislation to protect floating properties, and they played an integral role in the movement that brought floating properties onto the Northwest Multiple Listing Service — the change that let Seattle’s houseboats and floating homes be listed, searched, and sold alongside every other kind of home.
The brokerage’s floating-home work has since been featured on HGTV, House Hunters, DIY Network, and KIRO. But the point of Lake Union Living has never been the cameras — it’s that floating property plays by its own rules, and the people considering it deserve accurate answers before anyone asks them to commit.
Community & waters
Four waters, four different communities.
Seattle’s floating homes and houseboats live on Lake Union and the Ship Canal — not Lake Washington — and each shore has its own character, moorage mix, and history. These are the docks we’ve listed, sold, and lived on.
Ownership & title
“Where is the title?”
One of the most common questions buyers and real estate brokers ask is: “Where is the title?” A Seattle Floating on Water Residence (FOWR) is transferred as personal property rather than titled real estate. Unlike the purchase of a traditional home or condominium, there is no real-property deed or traditional title report, and there is no traditional real-estate title insurance policy.
Instead, the FOWR has a King County Personal Property Account Number for personal-property tax purposes, and ownership is transferred through the applicable purchase, sale, and closing documents. The FOWR and its moorage are also separate matters — moorage may involve a lease, marina agreement, association, or other ownership/occupancy arrangement — so buyers should carefully review both the documents that transfer the FOWR and the documents that govern its moorage.
Because purchasing a Floating on Water Residence is different from purchasing conventional real estate, buyers should work with professionals familiar with this specialized type of transaction. Read the full title & ownership explainer →
The knowledge base
Every floating-home resource on this site.
This is the full Lake Union Living library — guides, tools, and vocabulary, in the rough order a buyer or seller meets the questions. Start anywhere; everything links onward.
- Lake Union Living library — lessons in writing Broker-narrated explainer hub — text-first lessons (video optional later).
- The complete houseboat & floating-home guide Prices, financing, moorage types, utilities, hulls & flotation, shoreline code — the deep specialty page.
- Does a Floating on Water Residence have a title? The 'where is the title?' answer — a FOWR transfers as personal property, not by deed, and the moorage is a separate question.
- Floating home vs houseboat vs land house The side-by-side comparison — legal classification, what you own, financing, insurance, taxes, resale.
- Moorage & float systems atlas Owned, co-op, leased moorage — plus shore power, sewage, float materials, freeboard.
- The floating-home glossary Moorage to freeboard — the dock vocabulary, defined in plain language.
- Floating-home photo gallery Editorial photos from Lake Union, the Ship Canal, and Westlake.
- Inspection checklist — the marine section Float condition, dive reports, shore connections — what to look at before you commit.
- Financing calculator Sketch the monthly payment — with the honest note on how floating-property lending differs.
- Moving checklist — the floating-home move Moorage notice, shore power, pump-out, dock logistics — the move nobody else's checklist covers.
- Education list — Lake Union Living lessons Opt in for written lessons — education drip, not listing spam.
- The floating-home Learning Center section Guides and real dock-by-dock case studies, all in one library section.
When the guides run out, bring the question to a person.
Some floating-home questions don’t have a general answer — a specific dock’s lease terms, an unusual float, a co-op’s rules, a survey finding you don’t know how to weigh. That’s the consulting side of Lake Union Living: Linda M. Bagley has lived aboard, co-founded LULA, and worked these moorages for decades. Bring your floating-home questions — the conversation is free, and the honest answer is sometimes “wait” or “walk away.” That’s the point.
“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.”
First time here?
Get a free, no-pressure floating home consultation with Linda M. Bagley.
Thirty minutes, your questions, zero obligation — including a complimentary pricing opinion if you own a floating home you’re curious about. Linda answers personally.