Over here is a number of floating homes for sale on Lake Norris, Tennessee. It is a TVA lake so unremarkable it has no Wikipedia page.
**Why are there floating homes here? Why are there no floating homes elsewhere (save California)?
**
Who says there are none elsewhere?
Well, A very fast Google showed hits for floating houses for sale at Lake Norris and in California. I am humble enough to educated.
I can view floating homes right out my office window in La Crosse (Wisconsin, on the Mississippi). Though some are summer cabins. Some look to be 1/2 step up from homelessness.
Brian
The Seattle area has quite a few.
Places that have floating houses must have access to a floating pumping station to evacuate the sewage holding tank that is necessarily part of the floating house. I suspect that the reason that not many places feature floating houses comes down to a kind of ‘Chicken or the egg’ situation.
In order for there to be a business that will provide this floating sanitation service there must be enough customers for the business to be profitable. On the other hand not many people will go to the trouble of building a floating house without a ready means of sewage waste disposal.
In the case of Norris lake, I am almost certain that one local marina built several floating houses that were used as rentals and also aquired the necessary equipment for sewage disposal of said rentals. This opened up that market for individually owned floating houses in the area since the service was available.
Be aware that permits for such facilities may be impossible to obtain in certain jurisdictions.
That assumes there is running water in the house - Many of the ones I’ve seen have had port-a-potties on the shore
I reiterate the vacation cabin / half step above homelessness comment
Brian
Thank you very much.
First time those three cities have been mentioned together.
In Seattle most of them look pretty nice.
Here’s a real estate agents list:
http://www.cooperjacobs.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=results&cfid=9811922&cftoken=37882770
Psst. It’s usually called Norris Lake. (Probably because it’s named after the dam that forms it, and while “Lake Norris” sounds OK, “Dam Norris” would be way too strange to use regularly, so they’re called “Norris Dam” and “Norris Lake”)
There’s a “community” of floating homes in Toronto.
Houseboats are popular on the Erie Canal in Western NY, usually as a summer rental.
We just got back from our honeymoon in a rental on the Erie Canal. That is what put me in the current craze with all things boating. Great honeymoon!
N9IWP is probably looking across the river at the Winona ones I linked. The pictures match up pretty well with his description.
Probably the difference is due to being near downtown vs more of a remote area.
Actually, the ones I can see from the office are very near downtown La Crosse.
There are some nicer ones, but many are similar to the Winona ones pictured (no surpise, since that is just up the river ~20-30 miles)
Brian