1962 Floating Home at Ridgefield Marina, 1,766 Sq Ft on the Water — $120,000

A floating home for $120,000. That is the number that makes you stop. Not a slip, not a houseboat in the romantic sense of the word — a 1,766 square foot house that happens to be on the water at Ridgefield Marina in Washington. Three bedrooms. One and a half baths. Built in 1962, so you are dealing with something that has age on it.

The agent copy is upfront that this place needs work, which is worth taking seriously. The language about "your vision and updates" and "fix-up" is real estate for: plan to spend money. What they list as recent improvements includes a new back deck, four new stringers, and two new logs. For a floating home, the hull structure underneath matters more than almost anything else, so the fact that work has been done there is relevant. Whether it is enough is a question for someone who knows how to evaluate a float.

Inside, there is a wood stove on the main level. In the Pacific Northwest, that is a practical thing, not just atmospheric. The main level also has a bedroom, which gives the layout some flexibility depending on how you use the space. The living areas are described as spacious, and at 1,766 square feet, there is room for that to be true.

The price is low for any house in western Washington in 2024, let alone one on the water. The tradeoff is that floating homes come with different costs than land-based ones. Moorage fees, insurance, and maintenance on the float itself are ongoing. None of that is in the listing. You would want those numbers before making any decisions.

Ridgefield is a small city in Clark County, about twenty miles north of Portland. The marina sits along the Columbia River bottom area. If you want proximity to a metro without paying metro prices, the geography works.

This is a project. The price reflects that. If you have the tolerance for a renovation on water and the patience to sort out what a floating home actually costs to own, the entry point here is hard to find anywhere else.