#ADDRESS SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE HOUSEBOAT MOVIE#

Getting seasick is really not likely, says liveaboard expert Linda Bagley of Special Agents Realty. This involves hiring a diver to inspect the hull of a houseboat or the floats beneath a floating home.įloating homes must meet standard building codes houseboats have a little more leeway with unusual staircases or door and window sizing. Home inspections require a diverĪs with any home purchase, an inspection is generally recommended with an expert checking out the home from top to bottom. And in the city of Seattle, there’s just one lender who handles houseboat loans. Houseboats have a sales tax due at the point of sale. Different taxes are required for houseboatsįloating homes are sold like any other house, with traditional loans and closing costs. When a storm is passing through or rough water is expected, houseboat and floating home owners tie down their patio furniture, and put their cushions and sun umbrellas away. You really have to batten down the hatches They’re designed to not be permanently moored,' he explained. “You can unscrew the electricity, the water hose, untie and easily move away. Houseboats on the other hand have “quick disconnect” features, says houseboat expert and real estate agent Kevin Bagley of Special Agents Realty. Floating homes are permanently connected to sewer, water and electrical, built and moved into place just once. Think of a floating home like a condo, but rather than a unit in a building, it’s a unit on the water with HOA dues paid to maintain the dock and slip. Here are 7 things you may not know about floating homes and houseboats - and likely didn't learn from 'Sleepless in Seattle.'Īlthough both floating homes and houseboats are found on the water, there are significant differences between the two.

The key distinction here is that it's a floating home, not houseboat. Although Hollywood and much of the U.S. refer to the movie's home as a houseboat, Hanks' on-screen residence is technically a floating home. Still, he says, 'We had a lot of fun making just a little bit nicer than the actual interior with some details that gave the impression that perhaps Sam had actually renovated it himself and put some of his aesthetic as an architect into the remodel.While a huge part of 'Sleepless in Seattle's' appeal could be chalked up to the '90s rom-com duo of Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, another significant part of the movie's charm is its setting in a floating home.

#ADDRESS SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE HOUSEBOAT MOVIE#

'Nora was really insistent on basing the movie in Seattle-and not for any reasons she could defend,' says Townsend, who reportedly butted heads with the filmmaker during the project. This was, apparently, an unusual move, as most films are based in New York or Los Angeles for cost and convenience. The interior shots, meanwhile, were filmed on sets built at a nearby naval base. 'I think it’s 2,000 square feet.' (In 2014, a Seattle tech executive reportedly bought the Sleepless in Seattle houseboat for over $2 million.) 'We looked at so many floating homes in Seattle and finally ended up in the biggest one there,' Townsend says. The exterior shots of Sam’s home were filmed on location at an actual houseboat in the area. It’s literally on water and moves a little bit with the tide.' Of course, the eccentric residence also lent the film a sense of whimsy, offering a cinematic spot for a number of shots of Sam gazing wistfully off his deck at the horizon. 'I don’t think Jeff Arch would be horrified for me to suggest that there’s something transient-feeling about a floating home. (Townsend notes the houseboat was part of the original screenwriter Jeff Arch’s vision.) 'The trajectory was that you have an ostensibly successful architect in Chicago-big market, big skyscrapers, big windows-whose dreams shrink from grief,' Townsend says. For Jeffrey Townsend, the film’s production designer, a Seattle floating home was the perfect visual representation of Sam’s unmoored state in the start of the film as a grief-stricken widow fleeing the bustle of Chicago.

Address sleepless in seattle houseboat