If you’ve been following Flatwater Kayak Club news for awhile, you probably know that we’re in the market to buy a floating home… but we’re still weighing the pros and cons and if it’s a smart buy for our family, budget, and kayaking lifestyle.

Near the Portland, Oregon area, floating homes and moorages abound. Pricing can varies a ton, from about $150k to $1million+, and there are different waterway considerations, security things to keep in mind, views and access points, float upkeep, and moorage regulations that affect market value.

To get a better sense of the floating home lifestyle, I’ve already booked a weekend at a nearby AirBnB floating home this summer (which is hard to do, not that many are available due to moorage and city rental rules). But a floating home for sale popped up on Redfin that caught my eye this week – and it offered an open house.

So today I traveled just north of PDX and just south of the town of Scappoose, to a privately-owned moorage called Rocky Pointe Marina.

Curious what $325,000 can buy you in the world of Pacific Northwest floating homes – and what I thought about this particular listing? Check out today’s post with photos and videos…

[Read more: famous floating homes in the Pacific Northwest]

Immediate floating home impressions

From the online listing of this floating home, $325,000 seemed like a fair price. There are not many floating homes in the Portland area that offer a great water view in this price point. Most cheaper properties are tucked inside a second layer of floating homes, have a view of a ramp, or require float work to secure a mortgage.

Rocky Pointe Marina has great security in place – for both your vehicle and your floating home. There are gates that require codes, an on-site office, and I spoke with one of the workers there today who was exceptionally kind and helped show me the way to the listing (this marina is a mile long, so first timers need a tip or two!).

From my first impression, I really liked this marina. It’s a holiday weekend, so who knows if folks were in town or not, but it seemed quiet today, very clean, and full of charm.

The exterior of this little 1,000 square foot floating home for sale was pretty adorable. I snapped this short video from the main dock and front entrance…

It’s a small home at only 1,000 square feet, but I knew this going into the tour. And even on a windy, cloudy, typical Portland spring day of weather, I didn’t feel like the ground was moving beneath me. The float felt solid.

This particular floating home is on the Multnomah Channel, across from Sauvie Island.

When you walk inside the house, you enter a small living room and a kitchen…

Down a single hallway and past the full bathroom, you enter the primary bedroom with expansive water views, which were quite lovely…

I especially liked the little desk in the corner and imagined transforming that into my work area…

The only entrance from the home to the back deck area – which of course as kayakers, we care about – was through the main bedroom suite. Here’s a glimpse of the Multnomah Channel, nearby float homes, and Sauvie Island today…

Final takeaways

All in all? I really liked the floating home, but it was the layout that didn’t feel right and I’m not up for a big renovation. It was also pretty far from the ramp. Bringing in groceries, walking my dog… felt like it’d be a bit of a pain.

The biggest factor that makes me pass on this one: I think I’d prefer to have a living room with sweeping river views, versus a bedroom. So it’s not the place for us. But, it’s really cute and in a popular moorage, so I’m sure it’ll sell quickly!

At the price point of $325,000…. what do you think? Would you buy this floating home outside of Portland, Oregon? (And if you do, invite us over and let’s go kayaking…)