Fantastical Floating Homes: What do you think of them?

Designers and property developers today are taking their projects to sea and creating fantastical floating homes. We’re not referring to your average houseboat here; in fac,t these aquatic dream homes are much more than the typical luxury yacht. Some are tourism-focused, others appear to be legitimate alternative housing opportunities. One thing is for sure, they are all quite wild.

The floating home trend started in Amsterdam with 75 structures that float in the neighborhood of IJburg, built along a series of artificial islands, and loosely anchored to long poles that are drilled deep into the ground. These bobbing homes offer luxury living.

In the United States, there are a handful of floating communities, in Florida, Seattle and Sausalito, California. Until last year, the floating communities hung in a kind of legal limbo until a Florida marina tried to kick a man and his floating house out in 2008. The case ended up in the Supreme Court, which declared last January that floating houses, without self-propulsion or steering, were distinct from houseboats, and therefore did not fall under maritime law. The ruling cleared the path for more floating villages.

Curbed.com recently unveiled five recently floating home concepts in various phases of development and asked readers to give their opinion. If you could have your way, which one would you favor? Or is all of this gratuitous fantasy stuff and we should just focus on figuring out things on land? Take the poll below the galleries in this story.

If you could see yourself living near the water instead of on one of these fantastic floating homes, Cristal has some awesome opportunities for you to look at in Santa Barbara, Montecito and Hope Ranch. Check out her website for info on all the amazing, upscale properties currently on the market in these communities. Then give her a call at 805.886.9378 or email her at Cristal@montecito-estate.com.