One of only 24 houseboats allowed at Presque Isle State Park is on the market

Only 24 houseboats are allowed to float on Horseshoe Pond at Presque Isle State Park and they don’t often change owners.

But for the second summer in a row, one of the Erie area’s most exclusive addresses went on the market.

The floating house at 4 Horseshoe Pond was listed for sale on Aug. 12 with an asking price of $359,900. Less than a month later, a sale was pending, said Realtor Jake Scheloske of Agresti Real Estate.

Why are the Presque Isle houseboats so unique?

Houseboats used to dot Presque Isle Bay and Misery Bay until an effort in the mid-20th century to get rid of them. Two dozen survived and were relocated to Horseshoe Pond. The state, which charges an annual mooring fee of about $1,200 for each, doesn’t allow more to be added. However, an old houseboat can be renovated or replaced with a newer model as can a houseboat that sinks.

“Nobody can just go and put up a houseboat (there),” Scheloske said. “There’s a demand (for them) because there can’t be more of them, they’re scarce.”

While owners tend to hold onto the houses for decades and sales typically happen by word of mouth, the structures do occasionally appear on the market.

Scheloske in 2024 sold a two-bedroom, one-bathroom houseboat that was listed for $299,900. He told the Erie Times-News in a June 2024 story that it was the first houseboat to go on sale since 2018.

Houseboat owners don’t pay property taxes or HOA fees but sales are cash only because potential buyers can’t get a mortgage for one, Scheloske said.

Owners are responsible for the upkeep of the structures as well the barrels or tanks on which they float. While the boats can shift and sway in a breeze, they are anchored to the pond’s bottom via cables and visitors must use a boat or other watercraft to reach them. In the past, houseboats have become grounded and even sunk.

Owners and their guests are allowed on houseboats overnight when the state park is closed to other visitors.

What features does this one have?

The interior of the houseboat at 4 Horseshoe Pond includes living and kitchen space as well as dining space and three bedrooms and two full bathrooms. (PROVIDED BY AGRESTI REAL ESTATE via Reuters Connect)

Houseboat No. 4 has three bedrooms capable of sleeping at least eight people total and has two full bathrooms.

Scheloske said houseboats have electricity via underwater cables and are hooked up to public water. They don’t connect into the sewer and many have toilets with a sort of combustion chamber that incinerates waste into ash.

Houseboats at Presque Isle have a 1,000-square-foot limit and this one is about 900, he said.

“This is one of the larger ones down there,” Scheloske said.

Built in 1994, it has a deck on all four sides offering views of water and trees. To the north of the houseboats is state park land, to the east is a park road that runs along Horseshoe Pond, to the south is the U.S. Coast Guard station and to the west is an opening to Misery Bay and then Presque Isle Bay.

Dana Massing can be reached at [email protected].

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: One of only 24 houseboats allowed at Presque Isle State Park is on the market

Reporting by Dana Massing, Erie Times-News / Erie Times-News

USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

READ MORE: Cast a line at Pennsylvania’s most scenic fishing spots