Q: My mother wants to buy a waterfront house on Vashon and I’m trying to talk her out of it.

She has a lovely little place on the Island now where she enjoys her gardening very much. She tells me that she’s always wanted to live on the water. I want to respect her wishes, but everything I’ve seen in her price range would mean parking a long way from the house and walking down steep stairs. Either that, or the house sits on top of a bluff and then she would still have to walk down many stairs. She is still in good shape, but I worry about the future. Many of those places also have tiny lots with no space for a garden. I think she would really miss that. What are your thoughts?
A: Waterfront homes can be wonderful, and being near the water is a dream many people share. However, most of our waterfront homes (especially those that were originally built as weekend or vacation cabins) can have serious problems. A lot of these homes were poorly constructed; not meant to be lived in full-time. For example, septic issues would be especially challenging. Updating a failing or inadequate septic system on a waterfront property can be very difficult and very expensive. There’s also the very serious issue of landslide hazard. King County has maps of the landslide hazard areas, and those maps cover almost our entire waterfront. I would be concerned about that, particularly since we have had some serious slides in the last 15 years.
Here’s a suggestion that might be worthwhile: if it will work financially, maybe she could rent a waterfront home for a year and see if it would work for her. Perhaps she could rent her home during that time. This time would give her the experience of what it would really be like to live on the water. It would be best to try to find a “walk-in” situation, so that she gets a real feel for what that is like.
Once she has considered all of the drawbacks of waterfront living, and experienced it for herself, she will be in a better position to make her decision.