If you're looking to buy or sell a houseboat in Sausalito, you want someone who has actually lived the life — not just sold it. Paul and Roman Bergeron are a father-and-son team of Sausalito houseboat specialists who, between the two of them, have been on the docks for more than 60 years, personally owned more than 20 floating homes, and participated in more than 50 houseboat transactions as licensed agents. There is no other team in Marin County — or anywhere — with this depth of lived houseboat experience.
Paul Bergeron: Forty Years on the Docks
Paul Bergeron's story with Sausalito houseboats begins in 1984, when he first stepped onto the docks of what was then one of the most colorful, unconventional communities in the Bay Area. Sausalito's floating home community in those days was a mix of aging wooden boats, converted ferries, and hand-built floating structures occupied by artists, musicians, and people who simply didn't fit the conventional mold of homeownership. Paul fit right in.
Over the following decades, Paul didn't just watch the community evolve — he was part of it. He bought his first floating home. Then another. He learned the rhythms of the tides, the politics of the dock associations, the difference between a sound hull and a troubled one, and the quirks of liveaboard financing long before most agents knew such a thing existed. He watched values rise as the Bay Area real estate market matured, and he watched what happened when buyers made mistakes that an experienced agent could have prevented.
By the time Paul founded Paul Bergeron Real Estate, he was already one of the most knowledgeable people in Sausalito when it came to floating homes — not because of a certification, but because of four decades of firsthand experience. California DRE #01356345 · NMLS #399152.
Roman Bergeron: Growing Up on the Water
Roman Bergeron grew up visiting those same docks. As a kid, the Sausalito houseboat community wasn't an abstract concept or a market niche — it was where his father worked, where he spent weekends, where he absorbed the language and culture of liveaboard life before he had any reason to formalize it.
When Roman earned his real estate license (California DRE #02439924) and joined Paul Bergeron Real Estate, he wasn't starting from scratch. He was continuing a story he'd been part of his whole life, bringing a new generation's perspective to a business that his father had built from the ground up. Today Roman handles the full scope of transactions — from the first buyer consultation to the final walk-through — with the same hands-on approach Paul established.
A Team Built on Real Experience
What makes Paul and Roman Bergeron different from other real estate agents who occasionally sell a houseboat isn't credentials — it's experience that can't be faked. Between the two of them, they have:
- 60+ combined years connected to the Sausalito houseboat community
- 20+ floating homes personally owned — they've written the checks, done the surveys, dealt with the HOAs, and lived in the boats
- 50+ houseboat transactions as licensed agents, representing buyers and sellers across every dock in Sausalito
- Deep relationships with marine surveyors, liveaboard lenders, marina managers, and dock associations
Why It Matters
Floating homes are not a niche within residential real estate. They are a completely different category — with different financing, different inspection requirements, different legal structures, and a community culture that takes years to understand. A buyer or seller working with a generalist agent is at a real disadvantage.
Paul and Roman Bergeron are the specialists who have spent their lives earning the right to call themselves Sausalito houseboat experts. If you're thinking about buying or selling a floating home in Sausalito, there's no better place to start than a conversation with them.