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Tiny Homes? (1 Viewer)

KCitons

KCitons

Footballguy
Watching one of these shows with my wife this afternoon. This family had a 125 square foot tiny home built for there daughter and son to live in? I believe they all live in California and the parents were planning on parking the house on a section of their property. The total cost for this home...........  $120k? 

I don't get this. You could buy a very nice motor home for $120k. Or only spend $60k and park it in the same place. I don't understand the draw to these small houses that you can drag down the road. It seems to me that it would be akin to a small earthquake each time you move one.  :shrug:

 
I don't get them either.  They obviously are very customized which is nice, but they're essentially the equivalent of a very bulky travel travel and you can get a very nice one of those for 25k.  

 
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I've watched this before, I've tried to understand it but it just seems like a complete waste of money.

 
I'm guessing they decrease in value similar to an RV? I don't see how banks are able approve a mortgage on one of these. Would like to see how the appraisal is figured. 

 
I'm not a fan of those things.  I find the shows about them interesting but I think it just caters to the new millennial type of thinking. Save as little as you can for a house and spend all of your money on traveling, food, gourmet coffee,and craft cocktails.  Don't get me wrong--I like all of those of those things too--but I prefer doing them moderately while owning a comfortable home that is bigger than a storage unit.  With that being said--it's all about point of view.  I like the comfort and long term value of owning a typical size home--but some people prefer to live based on the pleasure principle. 

 
I guess it is this idea of having a small footprint makes them feel good about themselves.   I say give them a participation trophy.  

 
I'd enjoy a tiny home near some water as a nice get-away for the weekend.  I could never imagine living in one full time. Some of the designs are pretty cool though. 

 
I've seen a couple of shows where a person has built their own (tiny) house with budget in mind. I don't fault those people. Especially if they use re-purposed material. Fifty years ago my grandfather built a 3 bedroom house (approx 1700 square feet) from salvaged lumber. He was a master carpenter and you would never know it wasn't built by a regular contractor.  I admire people that can make their life better through a little hard work.  

 
Seems like most of the people on the shows put the house on land of friends/family, pretty much the same thing as living at home no? 

 
It has to be pretty tough insulating a structure that is built on a trailer. Many times there is no discussion about HVAC? I've seen some footage showing installation of gray water tanks in the floor. I would be concerned that things would freeze and then you're screwed. 

 
jon_mx said:
I guess it is this idea of having a small footprint makes them feel good about themselves.   I say give them a participation trophy.  
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I think it's more than just having a small footprint. If that's all it was, then there's plenty of RV dealerships that could get them a solution at less cost. The houses on these shows all seem to be custom and unique. It's like RVs combined with craft beer. 

 
I have had a couple students build their own tiny homes and after graduation take it to a family farm or some other remote area to live cheaply. Each of them did it for between 30K and 40K.

 
the moops said:
I have had a couple students build their own tiny homes and after graduation take it to a family farm or some other remote area to live cheaply. Each of them did it for between 30K and 40K.
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That amount of investment isn't as bad as some of the others. But, eventually you would find you need a bigger place to live (marriage, children).  What do you do with the house and what did you lose in depreciation. It would be cool to find a way to create low interest funding for people out of college, they then pass the home on to another person. Maybe even donated to a homeless person. 

 
KCitons said:
That amount of investment isn't as bad as some of the others. But, eventually you would find you need a bigger place to live (marriage, children).  What do you do with the house and what did you lose in depreciation. It would be cool to find a way to create low interest funding for people out of college, they then pass the home on to another person. Maybe even donated to a homeless person. 
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Well, all three of the students were doing it as a masters thesis project. One actually convereted an old school bus into a home and too it with him to Seattle. The other drove his with his wife and dog up to Alaska and lives in the thing. The third was made into a live/work studio space.

Students ypically spend a bunch of money anyway on their thesis. Certianly not 40K, but at least these students got something tangible out of it.

Also - they did all the labor themselves, so while it cost 30K in materials, there is at least that much in labor involved. I would guess that each of them could sell theirs for at least material cost if they so desired.

 
There are some micro apartments going up around the corner from us.  The smallest ones are 174 sq. ft. and are projected to rent for $1350/mo.   SF smh

 
Small houses may seem weird to some people, but they are the general direction we are going in the real estate market. Young people don't hold the same value in big lavish houses sitting on the top of a mountain like generations before them did. In fact, most of them look at homes like that as unnecessary and to them these larger houses represent a pretentious mind-set that they generally can't relate to. 

But there are also plenty of people from the older generations that are looking to downsize.  They may still live in an expensive house, but with less emphasis on size, and more on quality and smart use of space.  

 
I agree. It's easy to see how people outside the industry could be confused with the concept. Every real estate deal is different and sometimes one of these is a great solution for what you've got going on.

 
“No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.”

That said.  I am probably going to build one just to see if I can sell it.  It'd be a nice project to do a few times a year.  I'd love to know the profit margin on one.  

 
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belljr said:
So what do they do about the following?

Sewer, water, electric and internet/television?
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I'd imagine that would be specific to the purpose.  For a full time home, I'd imagine you just hook into city.  For a cottage or something, septic and well or point.  TV would be satellite.  Solar power or battery, or city hookup.  

 
So the people that live on someone elses land pay rent?  

Or they mooching like the rest of these wierdos :)

 
Rick Harrison said:
Just pay cash.
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As I mentioned in the OP, one family spent $120k.  Not many people, (especially millennials) have$120k lying around. 

Curious how the cost per square foot, lack of actual location (address), and the fact that this looks like a fad, plays into the long term plans for these people? 

 
KCitons said:
As I mentioned in the OP, one family spent $120k.  Not many people, (especially millennials) have$120k lying around. 

Curious how the cost per square foot, lack of actual location (address), and the fact that this looks like a fad, plays into the long term plans for these people? 
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Who knows.  I think you make the mistake of generalizing "these people."  Some I'm sure are single people who will get married and have kids and move on.  Others are retirees and will probably stay put.  I'd imagine there is a whole spectrum of potential outcomes.  I could see building one for rent purposes, especially in a hippy college town.  

 
Nothing upsets me more than watching these shows and having these idiots look at the realtor/builder with a straight face and say, but the bathroom is just so small. 

Um, yeah. Stoopid people. 

 
Sabertooth said:
Who knows.  I think you make the mistake of generalizing "these people."  Some I'm sure are single people who will get married and have kids and move on.  Others are retirees and will probably stay put.  I'd imagine there is a whole spectrum of potential outcomes.  I could see building one for rent purposes, especially in a hippy college town.  
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I guess I just don't see it as a smart financial decision. I guess renting it out after you move on could allow you to recoup your costs. I just have a different mindset when it comes to investing 10's of thousands of dollars on real estate that depreciates. 

 
AcerFC said:
Nothing upsets me more than watching these shows and having these idiots look at the realtor/builder with a straight face and say, but the bathroom is just so small. 

Um, yeah. Stoopid people. 
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Have you seen the twitters or whatever making fun of House Hunter's budgets. Hilarious.

 
KCitons said:
I guess I just don't see it as a smart financial decision. I guess renting it out after you move on could allow you to recoup your costs. I just have a different mindset when it comes to investing 10's of thousands of dollars on real estate that depreciates. 
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All real estate depreciates where I live :bag:

 
Sabertooth said:
All real estate depreciates where I live :bag:
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Move. 

In all seriousness, there are too many things that you have to buy that depreciate (car, phones, computer, tvs). The one thing that appreciates is you home. Why would you choose to screw that up?

 
KCitons said:
Move. 

In all seriousness, there are too many things that you have to buy that depreciate (car, phones, computer, tvs). The one thing that appreciates is you home. Why would you choose to screw that up?
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I'd love to.  But the wife won't even entertain it.  She hates it here.  But just won't budge.  Kids and all that.  

 
Eephus said:
There are some micro apartments going up around the corner from us.  The smallest ones are 174 sq. ft. and are projected to rent for $1350/mo.   SF smh
Click to expand...


Yeah, saw a dude in the SF area looking for a "tiny" house with a budget of $500,000.

He choose one with under 400 sq. ft. and got in a bidding war for it and paid 545ish.

 
Sabertooth said:
I'd love to.  But the wife won't even entertain it.  She hates it here.  But just won't budge.  Kids and all that.  
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I understand. I want to move out of my current home, but my wife isn't budging. Value is still increasing, but the neighborhood is going downhill fast. Honestly, I waiting for the cars or house to be broke into any day now. Just installed a second surveillance camera a couple of weeks ago.  :shrug:

 
Hov34 said:
Yeah, saw a dude in the SF area looking for a "tiny" house with a budget of $500,000.

He choose one with under 400 sq. ft. and got in a bidding war for it and paid 545ish.
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A fool and his money are soon parted.  

Where did he get $500k cash? 

 
It's always a good idea to think outside the box on deals like this. Asking where someone got half a mil cash in the tiny house market is kind of naive if you really want to know the truth, and I wouldn't believe the narrative you receive from a reality show. If you want to level-up the conversation and actually talk about real estate, has anyone ever tried to have vacant lot zoning changed from mobile home to single family?

 
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