Tiny House Hunters

[Hotsauce]

I get it if you are single (and looking to stay single haha), or old with no plans for a spouse or kids. 

What always drives me nuts is watching a family with 2+ kids under the age of 7 or a newly wed couple with a large dog build these things out. First off, if you have kids you need space for toys, quite place for naps, a seperate area to get away. There is literally none of this with a 200ft house. Plus they expect toddlers or newborns to climb 10ft up to sleep in lofts. How about the newly wed couple with the big dog who thinks they are gonna save all this money.  They will be so sick of each other by living on top of each other, they will be ready for a divorce in the first year.

I bet you 9/10 people in those situations above end up moving out into something bigger.  Also there are many laws about occupying land, plus restrictions with utilities and sewage, property taxes etc. that I bet most people over look.  You can't just drop these things off beachfront and expect to live "rent free".

I would love to see a show called "follow up to my stupid tiny house idea, one year later" or the show called "I am a retard that dropped $50,000 on a shed with wheels". 

 

[Anybodyhome]

One of the major issues we, and many other states and cities face, are the existing building and housing codes and how many of these "tiny" homes simply don't meet housing codes. One of the ways they escape most of the building codes is by keeping the wheels on them, thereby making them a mobile home instead of a single family dwelling, which causes us (Housing Code Officials) more than just a few problems. 

A lot of cities are wrestling with these things right now simply because there are few housing codes dealing with these and we'll likely be discussing them at the annual conference later this year. Just a few examples:

• Most cities have a minimum space requirement for a dwelling, usually in the 50-70 square foot per person allowance in a bedroom, which means a couple would need a bedroom somewhere between 100-140 square feet. And some of the "lofts" I've seen in tiny homes come nowhere close to that.
• Very few tiny houses meet any of the egress codes associated with construction and fire codes.  
• Minimum ceiling height of 7'.

Consequently, most of these tiny houses will likely be found outside the city limits somewhere in the county. Counties in North Carolina rarely have the manpower to enforce a housing code, even they had one, which is more common than you'd think. 

[SmokinwithWilly]

I've been trying to talk my wife into doing a downsize to 600 sq ft. The house we currently live in is 1800 sq ft and we use about 700 of it. We just don't need that much space. Also I can realistically pay off a 60k tiny house in about 3 years or less. From that point forward, all money can go towards investments and retirement. Getting her to give up "stuff" is the hardest thing. I'm not nearly as attached to some things as she is. 

If laid out properly, a tiny house can function as well as a house twice it's size. If you like being outside a lot, like me, it's basically a poo, shower, sleep, and snack shack anyway.

[pstall]

The last 2 posts perfectly illustrate the yin and yang with tiny housing. 

[Kevin Greene]

If there's a TV show I don't like. I don't watch it.

[PandaPancake]

17 hours ago, Kevin Greene said:

If there's a TV show I don't like. I don't watch it.

Like how I didn't care for Firefly or Game of Thrones?