The Tiny Home Movement

These just used to be called bungalows.

I love the idea and am considering it myself. However I want to find “the one” first to spend the rest of my life and travel with first.

Many of the "communities" look like the modern equivalent of trailer parks.

^And?

Tornados

I'd consider building one as a backyard office or guest house, but not living in one full-time. Resale value isn't good enough and, as R5 said, suboptimal in extreme weather (depending on where you live).

I've watched dozens of hours of Tiny House Nation and Tiny House Hunting, and there is never any 2, 5 or 10 year follow up showing how many relationships were ruined by living in such close quarters.

I'm good with my 3,500 sf house, thanks,

I can't stand a weekend in a hotel sharing a bathroom with my husband. My marriage wouldn't last a week in a "tiny house".

I'm single so I wouldn't mind it.

R6 Then that would be a guest house not a fkin tiny house you dolt. Such a stupid comment to make.

Tiny houses are ideal if you have a very active social life and love to travel.

Glorified trailers.

R9 You're married, but you don't share a bathroom?

I couldn't do it. I stayed at a hotel in NYC in the 90s (for some reason, I think it was called the Roger Williams hotel, not far from Madison Square Garden) that was modeled after some European hotels. It was way too small for one person. You could barely turnaround in the bathroom. If memory serves, there were 2 full sized beds and no chairs. The elevator wasn't big enough for 3 people!

R9 is probably a whore who fucks other partners while his hubby is sleeping.

Not a whore. My husband and I normally sleep in separate bedrooms since we each sleep better without someone tossing and turning next to us (and because the dog wants to be right between us in the same bed if we do.) We each have our own en suites so we don't have to share a bathroom. We've been together 32 years, so it works for us.

R17 Yep a whore. Just kidding. That’s sounds awesome. And congrats on making it last so long.

So many of these admittedly cute tiny homes have sleeping lofts and I’ll be damned if I’m going use stairs to get to the bathroom.

I’ve watched a lot of the videos on YouTube. The bed in a loft? no, that’s a nightmare when you change the sheets. OTOH, the beds that lower from the ceiling sound really interesting.

I think people who build one expecting to tow it around the country as they move from job to job are going to regret it. They really don’t hold up that well to a lot of movement.

GYPSIES!!!

I’ve seen some lovely ones. Mine would have to be two story with a kitchen and likely a balcony/accessible rooftop area. I saw one like this where I live and it was $300000 so…might as well buy or build a real house.

I agree about "loft" beds. They look horrible.

I'm already living in a 500-sq.-ft. space. It has full-size kitchen appliances, though, and a walk-in closet. Shower is pretty small, though.

I'm happy.

The "extra" closet home.

I want one very badly, but I’m too broke even for a tiny home.

I wouldn’t want a kitchen in mine though. I’m certain if you cook in one of these, your house will smell like onion forever. I’d cook outside.

I'm less a fan of those that are extravagant mobile homes. But I would love to live in one with a foundation and plumbing and sewage. As I get older I find I need less and less space, but still want the basic amenities.

The one thing I do enjoy about those extravagant mobile homes is Mr. Tiny.

I’d consider one for the back yard if it came with Mr. Tiny from r27.

R13 Trailers are for low life people who've given up. Tiny homes are for people with a zest for life.

It's a natural off shoot of the Tiny Cock Movement.

It’s ridiculous that you need to keep the trailer and wheels after moving these in place.

Why can’t it have a foundation? Would you need a bunch of permits and rules at that point or something?

What I'd really like to do is buy a few acres, and put up a tiny house with a large deck around it, I could live largely outdoors, and since I'm single and I spent 5 years living in a 250' studio, I know the small size won't be a problem, as I'd have room to roam around and the deck would function as living space. The problem with that is that most communities have laws prohibiting tiny houses, or any homes too small to keep up the tone of the neighborhood, and I don't know where I can go where this lifestyle would be doable. Outside town limits, in unincorporated territory with no services?

But yes, my tiny house would NOT have a bed in a loft! Maybe I could use a loft for storage or TV space, but I'm already to old to have stairs between my bed and my bathroom, and I'm only going to get older.

This virtue-signaling idea is going to have about as much legs as Google Glasses.

R12 - love to travel? This is the biggest lie about tiny homes. No, you cannot just pick up to other parts of the country. Most places have zoning laws making these impossible to find a place to attach it to.

Perhaps if more communities develop specifically for these, then that could be a consideration. But these homes are extremely difficult to find a temporary or permanent location.

And the cost of new ones are ridiculous - $75k to $150k or more? There's probably no financing for these, right? The whole idea/industry seems as ridiculous as bit coin and those stupid non-fungible art scams.

We should just build more 750-1500 sq ft houses. Not everyone needs half an acre of property and 4 bathrooms.

Honestly, for what they cost I'd rather just renovate an older mobile home.

It’s like living aboard your boat in a marina. Long waiting lists.

R36 - yes - actually the government needs to step in and start building more affordable housing for the middle class. 1 and 2 BR apartments/condos, and 1200-1500 sq ft houses.

The housing developers have switched to building 'luxury' condos and large homes the past 20 years because of higher profit margins. I'm so fucking sick and tired of seeing 'luxury' in front of residential listings. Bitch- these countertops and tile can be found at Home Fucking Depot - it's not a luxury anymore.

But almost every English speaking nation is having a housing crisis - England, Australia, NZ, US, and Canada. Canada's prices are fucking outrageous. I'm not sure why it's so acute with English speaking countries?

“I’d like a 2 bedroom house with a bathroom and small yard, in a neighborhood I won’t be killed in…” “That’ll be $600,000. Are you paying in full or installments?”

I lived in a 250 square foot studio apartment for 25 years. The space was small but had several upsides you usually don’t get in these tiny houses - besides a Greenwich Village location. I had 12 foot ceilings - two wide floor to ceiling windows and a working fireplace. I did have a loft bed over the kitchen, but that wasn’t a problem - it allows the space to be an actual living room rather than a glorified bedroom. And you get quite used to scooting up and down the ladder to pee The kitchen was very small - but I didn’t cook at all so that wasn’t an issue for me. The bathroom was also oddly shaped and had a very low 6.5 foot ceiling - but I’m 5’9” and the shower was big and the water always hot.

The real upside of the space was the ceiling height - it made the space feel much larger than it was and the windows overlooked the street trees since I was in what was originally the front parlor. The challenges - storage obviously - I built a deep six foot wide closet that had upper enclosed storage too - it held my clothes, books and miscellaneous ok - but it’s hard to keep a really small space neat - you would need to constantly straighten up after every activity — I was ok with a certain amount of mess unless I had friends over. Cleaning cleaning is also more of a chore - to vacuum / mop / dust anywhere you always had to move something out of the way.

The location was fantastic and the apartment had a lot of charm so it worked well for me, but I think most people would pass ion such a small home.

R39 France, The Netherlands, Germany, Spain.. just from the top off my head.

If only housing crises were solely happening in the “English” countries..!

R41 That can sound fulfilling if you make the most of it. Probably have to be more intentional with storage.

R42 - fair enough - I didn't know the other countries had the same issue. But I have to think those countries are more equitable and supporting than the English speaking countries.

I think one of the biggest problems is immigration. When there's already a housing issue, how the fuck do you expect to bring in thousands of even millions of new people when there's not enough housing for the existing population? Canada's immigration goal of close to 1,500,000 new immigrants for the next 3 years is fucking INSANE with the current state of housing and only 38 million current residents.

Clearly, the capitalist market forces are not working as they should. More immigration will then create more housing developments, right? Evidently no.

The housing development is basically in a gridlock: We simply NEED immigrants to do jobs we Westerners no longer want to do or be prepared to pay a LOT more for going out for dinner, groceries, bus fares, and, well.. basically anything that involves luring westerners with higher pays.

At the same time, those immigrants will need housing, too, and there's already not enough for the "local" populace.

Then there's the problem again of not having enough people (wanting to) working in construction, and a global supply chain for building materials that cannot keep up with current demand.

R35 I actually had in mind traveling independent of the tiny home. I meant regular vacation travel and also traveling because of your occupation. Who needs a big expensive home when your always on the go, including doing a lot in your home city.

But I also didn’t realize these things must sit on trailers.

R45 That autistic garbage dick Elon Musk plans to sell houses made by robotic assembly lines. He claims to live in one himself in Texas.

It comes folded up on the back of a truck, and is unfolded and set up in less than a day. It's a glorified trailer home, but it's the best he can think of at the moment.

I have a very high ceiling in my 500-sq-ft place. Frankly, I wish the ceiling were lower. I am a renter and pay for my own electricity. During the hot months, it takes tons of energy to cool down the space. My bill is crazy.

I've seen those folding box houses and am interested in one, IF I can find some damn place to put it! I don't want to live in a trailer park, and would rather own than rent, but most towns and cities forbid small homes, since they want to make their neighborhoods look upscale and keep the riff-raff out.

And BTW isn't there a company that makes the things, that isn't owned by that psychopath Musk?

R49 Boxabl will deliver the Casita to any site you choose. Some people appear to build them on forested property, or farmland, or acreage that they own.

R48, no ceiling fans?

Tiny homes seem to complicate the current move in urban planning for higher density housing with multiple floors above or mixed in with shops.

[quote] [R48], no ceiling fans?

R51, yes, I have 2 ceiling fans. In addition to a wall AC (500 sq-ft space). There are times when everything's on full-blast and it's still doesn't feel cool.

And yes, I adjusted the direction of the fans.

The shape of my ceiling is not flat, it's A-shaped.

Where the fuck do people hang their caftans and boas?

I could be perfectly happy with a Boxable house, R50, like I said I'm an old bachelor and have lived in a studio that was smaller. Put a deck around it, add a Tuff shed for storage space, and you've got my dream home! But again, the problem is finding a place to put it, where it isn't forbidden by zoning laws.

Seriously, I WANT a tiny house, but I can't seem to find any way it's possible, except putting one on someone else's land and renting.

There are a couple places I’ve seen online that are tiny house parks, like trailer parks . One is in Texas, another in North Carolina in the mountains.