Tiny Houses

[Coconut]

http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/10/22/tiny.houses/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

People are moving into mini houses instead of homes they can't afford. Imagine if this was normal, and in demand. Streets full of 3-4 times as many homes affordable to more. The limiting factor on these now is probably zoning and getting them hooked to utilities. Besides the fact that they aren't profitable to banks who have to make money off their 30 year mortgages.

[John Edward Mercier]

Most banks don't hold 30 year mortgages...
Its actually very hard to find a community bank that will hold anything but a 15yr ARM with a significant down payment. They usually just sell and service mortgages for the securitization market.

[les nessman]

   Living in the smallest home possible makes sense.  As a teenager I was invited once to a wild party at a huge house built in the 30's.
It even had a large basement, sub basement, and coal bin downstairs.  As normal I stayed into the wee hours and was invited to spend the
night by the owner.  I found out later she had lost her job and was facing possible foreclosure and was giving it up.  To this day I dont even
know how it happened but a bunch of us hung over the next morning somehow concluded we should chip in as roomates and keep the place
as long as possible. 

    At the time I had a small apartment, as did most of the others.  The owner said that arrangement was fine and when I returned there from
work, people were cleaning up from the party, moving in furniture, etc.  Eventually we wound up doing some renovations like painting,
replacing plumbing fixtures, etc.

   We had a share system in place and If I remember the shares were about $100 each.  It worked out really well.  The lady kept her room
and we had a place to hang out.  We also had two designees to resolve disputes and break up fights.  It was really cool.  Eventually she moved
because of her job and sold the house, but it was interesting while it lasted.   WIth the current housing crisis I think I might try to do something like that again.  Shared housing was a way of life in the Soviet Union, it may become commonplace here with the coming final collapse.

[Puke]

Houses really have been getting larger and larger since the late eighties.
I just wonder how hard it would be to clean a large house.

[Raineyrocks]

Houses really have been getting larger and larger since the late eighties.
I just wonder how hard it would be to clean a large house.

They have been getting bigger, I've noticed that too!   My sister in law who pretty much only has 1 kid left at home wants a gigantic house, I don't get it.   

When we lived in Maryland we had a big old house and it had 1 bathroom like my grandmother's house did and she had 5 kids too, and we were fine.   

Now we had to get fancy and we have a 2 and 1/2 bathroom house and I'm sorry we bought it, it's a pain in the back to clean.     

Somehow I got caught up in that I have to have my own bathroom and we need this and that and I'm so sorry I did because I never used to be like that.  Now that I've gone back to the "normal" me I regret a lot of the game I allowed myself to get caught up in. 

[margomaps]

Houses really have been getting larger and larger since the late eighties.
I just wonder how hard it would be to clean a large house.

It's not that hard.  Just find a good cleaning service, write them a check twice a month...   

Seriously though, despite all the obvious expenses, inefficiencies, and other drawbacks of large houses, I really like them.  I feel quite claustrophobic in smaller spaces, so that's my primary reason.  I would be very unhappy owning a large house with poor insulation in NH though.   

[Fluff and Stuff]

WIth the current housing crisis I think I might try to do something like that again.  Shared housing was a way of life in the Soviet Union, it may become commonplace here with the coming final collapse.

Yeah, shared housing is great as long as you have a lot in common with the folks.  I love living at a Porcmanor.

[J’raxis 270145]

Streets full of 3-4 times as many homes ...

What, American suburbia isn't ugly enough already? Let's pack in four times as many houses?

I like the idea of tiny houses, mainly for the energy savings. A tiny house on a ten-acre lot. Stuffing even more people into close quarters in cities is the last thing I want to see done with them.

[JosephSHaas]

http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/10/22/tiny.houses/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

... The limiting factor on these now is probably zoning and getting them hooked to utilities....

Yes, To an established RV Park is OK but what about if you want it on your own land?  The electric company, I've been told by my neighbor in Boscawen with a car-port and bob-house as his "camp", does not do poles with a box anymore that you can just plug into.  You've got to have to buy or build one of those storage sheds you see in the parking lot of Home Depot.  THEN "they"/ the electric company will wire that up, and you can have a extension to your RV unit.

Here in N.H. all lots on Class VI and private roads are supposed to be building lots by RSA Ch. 674:41,I(e) of the 2004 Amendment, when there was at least one building thereon that road prior to zoning.  http://www.state.nh.us/ The Town cannot "prohibit" (but they do), because the statute from the Legislature that gives the towns the zoning powers can only "restrict" and defined as up to the limit allowed= that one building lot per each lot on that road. Even if a non-conforming lot as not up to the required # of acres, but that was legal at the time it was first sub-divided.

Yours truly, - Joe

P.S. See http://www.pruverani.com for their search by town of land for sale.

Check out: Andover, N.H. (just north of Concord, past Boscawen and Salisbury) on Route 4 of about 20 -30 minutes away). MLS #2703102 and to be exact: http://www.pruverani.com/NH/real-estate/mls/2703102/property-search for this 237.4 acre parcel in the Agricultural/Residential Zone For sale at: $450,000 Asking Price, so roughly 225 acres x 2 = 450, or about $2,000 per acre, and so if eight investors with $50,000 each would like to buy into 240 acres divided by 8 = 30 acre lots, let me know and I'll be one of those eight, to sub-divide lots off the old logging road therein to upgrade to a gravel "Country Lane" one-rod wide (16.5 feet) as allowed in some towns (that's about $200 per truckload of gravel x about 5 = $1000 for 1/4 mile is what my neighbors and I did in Boscawen in 2004), and this after an Approval for say: not 8, but 16 lots (of 15 acres each), so either: to keep that extra 15-acre lot as your retirement to sell later at a profit, or 16 investors now at only $25,000 each* to get started.  How's that for a Free State Project? Bring your RV here, pay a grader about $______ to level the logging road, bring in #___ truckloads of gravel, be sure to drive a 4-wheel drive over the snow for the winter, put in #__ utility poles at $_______ each, and you're like in the RV business: self-contained needing no septic approvals until you start building your cabin (to house) with metal roof, and gutter to a rain barrel put 1/2 way up the side, with gravity fed water to your kitchen sink, and 55-gallon drum with holes outhouse for sludge removal later upgraded to a septic system.

Thus similar to what Namaste has over at their compound in Barnstead, where it's already set up, for $100/yr. membership fee and #__ time to pick the crops.

* Actually maybe to get not 16 15-acre lots @ $25,000 each, but maybe x 2 = 32 7.5-acre lots @ $12,500 each, if there are that many Free Stater's with the $money.  I think the way to go IF there are about a dozen Free Stater's willing to fund such a venture, is to divide and conquer as they say with to subdivide your 15-acre lot later as the savings for retirement. Like what others have done in the past of 4-acre lots on Class V roads with hook-up to town/city sewer, building their house on the 2-acre lot, and since in Residential, allowed the lower number of to sub-divide out the 2-acre lot for their retirement.  Some town residents TRYing to pass 5-acre Zoning by petitions from newbies to town, but in effect an insult to the natives, the flatlanders they call those from MAss. to N.H. in a way trying to steal their retirement!

[Recumbent ReCycler]

The Museum of Modern Art has a "micro compact home" in one of their displays.
http://www.momahomedelivery.org/

[AntonLee]

Streets full of 3-4 times as many homes ...

What, American suburbia isn't ugly enough already? Let's pack in four times as many houses?

I like the idea of tiny houses, mainly for the energy savings. A tiny house on a ten-acre lot. Stuffing even more people into close quarters in cities is the last thing I want to see done with them.

I kinda agree here. . . there's so much room to spread out why does everyone have to squish all their houses so close together?  I would personally love an A-Frame with a nice basement on a nice big chunk of land.  If I needed room for storage I could just build a shed or unattached garage.  If I needed more room, build an addition.  If I was done with that addition, close it off on the interior and open it up to the outside, make it a porch.

Doesn't anyone just want some land?  A place where you can spread out, let your kids do camping, have a firepit, lay down on a nice patch of grass, smoke a little of it, and watch the clouds.

sorry for going a bit hippie.

[K. Darien Freeheart]

I like small, but that's TOO small.

Big enough to fit your lifestyle is my idea. Iv'e got an apartment that's bigger than that house and it's WAY too small. That said, most folks don't have an all-grain brewery and server farm in their homes.

[Russell Kanning]

Doesn't anyone just want some land?  A place where you can spread out, let your kids do camping, have a firepit, lay down on a nice patch of grass, smoke a little of it, and watch the clouds.

most people want that ... they just can't afford it

[ByronB]

My plan is just to buy some acreage and build a decent quality steel garage of sizable portions for about 15k or so... then after the tax man looks at it just finish off and insulate a corner VERY well, add a well, rig your own septic field, keep all plumbing inside "the corner", put in a very small propane heater... and you have IMO a better housing setup then anyone I know for a fraction of what a town house costs.

Tiny houses are okay to as long as you have a big garage to go along with it.

[ColdSoul]

Anyone know how to build one of those? I wouldn't mind having one of those in a couple of years once I save up some money to buy some land, I am sure you could build one for around 2000-5000 bucks.