Small-house movement hurt by location, location, location

ktarasenko · January 16, 2016, 5:49am

Here’s a story about some small houses being built in Fort Collins going for $300K! Pretty awesome… NOT. (The facts are a bit sketchy because the reporter says that 1,200 s.f. qualifies as a small or tiny house – that may be small, but certainly not in the context of the small-house movement – they’re more like 400 to 1,000 s.f., tops.) The comments are appropriately damning:

Here’s a link from one of the comments that lays out the problem:

Anyone inspect a tiny or small house yet? Should we write an inspection course for them?

frotte · January 16, 2016, 6:15am

Here’s a tiny home FB group with over 20k members. Lots of good information. They are built more to RV standards than home standards. https://m.facebook.com/groups/730185407004126?view=info&ref=bookmarks

bkelly2 · January 16, 2016, 8:19am

ktarasenko:

Here’s a story about some small houses being built in Fort Collins going for $300K! Pretty awesome… NOT. (The facts are a bit sketchy because the reporter says that 1,200 s.f. qualifies as a small or tiny house – that may be small, but certainly not in the context of the small-house movement – they’re more like 400 to 1,000 s.f., tops.) The comments are appropriately damning:

http://www.coloradoan.com/story/money/business/2016/01/14/first-of-its-kind-pocket-neighborhood-plan-begins-approval-process/78788236/

Here’s a link from one of the comments that lays out the problem:

http://cityobservatory.org/why-cant-cheaply-built-houses-be-an-affordability-solution-in-expensive-cities/

Anyone inspect a tiny or small house yet? Should we write an inspection course for them?

Sounds like he is building condos/townhomes by taking advantage of zoning changes

frotte · January 16, 2016, 3:18pm

Someone in San Diego is trying to develop a Tiny House community, but they are seeing much resistance from neighboring properties. There is concern about the negative impact on property values. I don’t know how realistic this concept is. Might be pie in the sky. http://www.habitatstinyhomes.com/build/

tspargo · January 16, 2016, 5:06pm

Having watched an episode of the show I did think the concept was pretty neat, I thought there was a definite creative use of space, but assumed it was more about entertainment, as I couldn’t possibly imagine that local building and safety/planning departments etc would allow such a thing (lofts built without adequate railing etc etc). I thought the Tiny Houses would be more an RV / Trailer type of thing, but other areas of the country or even California may allow it, not sure.

Mike_Bons · January 19, 2016, 8:09pm

ktarasenko:

Here’s a story about some small houses being built in Fort Collins going for $300K! Pretty awesome… NOT. (The facts are a bit sketchy because the reporter says that 1,200 s.f. qualifies as a small or tiny house – that may be small, but certainly not in the context of the small-house movement – they’re more like 400 to 1,000 s.f., tops.) The comments are appropriately damning:

http://www.coloradoan.com/story/money/business/2016/01/14/first-of-its-kind-pocket-neighborhood-plan-begins-approval-process/78788236/

Here’s a link from one of the comments that lays out the problem:

http://cityobservatory.org/why-cant-cheaply-built-houses-be-an-affordability-solution-in-expensive-cities/

Anyone inspect a tiny or small house yet? Should we write an inspection course for them?

I would love for you to write an inspection course! I’m finding more and more people are contacting me about them recently- and I’d live to know more so I can pick up the extra business

ktarasenko · January 20, 2016, 4:29pm

I’ll let our Advisory Committee know, Mike!

Mike_Bons · January 23, 2016, 8:55pm

Thank you so much Kate