I have lived, at various times, in a motorhome (240 square feet with the slide out), a travel trailer (190 square feet, and my current home), an apartment (600 square feet), a full sized house, a small house (800 square feet), and a big house with roommates.
I am thoroughly sold on tiny houses. I don't need a McMansion to be happy. Don't want one, in fact.
But, I don't like these and don't find them attractive, at all. They have the negatives of an apartment and none of the benefits of a tiny house, as I see them. The "rack" concept is antithetical to the independence I want from a tiny house...if I hate my landlord (as history indicates I will), or otherwise want to move, I have to relocate my whole house to another compatible rack. That virtually guarantees I can't move to where I want to move (because there's no way this is going to be hugely popular). So, I'm stuck selling the thing. Might as well buy an apartment (also a thing I would never do).
I think they're trying to solve several problems at once, and ending up with a suboptimal solution for all of them. One problem is high rents in downtown Austin (which truly has gotten out of hand, and will only get worse as long as Austin remains the fastest growing city in the US), another problem is home ownership which is out of reach for more people than ever (for a variety of reasons, and it is most pronounced in growing cities), and finally I think the tiny house thing is a backlash against the suburban dream of huge houses. The thing is, though, that this won't be affordable...the small number of available locations to "park" your tiny house will guarantee the landlord is in a position of strength when negotiating rent so this will be more expensive than other tiny homes in general. The issue of wanting to own your own home isn't solved when you don't own the land it sits on, as you're still a renter with the added stress of what to do with the damned thing when you move.
Anyway, I like that tiny houses are becoming more "normal". I don't like that the model for how it's being implemented looks a lot like renting.
I am thoroughly sold on tiny houses. I don't need a McMansion to be happy. Don't want one, in fact.
But, I don't like these and don't find them attractive, at all. They have the negatives of an apartment and none of the benefits of a tiny house, as I see them. The "rack" concept is antithetical to the independence I want from a tiny house...if I hate my landlord (as history indicates I will), or otherwise want to move, I have to relocate my whole house to another compatible rack. That virtually guarantees I can't move to where I want to move (because there's no way this is going to be hugely popular). So, I'm stuck selling the thing. Might as well buy an apartment (also a thing I would never do).
I think they're trying to solve several problems at once, and ending up with a suboptimal solution for all of them. One problem is high rents in downtown Austin (which truly has gotten out of hand, and will only get worse as long as Austin remains the fastest growing city in the US), another problem is home ownership which is out of reach for more people than ever (for a variety of reasons, and it is most pronounced in growing cities), and finally I think the tiny house thing is a backlash against the suburban dream of huge houses. The thing is, though, that this won't be affordable...the small number of available locations to "park" your tiny house will guarantee the landlord is in a position of strength when negotiating rent so this will be more expensive than other tiny homes in general. The issue of wanting to own your own home isn't solved when you don't own the land it sits on, as you're still a renter with the added stress of what to do with the damned thing when you move.
Anyway, I like that tiny houses are becoming more "normal". I don't like that the model for how it's being implemented looks a lot like renting.
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