All Forum Posts by: Kurt F.

@Mel Selvidge 

and

@Account Closed 

One time I saw something about California on the TV.  Sure sounded interestin'. 

I did hear one time about rents being awful high if a guy were to actually leave Iowa for some reason.

I even seen for myself once, because once I unloaded all the corn from my pickup truck and drove all the way to Chicago, which is way over in Illinois.  Boy, that place sure looked expensive. 

(All in fun...  you just make it so easy.)   ;-)

@Mel Selvidge 

thanks for posting the link to the pre-fab...

This brings up what I've been getting at in my other posts, and is one of the downsides of tiny houses -- cost.  If you're downsizing from your 500K home to your newfound lifestyle of freedom in a tiny house, the typical 60,000 dollar price tag may not matter much -- still very cheap compared to the 500K house.  But for some of these more creative ideas about building a community of tiny houses, etc -- I'm having trouble thinking that the numbers work.  (Not to mention that per my previous post, I'm still unconvinced of the incentive to RENT a tiny house).  The prices from your prefab post match with some of the general numbers I've read about what people are spending on their tiny house.  (BTW, The examples in your link look to be nicely done.)  But anyway, the math is eye-opening -- you will likely spend over $350/SF on a tiny house. 

Also, I'm wondering what others might think of the rent possibilities -- for the 2% rule -- on a $60,000 tiny house you'd need to rent for $1200?

Looked at another way, the village of 10 tiny houses @172 SF each totals a mere 1720SF for a price tag of $600,000. 

It's also managing 10 tenants.

And from a renters perspective........$1200/month for 172 SF?  Now that's some expensive self-deprivation.  

@J. Martin 's idea sounds like just one tiny house, trailer, or spaceship hidden in his back yard..... ;-)....but for those thinking about a tiny house village, can the numbers really work?  

 A little different angle on this -- my wife and are foster parents, and we've also done a lot of short-term foster care.  For all things considered, requirements are quite thorough regarding where the minor child will live.  I'm not in your state, but I'm surprised that this did not come up in the agency's standard process...? 

@Ben N. and @J. Martin 

Thinking about size and cost.

 For comparison, standard US hotel rooms are typically in the 275 - 325 SF range.   Tiny houses range in size, but at 200 SF you are on the big end -- you hear 150 SF mentioned a lot.  So your tiny house might be about half the size of a hotel room.  

For tiny house owners, total costs are said to average about $23,000 -- but that's essentially material only , for the folks that self-construct.  I've also read some average total costs in the 40,000 to 60,000 range counting labor.   (I get that some people have no more than 8 or 10K in theirs, but how repeatable would that be for 5 or 10 units?  And they would be noticeably low-end.)   There's not much -- read zero -- economy of scale here.  Even if you build 10 of them you've only got about 1500 SF...  So, you're going to see some nutty sounding $/SF costs.  

Maybe a modular company could knock out the shells on the trailer chassis units.

Now that's funny.  Well said, Sylvia.

I think your synopsis of Tiny House living is correct.  

While the movement has a green / re-use / recycle / reduce aspect, I think that part is almost by default.  The "simplifying your life" and the freedom it allows is the primary driver.  So the tradeoff is less typical conveniences in exchange for greater freedom in all other aspects of your lifestyle.  This is the incentive toward living in a tiny house -- the payback -- and so I can completely understand why certain people pursue life this way. 

So following this line of reasoning, I'd have a concern with your idea of having people rent tiny houses short-term or even long term: it seems to me that the tradeoff incentive is gone.  Where's the freedom benefit -- or other benefit -- in renting something tiny?  There's no ownership, so since a renter would still be writing a check every month, why wouldn't the renter want the most space and amenities possible for the money?   

Especially in an urban area, where by necessity life is often more indoors.

Plus you want to charge them a "high rent".......  Hmm.

Ya want "sizzle"?  (Oh, you edited your post...)  

OK then, ya want "simple" and outdoorsy?

Call your insurance when this type of thing happens -- you did yourself no favors by waiting.  In effect, you essentially allowed the tenant to decide when it was a "real matter".   

Also...taking you at your word and nothing was in disrepair, I don't then see where there was negligence on your part.  Laws vary by location, but there is always a list of conditions that must be met before liability will stick. 

I smell a con.

@Stephen Talaber --built it for your dad -- that's awesome.

To back up a bit...  I'm still confused about the amount of rehab you're doing?  I guess given the 203k aspect -- (something I'm getting more interested in, so bear with me!) -- aren't the requirements of your 203k rehab completion schedule going to affect your decisions about tenants?  I can't quite put this together in my head -- if as you say you're looking to rehab to the point where you'll reach a higher plateau of tenant clientele, then that sounds like a pretty big do-over, and tenants couldn't safely remain during construction -- how can the current tenants not have already been informed that on a given date they need to be gone?

 If the plan is the other way, and the rehab is small enough in scale that the tenants can safely stay during the relatively minor construction / repair -- then how do you reach significantly bigger future rents with only minor improvement?