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The Pros and Cons of Tiny Homes

By
Services for Real Estate Pros with HOMESGOFAST

For most people, one of the big life goals is to buy a house—a space big enough for their family, maybe one with a big pool in the back and a large yard for the children to play. But what if we told you that the idea of that ideal home is changing?

There’s a growing movement that is re-examining what a home can look like. Its proponents believe that less is more and that smaller homes can have all the amenities needed for modern life without the excesses of a large home, and without being wasteful.

What is a tiny home?

As the name suggests, a tiny home is one that is just the right size for you and your living needs. A Goldilocks home, if you will. These small spaces are designed to be functional, sustainable and minimalistic. The homes come in many shapes and forms—earth homes, tree houses, retrofitted shipping containers, units built on wheels. They can start from about 2.4 metres by 5 metres, and can be built bigger as per each individual’s needs. It isn’t difficult to have 1-2 bedrooms or a loft bedroom, along with a kitchen, living space and bathroom. For more information and advice about tiny homes, transportable homes or cabins visit www.unit2go.co.nz/

 

The good points of a tiny home

Making the switch from a big house to a tiny home as many benefits.

Affordable: A smaller house means fewer costs. That applies to building the home and living in it. You don’t need as many materials to put the structure together and once it’s occupied you don’t end up with exorbitant electricity bills because you don’t have televisions running simultaneously in different rooms of the house through the day. Your savings go up, too.

Quick to Build: Unlike traditional houses and apartments, tiny homes can be built within a few months depending on the design and scope of the project.

Sustainable: One of the biggest reasons that people move to tiny homes is because of the sustainability it allows. Most tiny homes use sustainable materials and have facilities like rainwater harvesting and solar panels. For many people, reducing their carbon footprints is a big concern and tiny homes make that easy.

What’s more, living in a small space ensure you live minimally.  You don’t have space to hoard old things and hold on to just the essentials and what’s most valuable to you. Tiny homes essentially Marie Kondo your life for you.

Mobility: Depending on what kind of lifestyle you lead, tiny homes allow a lot of flexibility in terms of location. If you’ve got itchy feet and love to move around, just build the structure on wheels and hit the road.

Customisable: The best thing about these homes is they are built exclusively for you. Whether you live alone or with your partner and young children, you can design a home that meets all your needs. Need extra storage or a small office nook for your remote working? Everything is possible. Do your homework and talk to people when figuring out the design for your home.

Versatile: We call these structures tiny homes but they can serve multiple functions, such as a private office or an art studio or even a guest house.

The downsides to tiny homes

These aren’t really cons in our book, more like “lesser pros.”

Costs: Like we mentioned earlier, one of the benefits of tiny homes is they can be built and designed the way you like. Buying a pre-owned or prefabricated tiny home might seem like an easy option, but it might not suit your lifestyle requirements.

The customisation costs involved will vary depending on how you choose to use the structure—as a temporary house, as a rental, as a forever home. While you might be tempted to go the DIY route, we recommend employing experts including architects and contractors. It’s easy to make mistakes and get things wrong if you don’t have the right knowledge and skills.

What’s more, if you want to be earth-friendly and use sustainable materials and invest in green home systems like solar energy, you’re going to have to shell out some more.

But in the long run it will be worth it and these costs will balance out with the money you will save.

Space constraints: If you’re thinking of growing your family then either incorporate those ideas into your construction plans from the start or makes sure it’s easy to renovate the interiors as required when needed.

Consents: In NZ, it may be difficult to get consent for your tiny home. Some people get around this by putting their home on wheels, but then the structure doesn’t feel the same as a home with proper foundations.

Comments (1)

Kristin Johnston - REALTOR®
RE/MAX Platinum - Waukesha, WI
Giving Back With Each Home Sold!

Great information.  Thanks for sharing and enjoy your weekend!

Dec 10, 2021 07:04 AM