The Search For New Land – Part 3

First you should know this is a continuation of previous post: The Search For Land Part 1 and Part 2. As many of you know it can be tricky to find land and my experience was very similar.  After you’ve read those posts this post will make more sense.

So where I am at today.  The house is nearing the home stretch and I am frantically trying to finish it because the lease on apartment ends next week!  The trick to all of this has been getting a lease on the land.  Then land owner and I struck a deal where I pay $1.00 a month (yes a dollar) and I help him out with some website stuff every now and then.  The land owner also wanted to be sure his liability insurance would cover me being on the property and after them going back and forth for a long while, they had to tweak some things.  The land owner’s insurance went up about $300 and he asked that I pay that amount since it was an incurred cost on my behalf, which was totally fair.  He also asked that I have liability insurance, so I picked up a $2,000,000 policy for $425 a year.  So my insurance total was $725 a year, but my rent was only $12 a year.

Next up is was securing water, power and building a road.  This is where I am now.

Water

This has proven to be the most expensive part of the whole thing.  A lot of people want to collect rain water off their roofs for water, but I crunched the numbers on my tiny house.  A typical tiny house’s roof is 8 feet wide and 20 feet long.  That is 160 square feet; for every inch of rain on a square foot you’ll get .6 gallons of water.   So for my house that is 96 gallons of water per inch of rain, in my area after some googling I found that my area gets about 43 inches of rain per 1511479_762555291518_720276449591449371_oyear.  So the math works out to be that I would get 4,128 gallons of water a year off my roof.  I quickly realized that this wasn’t practical for me because even if I had a 1 gallon per minute shower head, assuming a 15 minute shower, that’s 5,475 a year, which doesn’t include cooking, cleaning, drinking, etc.  The math didn’t add up.

Since I was leasing the land, it didn’t make sense to put in a well (would cost me about $10,000) so I decided to tie in with the city water system.  The water main from the city also happened to be running right along the property line, so it couldn’t be more ideal.  So I went in and filled out the paperwork for the city and they gave me my total bill and I was shocked!  For them to install a meter, I had to pay the city, $2,231!!!  What’s worse was it was the city, so they set the price and you have to go to them.  So I had to pay over $2,200 just for them to install a meter, so they could use it to charge me for the water I used!  Once the meter is in, I still have to get it to my house, because for $2,200 they only bring it to the property line.

Then on top of that they told me it would take 2 months to install; this was a problem because I needed to move in a few weeks (at that time) and I couldn’t apply for the water until I had the lease, which I had only gotten the day before when I applied.  The end result is I’ll be living without water for a few weeks, I plan to get a gym membership and have a water jug service come during this time.

 

Power

Next up is electricity.  Where I am at, the property is densely wooded so solar isn’t an option as of now, but I am looking into it for the future.  I also talked with the power company and an electrician and to get the power setup on the lot was going to be about $800 plus 9 cents a KW which wasn’t too bad considering how little power I’ll be using.  Solar is something I do want to do, but I figured right now it isn’t possible and then I also wanted to track my power usage in the tiny house for a year or so in order to size my solar panel system in the future correctly.

The process has gone like this:  Contact power company, they came out and said where they could bring in a line.  I contacted an electrician to setup the box.  The box will be inspected.  The power company checks the inspection and connects the service.  A few other random details: Installation is a simple affair, takes an hour or so when they get scheduled.  Inspection in my area is between 24-72 hours barring any complications. The power company now only will do a 200 amp service (which isn’t an issue, actually a plus).  The power company said they’d do the first 200 feet for free if I had service for a year, after 200 feet it gets really really expensive.

Road Access

Roads are something that a lot of people don’t think about.  Also note that these price can vary in different areas and I don’t have anyone I know who has equipment or personal connections, so I’ll be paying for it all.  I have only got quotes at this point, but its looking like it will cost me about $500 for labor/bobcat and then about $300-$500 in materials (geo-textile fabric, gravel, etc.).  I thought about trying my hand with a rental bobcat, which honestly would be a lot of fun to drive, but when I got the price for the rental, deliver, fees, taxes etc. it was going to be about $800 to rent a bobcat in my area.  In my area you can hire a bobcat driver and his rig for about $60 an hour which includes him showing up with his machine, the gas, and him running it.  So it was actually cheaper for me to pay someone to do it, plus they’ll do a better job than I would since I’ve never used a bobcat before.

Sequencing of things

Another big thing I’ve run into was how things had to go down.  I couldn’t start anything until I had my lease, which took much longer than anticipated, but I got a formal lease and it worked out.  Once I had that I could put in for the power and water.  I wanted to have all those things done before I ever put in the road, because they are both underground lines, so I would have to dig up my road to install them.  I also wanted to have the water and power installed and inspected, then give myself at least a few weeks so that if an inspector was curious about what was going on and decided to swing by later on, he/she wouldn’t see anything because I built in a cooling off period.  At that point I’d install the road and then move the house out there.  The best laid plans of mice and men often go astray as they say.  I’m going to try to do this the best I can still, but its going to have to happen in a shorter time.

Total Costs

I think this should be a real wake up call for a lot of people who think that the cost of a tiny house stops at the tiny house.  Some lots will have these things already which is something you should try to get.  These are my real world numbers and while they will vary for you in your area and if you have connections that will save you money that will help, but at the end of the day you’ll have to deal with the city and the power company and they hold a monopoly, setting the prices that you can’t get around.

Insurance: $725 a year
Rent: $12 a year
Electricity connection: $800
Water connection: $2,231
Road: $1,000
____________________________
Total: $4,768

81 Comments
  1. Wow. I hope this will help convince people that when landlords ask for more than a dollar for rent, there’s a reason.

    I think time constraints added to some of your outlay, also.

    I’ll go back and read your other articles on this, as you’ve probably already addressed my concerns for you 🙂 but I am wondering, with all these improvements to property you don’t own, how long will you have to stay there before you’re “even” on what you would have normally paid on rent? Jeez, and we were feeling bad because we couldn’t provide a washer/dryer utility shed for our TH tenant 🙂 (Hey, put in your own road! Sure, no problem.) Wish we’d known you were looking :-).

    • I figure I’d be spending $800 a month in rent otherwise, so after about 6 months I figure I’m ahead of the game.

      • While at first thought I love the idea of tiny home living, there are untangible costs that many do not seem to consider. Most of the time tiny homes will be placed outside of the town/city because of regulatory issues. I own 40 acres and have been approached by a couple of people already asking to be allowed to put their home on my property… Now, I pay taxes, I maintain my lot, road, etc. that is not free to me. If you want me to give it to you for free, why would I?….. What would be my incentive to allow extra people on my property which also provide more wear and tear to my land. Also, what about driving to and from? Do you think that is free? More gas money has to be added to the equation, Sorry, when you really look at it, this is not really al that it is cracked up to be..

        • even more than all of the above, is LIABILITY…we live in a litigious society…i don’t think i want any property larger than i can afford to FENCE SECURELY (i ive in AZ where all the houses have sixfoot block fences around the back yards on single family 6,000 plus foot lots.) The problem is that most of those lots don’t really have room in the yard for an ADU auxiliary dwelling unit without taking up all the yard because of front yard setbacks and side yard too and even back of the lot setbacks.

    • I’m interested in building a tiny home and would be looking for a place to park it. Where are you located? And do you still have a parking place available?

    • Rent in Sonoma County has doubled in the last year, yet I still have mold in my apartment and a washing machine that doesn’t work. My landlord will not paint my bathroom after the ceiling started to crumble from water damage from upstairs and he patched it, but didn’t match the paint and he has replaced the carpeting with tiles in all units, but mine. I do not see the value in paying more rent. You are assuming that landlords are not businesses, but they are.

  2. Ryan,I feel your pain but I have lucked out in finding a place that has spring water that I can tap into. Also my boyfriend has solar panels. I also have a generator if I need it but currently I don’t need it only very rarely.
    I live up here in the cold north. Upstate NY. We had a very bitter winter. I finished the exterior of the tiny house in the fall and moved to the land trust in Nov. we have lived through the cold very bitter winter with no running water. We have access to spring water on the land but did not have time to plumb it or put in a new spring box before winter. So we hand hauled all our water in by hand or on a sled in the winter. I eventually joined a gym to take showers. We still don’t have running water but are working on it. I hope to have water at least by the end of summer. Because our community is an established one it was easy for us to move onto the Land Trust but we’ve been roughing it. The solar power has been great though and the peace and quiet out in the middle of nowhere has been serene. I think the Land Trust is open to having more tiny houses. They have 432 acres and there are some places that might have access to electric and running water hookup. I will share my contact info if any of your readers might want to consider living here.

    • Wow, Margaret, good for you. The gym showers are becoming a widespread idea, but it sounds like you also got tremendous work-outs hauling water. Our spring is downhill from the house 🙁 What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, as they say. I hope you are proud of yourself for all your efforts, and your ability to adapt to your situation. Glad to see someone not whining about the lack of a washer/dryer combo or sauna. Best wishes to you two.

    • We’re New Yorkers with a sincere interest in designing the tiny house of our dreams. Where in NYS are you? Would love to learn more about that Land Trust! You can write to me privately via my username at gmail.

      Otherwise, it sounds like you’ll be in good shape by the end of summer (here’s hoping you have time to really enjoy the glorious season). Very exciting!

      • Bernie Sanders set up some land trusts in VT, but not sure about NY or others…it is still running, but I don’t know if they are set up for tiny houses, but wouldn’t it be awesome if every citizen had a LOT to live on in a safe area? Find out what people do when they are not stressed for food, shelter, education or healthcare…I think they will find a way to contribute whatever they are able, but i am a Pollyanna.

    • Margaret,

      Reverse osmosis and UV sanitation on the spring? As a Env. Sci. student I would be concerned about pH and Agriculture/GMO contamination. Rainwater is safer, unless you live in the city.

      • I’m not worried about the quality of our spring water. Though we filter it anyway with a charcoal filter you could use with pond water. But the other people here drink in right from their tap and they seam healthy. Also we are on the top of a hill and back up to a state forest and people at the bottom of the hill are certified organic farmers. That’s gotta count for something. No GMO’s or fertilizers here.

    • Good evening. I’m from Rochester, NY. What part of upstate? I’m in the beginning stages of the process. Financing is one of my biggest hurdles. Thanks in advance for any information.

      Pamela Hanna

    • Hi Margaret,

      I am very interested in your Land Trust location as I am in upstate NY and considering tiny house living.

      Best wishes and wondering how you’ve faired during this brutally cold winter of 2015. Hopefully your days of lugging water and gym showers were short lived!

      Thank you!

      Masako

    • I would deeply be interested in the land in Up state NY…Where abouts is it? I currently live in New Jersey and would like to begin my tiny house build within the next two years…If I could by the land before building my house, that would be great. ..I just get scared reading about all these stories about people using up all the savings to build a tiny home and then realizing they can’t park it anywhere …And Up state NY would be awesome,for me considering that all my family and friends are on the east coast..
      Thank you for your time.

      Dee.

      • To Dee: You can look the land trust up that I am on in the intentional communities website. The land trust name is “the common place land cooperative” you need to get in touch with Alison through the contact number and you can arrange a visit.
        I can say that building a tiny house on wheels has given me amazing freedom to live the lifestyle I want. I don’t spend very much to live on this pristine land and I own my home. Also I am off the grid and I use solar energy and spring water comes out of my tap. I hardly work to afford my fabulous lifestyle. Building a tiny home was the best decision I’ve ever made in my life because it has allowed me to be very independent.

    • I was fascinated to learn that another Upstate resident is living tiny. I didn’t know we could do that. May I ask you whereabouts your area is located? Is it a community or did you have to buy alone? Please email and hanks for any assistance that you can give to me.

    • Where in upstate NY? I am a science teacher looking for a place to put a tiny home

    • I read your comments about Land Trusts…we are in Texas and want to build three tiny houses for my two sisters and I….haven’t found land, and I do know about building on [former] farm land and the cost and work that goes into putting in utilities. It is long and tedious work. Even just watching someone else do it for you is very stressful! Do you have any suggestions on how to find a land trust in other states? That seems more do-able than finding a willing landowner to lease to you as Ryan found. Much land in every state is being bought up by foreign investors. To me that is scary….Americans do not own the land anymore. Other countries/entities/governments buy American soil. They often sit on it for decades [as around the El Paso, TX area] and don’t need or want to make money on it. I think Land trusts are a good solution, until the landowner decides to sell. Makes the tiny home temporary, que no?

  3. Have you explored water delivery to supplement the rainwater collection? Friends of mine in the Texas Hill Country get it delivered for $50/1000gallons. They, too, were faced with a $10K plus well fee and din’t have the capital up front to do it. You would need to buy a cistern, but that’s an asset you could sell when/if you move to a new place.

    -M

    • I tried that but couldn’t find a company like it. The only thing I found was pool water which wasn’t potable. What are those businesses even called? What would I google?

      • In Pennsylvania they are called: in home water deliveries service. Just check out the label on bottled spring water jugs next time your in the grocery store and see if any are bottled local; then you can google them. In Pa. they deliver evey 2 weeks or once a month. I think the more often delivered the cheaper the rate.

    • Texas Hill Country caught my attention. Do you know of any tiny builders for homes on wheels? I’d like to get in touch with your friends. Can you get me in touch with them? Thanks.

  4. What do you mean by “he/she wouldn’t see anything because I built in a cooling off period.”? Don’t you have a building permit?

  5. Insightful and helpful, as always. I’m going through this now with some land in Tennessee that I made an offer on today. It has electricity on the site, so the big issue for me is water and septic system. You can’t get a building permit without a septic system in place in Tennessee. The state doesn’t recognize alternatives such as incinerating or composting toilets. If your house has running water, it needs to drain into a septic tank or sewer system. So if anyone asks, that’s a shed I’ll be building, at least until I figure out where the septic tank will go.

  6. Very helpful information to think about, thank you. It’s not what one wants to hear, but so helpful going in. Living in apartments and duplexes, it’s not something I had entirely thought about.

  7. Thanks for the helpful posts! I was just wondering how long your landlord let you sign the lease for? I’m sure its different for everyone but I’m curious what some are comfortable with signing. P.s very beautiful property!!!

  8. I was curious as to what extent the insurance covered. Is that a rental policy? Any issues with the tiny house. We built a large 24×24 that could not be insured until we had a heat source beyond the pellet stove. We ended up with a mini-split. Still no septic, well, or road (32′ rv for now). On the other hand, building a 8×16′ mini this summer which will be sustainable off-grid up to septic. Yes, very convoluted.

  9. Hey guys, looking for a lot to rent to own, to build a 12×24 tiny house on it in and around the nc mountians. Can anyone help me out.

    • Charlie I have land in the mountains of North Carolina..located in the town of Sparta..if you are interested..let me know thanks Lisa

      • I see you have land in N.C. I would like to talk to you if you have any more land in western N.C..
        Craig

      • Hi Lisa. My husband and I are looking for land to put our 12×28 home. If you still have any land we would love to talk. Thanks.

  10. Ozarks lands- will have to check them out. We are in the beginning stages. We are looking for a spot at Lake of the Ozarks. We want to build a family campground of sorts over the years to come. A tiny house (the main living space) then 2 medium sized yurts for when my daughter gets older and chooses to have kiddos. The issue we have been running into so far is no power or water to the lot. If there is power and water then it is in a very populated subdivision type. Plus Lake of the Ozarks has gotten VERY strict on their building codes-esp for sewer lines.

  11. Margaret would you be able to share that info? I am just starting to look at possible land in NY or CT. Thanks!

    • We live at “The Common Place Land Cooperative” it is listed on the intentional communities website in NY. It is near Cortland NY. We are always looking for new members here. We are the only people with a tiny house on wheels. It would be best to visit in the summer or the spring. Right now the snow is very deep. The intentional community website has Alison Frost as the contact person. If you want to contact me that is fine and we can show you around if you want to come and visit. Hope you get this email maggieartist1@yahoo.com

      • Thanks! Should have looked further down to answer my own question.

        Masako

    • To Lauren. I did list my email address if you want to get in touch with me and I’ll connect you to the people.
      Also I am having a tiny house warming party on June 6th if people are interested let me know.
      Way up here in upstate New York though.

    • Here is the link to the land trust in NY found it on google.com

      https://www.ic.org/directory/common-place-land-cooperative/
      https://www.nica.ic.org/records/?action=view&page=view&record_id=1346

      I am looking for land in NY but because of my husbands job we can not go that far north. 🙁

  12. Thanks for sharing your story, it’s been tricky to find the details on what’s required to get a tiny home up and running. Two questions:

    1) When you got water from the city, did that include sewage?

    2) Were you able to get Internet/Cable to the tiny home?

  13. I am SO excited to have found this website! Thank you!

    I am in the research stage of making this move. I love your land! I very much appreciate all the details that you have laid out regarding the reality of what goes into the process. I am just a little confused. Why do you have to be stealthy about people not knowing you are going to live there? Is it a building code issue because you are in city limits? Or something else?

    I am looking to buy land to but a retrofitted trailer (of some sort or another) on for my family to live. I was under the impression that as long as it qualified as an RV (camper/trailer/ect) that you didn’t have to deal with code issues. Isn’t it possible just to say you are parking your RV on the land for intermittent use? Your RV would just look a lot like a house 🙂

    I am in PA and my concern with water is how to keep it from freezing. I thought about a water delivery of some sort but then would you have to have a coil-heated supply line to the house (kind of like the heated water bowls for dogs) or any other ways to keep from freezing in the winter.

    Also, for anyone who has already made this move, can you get mail delivery to your mini? Or do you have to use a PO box?

    Any advice/tips/tricks/references on how to make my dream a reality would be greatly appreciated from y’all.
    KC

    • I’m also curious about the retrofit approach. I have a 36′ house trailer to retrofit and want to keep it mobile. I’d like to hear your input.

  14. Sorry, but one more question.

    Did anyone else just retrofit an existing structure which just happens to be on wheels already, to use as your home instead of starting from scratch?

    Pros or cons either way?

    Thanks in advance!

    • Have you heard anything about retrofitting from anyone? I’d like to retro a gooseneck horse trailer. Contact me please.

  15. A lot more people would leave in tiny houses if it was not such a hassle to find a place for it. If you buy your own land it should not matter if you live a dwelling as long as it is safe.

  16. Hi Everyone, new here. I’m very interested in putting together a sustainable / intentional community at some point down the road buying land other interested co-owners and registering the land as an RV park for agricultural land so that tiny home owners, like I want to be, can live as they want.

    I’m looking to do this in California preferably Southern California where I live currently , and was hoping I could get some insight and tips from people who have I’m experienced dealing with trying to set up shop out here so to speak.

    Thanks 😉

    • hey greg, keep in touch with us – website is best way to reach me… wholewayhome.com we are interested in the same thing. have you looked near the murietta/temecula area?

    • Hello Greg – I’m in NoCal – SF Bay Area – but very much looking to find a place to build a 600-800sf home or park a THOW. More interested in the Sierra Gold Country – Auburn area, preferably, or thereabouts. But if you’re interested in the Mammoth Lake area, I might go for that… (never been there, but hear it’s nice). Please drop me a line at ryderez2 at gmail dot com.

  17. Dammit, stupid voice text thing not working I forgot to proofread before hitting publish. Anyway I’m looking for help and tips and suggestions from anyone who has any experience either in terms of research or personal experience, regarding trying to buy land In California and bypass these problems by turning land into “agricultural” or “RV park” area which I’ve heard provides a loophole for allowing tiny home owners to live there.

  18. Doez anyone know of anyone to contact in Maryland regarding finding a site/land?

  19. I am anxious to have a tiny house in the Atlanta area. I have a traditional house with a very large back yard. My first thought was to build the house on my own property and rent out the existing house. But I’ve been told that zoning laws wouldn’t allow that. My back yard is very private, so I could probably do it “under the radar”. I’d have to figure a way tap into my existing electricity and water/sewer service. That seems very risky. Does anyone know of any tiny house communities anywhere around Atlanta? Or does anyone own or know of any available properties that might be suitable?

  20. wow… new to all of this but have been dreaming of a community with like minded people all in their own little space but with community rooms to get together for meals and conversation and friendships. Didn’t realize what a problem it is for all of this, and why is it anyone’s concern what you live in if you own the property and pay the taxes etc…
    I would very much like info on an east coast community, if one exists, or of getting people together to get one started, of tiny home living. Again, I am new to all of this and not very educated on the in’s and out’s of it all. any info, would be greatly appreciated. and, getting together with others who are also interested but not sure of how to get started and maybe group together and get something going would be my hope. plez email and let me know where to go from here….. thanks

  21. Just starting to take interest in tiny house living. Why aren’t there more people staring up tiny house communities so that they could ease some of these issues and does anyone know of areas near ocean in either NC, SC, GA, or FL

  22. Understanding this topic is old, it is where I am in my THouse move. My problem is an electricity inspection allowing Duke to hookup power. The County says they will not approve a TinyHouse therefore I don’t expect they will approve any electrical. I already have a post and meter because a mobile home had been there previously.
    This is really stressing me out.

    • Why not use propane for appliances, heat,light, and generator? Generate what little. e electricity and charge of batteries needed. Grey water to irrigation system and compost toilet or holding tank to be pumped monthly.

  23. John, and others trying to get power hooked up to your structure. Here is possibility “get a hookup for a welder – every artist needs one, and of course a power outlets with gfi for grinders and such. See a artist is seldom defined in rigid terms like media. Sculpture is a honest profession. You will need a source of water for safety and health reasons. artist need a space for creativity. Trailers to secure tools and a dry space when it rains. Use privacy screens to prevent looky Lou’s

  24. Ryan, you are leaving the real dream. Your are inspirational, I hope to someday get my tiny house. God bless you and your tiny house.

  25. Hi

    I am so glad I found this site it has been a great deal of help. Its great to see so many people embrace the movement to live a better quality of life.

    We are looking for land to buy or rent in Lower NY in Westchester, Rockland, Putnam, even Connecticut or as close to Westchester as possible to put a tiny house on. Because of my husbands job we can not go to far north because of the commute. If anyone has information they can share we really would appreciate it.

    Prefer land that has electricity, water and septic if possible but open to any possibility.

  26. Very interesting reading. If anyone knows how to get around the red tape in small rural Mullens WV, please advise. I have a 26′ RV, I was given a lot to park that had an exhidting house (it burned down and lot cleared). Only able to get electric, city declined water/sewage. There must be zoning regs on the books, however they can’t produce them. Just NO is not acceptable to me.

  27. Hi,

    I am still in the research stages, but am looking to downsize to a tiny house for retirement in 2 years. I had thought about putting it in a mobile home park until I could find just the right land or community. But, from what I’ve been reading, that may not be a possibility. If tiny houses are built to UBC standards, what is the problem in locating them in mobile home parks?

    I realize this may vary by state. I am hoping to retire to the Asheville, NC area.

    Susan

  28. Great posts,looking forward to reading more! Thanks.

  29. Thank you to everyone who posted. I have learned a lot from reading all the responses. It is a little discouraging though. I am interested in the tiny house movement but it doesn’t sound like rules and regulations are agreeable with it. I know there are ways around but I am hoping this will catch on enough to where there are plenty of tiny house communities and no problems with finding a place to put one. I am in Goldsboro, NC and have no clue as to where to place a tiny home once I decide to build but I do not like paying rent for something I’ll never own like the house I am living in currently. I hope this will be sorted out soon. Any advice is welcomed.

    • Do you not know anyone with land? You should be able to someone a small rent to place your TH. Write letters and ask people. Look for land to rent on CL etc. I’m sure you can find a lot for less than 15k out in the country

      • No, I don’t know anyone with land, I just moved out here. I guess I could put an ad on craig’s list.

    • Sheila, There are Meetup Groups in the Raleigh/Chapel Hill/Fuquay area that meet regularly – they had three meetings this weekend. One was how to frame the floor. Have not attended one, but they also have regular meetings to discuss some great topics with leaders who have already built and worked out many issues.

  30. As from the very start of the tiny house movement I was very interested in all the developments in the US. Here in Europe – and especially in The Netherlands – building rules are every strict, but I am surprised that in a country like the US things are not very different. Luckily, you were able to find a nice plot of land and I hope for years to come.
    I myself was able to find my tiny house – a 3 story (kitchen, sitting room, bedroom) pigeon tower cum “folly” in rural France, built in 1750, with almost two acres of wooded hillside for a very reasonable price. And though France must be heaven for bureaucrats, its rules and regulations are sometimes surprisingly considerate. There are no regulations for existing structures which determine that f.i. a house should have a hall between the front door and the living room, or that bedrooms have to have a minimum number of m2, etc. etc.; there are no differences between a permanent residence or a “maison secondaire;” If you want to live in a shed, well, you live in a shed, no one will bother you. So, 5 or 6 times a year we go to our “folly,” (about 1150 km from our home in Holland), which is off the grid, except for water – luckily. Cooking and showering work on gas bottles, which are used by everyone in the countryside, even in villages and small towns. And electricity, provided by solar panels, is only needed for the laptop, as all the lighting is done with antique(like) oil lamps and some candles. They provide cozy lighting and a lot of warmth. Though the French government even subsidises heating with wood burning stoves – as long as they are highly efficient and have the lowest possible CO2 emissions, we chose for an infrared gas stove, placed into the existing fireplace, which is an efficient source of radiant heat especially suitable for old, stone buildings. I must admit however that winters are not very cold nor very long.
    We very much sympathise with every one trying to live their dream and we’ve learned a lot by reading everything written about Tiny Houses and all the enthusiastic commentaries.
    Cheers to all,
    Gerard
    For those who want to have a look, check out flickr “1eGrimpy”

  31. Hello to y’all
    Trying to find land here in the northern Dallas area is very easy if you have 40K for .25 acre. I have gone as far as an hour and a half away and still no luck. I was so thrilled at the thought of my tiny house and now the steam is running out of my little engine as I have been looking for 5 months. It is defeating to have a great idea and not be able to see it through. I have not given up! It would be nice if someone here even knew what a tiny house was. YeeeHaw!

    • Yes, I live in the Dallas area as well. Been looking for 6 months with same results. However, there is a tiny house community in Terrell Texas called Blubonnett Ridge that will gladly take the TH. mine will be done in about 3 weeks and have contracted for a spot there. This is far from my children and grandchildren but the only place I could find where they actually know what a tiny house is. Have no clue about such things here.

  32. I live in an efficient 2-story house with the modern conveniences. I learned to walk around my house with nightlights, take 3-5min. showers because I got pneumonia and standing under warm water to go out into the Winter weather made the pneumonia want to double back on me. In Military strategy, you soap down then shower off. It saves a lot of water. A Science teacher told me when washing clothes you can recycle the water from the rinse cycle and use it to wash the next load. What really helps is having an extra heavy load wash machine and lots of clothes so you only have to wash maybe once/month and hanging them on an inside and/or outside clothes line. I learned to conserve a lot of energy in my house by keeping it insulated and sleeping in flannel or thermal even fleece. I haven’t used heating in about 30yrs. and don’t use air conditioning. I wanted to raise my child without him lacking and enjoy my life to the fullest on the small income I earned. Now my home needs serious repairs. I know I want to go green all the way because living on a retirement income will take the same amount of conservation and dedication. I love the tiny houses if I could pull one down the road with me instead of a mobile home which is very costly to own and maintain. I’ve found a way to live in a small house.

  33. I currently live inexpensively and comfortably. And I am extremely grateful. As a retired horse trainer and ranch manager, the idea of Tiny House living is inviting as it conjures pictures of rolling fields, grazing stock and tidy kitchen gardens. Not to mention the serene location for my writing. At 70 I have no reluctance for attempting such an extreme and challenging life change. However, over the years, and despite my efforts to the contrary, I’ve learned to measure the cost. More importantly I’ve learned (somewhat) to realize and appreciate the awesome abundance and freedom of my life. To all you courageous pioneers, I say Godspeed! But, still, many days I daydream and smile thinking of a tiny house with the horse outside the door.

    • She rode gracefully across the green meadows of heaven

  34. seriously what about the CO2 buildup while you sleep. is there a air volume to person ration. how many watts do you use a day if you have a small fridge/freezer for foods that spoil. i lived in a motorhome for several years and discovered in the winter that i was getting headaches because of CO2 buildup

  35. Hi Ryan , just wondering what did you work out for you sewage plan with your tiny home. Do you have holding tanks do you empty them or are they hooked to a sewage line. Thanks for your in put.

  36. Hi, I am looking for some land in Upstate New York to put my tiny house on. Is there anything around Monroe County area or Finger Lakes?

  37. I love the idea of a tiny home but after watching shows on building them and reading websites I have to wonder. Trailers are cheaper why not just insulate one for winter use and save yourself a few thousand dollars? Honestly, 50,000.00 for a home made tiny house on a trailer bed or 25,000.00 for a winterized already to go trailer like you find in trailer parks. Makes no sense to me.

  38. my dad had land like that years (decades now) ago…so much a month for as long as you will pay them. $295 per acre in 36 acre parcels (or the scrub parcels in smaller lots that they want to get rid of gullies or washes or rocks or ugly NIMBY things like power poles, right of way easements eg.

  39. I wonder if the “tiny houses” mentioned above are all on trailer beds? If so, how wide? In Texas, for example, anything over ten feet requires a permit to be on public streets and roads. Is there a source of info regarding such guidelines for size, weight, and height?

    Fascinating reading folks. I keep thinking of Hobbits. Marie

  40. Your website has been the most in-depth and “real” I have found when it comes to tiny living. I cant thank you enough for all your information!
    What would associated costs or pros/cons to taking the house off a trailer and situating it on foundation? If there is an associated article, please feel free to direct me there. Thanks!

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