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Tiny Houses

TheWerewolfFromTwilight

TheWerewolfFromTwilight

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Oct 25, 2021
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Does anyone know anyone who actually lives in one? Could you live in one? Craziest one I've seen might have been these two guys who live in a tiny house on top of an old fire tower. That thing looked flimsy as hell and had to be 60 feet high. Looked like if a cat walked into the fire tower the wrong way they'd both end up in a similar predicament as the Wicked Witch of the East.

I admit that some of them look pretty cool on the shows, but I feel like the novelty would wear off in about 3 hours and then I would start bouncing off the walls. Only way I'd stand a chance in one is if it was in a pretty cool piece of land with year-round decent weather and it had some type of screened deck that basically functioned as an outdoor living room or something. But I feel like you can't really just buy beautiful pieces of land out in the middle of nowhere like that. I'll see what looks to be someone who did that, and then they'll say something like, "Yeah, and her dad lives 100 yards away and was nice enough to donate this little nook in his farm."

I wish I knew the first thing about making videos, because I can think of some ideas for a pretty good parody skit on one of those shows. I'm thinking the murder/suicide rate for couples who live in these houses has to be close to 100%.
 
TheWerewolfFromTwilight said:
Does anyone know anyone who actually lives in one? Could you live in one? Craziest one I've seen might have been these two guys who live in a tiny house on top of an old fire tower. That thing looked flimsy as hell and had to be 60 feet high. Looked like if a cat walked into the fire tower the wrong way they'd both end up in a similar predicament as the Wicked Witch of the East.

I admit that some of them look pretty cool on the shows, but I feel like the novelty would wear off in about 3 hours and then I would start bouncing off the walls. Only way I'd stand a chance in one is if it was in a pretty cool piece of land with year-round decent weather and it had some type of screened deck that basically functioned as an outdoor living room or something.

I wish I knew the first thing about making videos, because I can think of some ideas for a pretty good parody skit on one of those shows. I'm thinking the murder/suicide rate for couples who live in these houses has to be close to 100%.
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Really, they are just socially acceptable trailer court living. They attract a much different clientele than the trailer parks. I'm actually surprised they arent even more popular considering the high cost of housing. I would think there should be tiny home communities locally but there arent.
 
Sean Miller Fan said:
Really, they are just socially acceptable trailer court living. They attract a much different clientele than the trailer parks. I'm actually surprised they arent even more popular considering the high cost of housing. I would think there should be tiny home communities locally but there arent.
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True, I've never actually seen one in person. My aunt sold her house and built a small house on my cousin's property, which I find to be very odd, but it's too big to be considered a tiny house. And even that has its problems, so maybe PA just isn't very conducive to tiny houses. They seem like more of a warm weather thing.
 
TheWerewolfFromTwilight said:
True, I've never actually seen one in person. My aunt sold her house and built a small house on my cousin's property, which I find to be very odd, but it's too big to be considered a tiny house. And even that has its problems, so maybe PA just isn't very conducive to tiny houses. They seem like more of a warm weather thing.
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I'm not so sure they are as popular as social media makes them out to be or else you'd see more. They arent much smaller than trailers and can be built and sold cheaply so if they were popular, you'd think they would be going up like crazy.

Honestly, if I was right out of college, I'd buy one for 80K or so instead of paying rent. Perhaps this tiny home community has a pool, gym, etc, I wouldn't need a ton of space.
 
Sean Miller Fan said:
I'm not so sure they are as popular as social media makes them out to be or else you'd see more. They arent much smaller than trailers and can be built and sold cheaply so if they were popular, you'd think they would be going up like crazy.

Honestly, if I was right out of college, I'd buy one for 80K or so instead of paying rent. Perhaps this tiny home community has a pool, gym, etc, I wouldn't need a ton of space.
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To pay $80K for them is acceptable is the land cost you $60K. I thought about buying some nice land and building one in Potter County for a camp and I wished I pulled the trigger on that.

When I was looking at pre built ones, it was crazy to me what some of them were going for. Many are going for $60-90k and to me that defeats the purpose of them. I could easily build one myself for $15k with better craftsmanship ( I am handy) and higher quality materials than what I was looking. I understand these guys/company's were in business and trying to make a profit, but to me it was bonkers.

As to the original question, to have as a get-a-way, yes I could do it. To live year round, no I couldn't. But I could live in a house not much bigger. My son graduates Hs in 2 years, at that point my house is for sell and the house plan my wife and I like and will build is 1442 Sq ft. After helping my parents downsize when my dad was 80 and mom 72, I refused to do it at that age. I will do it at 46/7. So I can live in small house, but not a tiny house.
 
Mikefln said:
To pay $80K for them is acceptable is the land cost you $60K. I thought about buying some nice land and building one in Potter County for a camp and I wished I pulled the trigger on that.

When I was looking at pre built ones, it was crazy to me what some of them were going for. Many are going for $60-90k and to me that defeats the purpose of them. I could easily build one myself for $15k with better craftsmanship ( I am handy) and higher quality materials than what I was looking. I understand these guys/company's were in business and trying to make a profit, but to me it was bonkers.

As to the original question, to have as a get-a-way, yes I could do it. To live year round, no I couldn't. But I could live in a house not much bigger. My son graduates Hs in 2 years, at that point my house is for sell and the house plan my wife and I like and will build is 1442 Sq ft. After helping my parents downsize when my dad was 80 and mom 72, I refused to do it at that age. I will do it at 46/7. So I can live in small house, but not a tiny house.
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Yeah, that seems like way too much to drop on a tiny house. Although material costs and housing costs are both out of control, so it doesn't surprise me.

Some of these tiny houses don't seem all that accommodating to older people, because you almost have to be a chimpanzee to get up to some of the rooms/lofts.
 
Mikefln said:
To pay $80K for them is acceptable is the land cost you $60K. I thought about buying some nice land and building one in Potter County for a camp and I wished I pulled the trigger on that.

When I was looking at pre built ones, it was crazy to me what some of them were going for. Many are going for $60-90k and to me that defeats the purpose of them. I could easily build one myself for $15k with better craftsmanship ( I am handy) and higher quality materials than what I was looking. I understand these guys/company's were in business and trying to make a profit, but to me it was bonkers.

As to the original question, to have as a get-a-way, yes I could do it. To live year round, no I couldn't. But I could live in a house not much bigger. My son graduates Hs in 2 years, at that point my house is for sell and the house plan my wife and I like and will build is 1442 Sq ft. After helping my parents downsize when my dad was 80 and mom 72, I refused to do it at that age. I will do it at 46/7. So I can live in small house, but not a tiny house.
Click to expand...

Well, I was thinking like a kid right out of college, you move into a tiny house community so you only own like 1/10 of an acre so it would 80K for land+house.

I am completely astonished by what regular homes keep selling for. Values were supposed to drop and they keep going up. Some of these prices I see people are paying for really crappy houses or in bad school districts are jaw dropping.
 
Sean Miller Fan said:
Well, I was thinking like a kid right out of college, you move into a tiny house community so you only own like 1/10 of an acre so it would 80K for land+house.

I am completely astonished by what regular homes keep selling for. Values were supposed to drop and they keep going up. Some of these prices I see people are paying for really crappy houses or in bad school districts are jaw dropping.
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Yeah, I'll be curious to see how this all plays out. The idea for a 0% interest rate for first-time homeowners has been pitched, and I'd be absolutely pissed if that happened. I bought my house in 2010 at 4.95%, which wasn't exactly low.

I'm definitely empathetic to the fact that prices have gone way up since then, but if you offer 0% interest to first-time homeowners then they'll probably go up another 50% - 100% from where they are now and I'll never be able to afford to upgrade.
 
TheWerewolfFromTwilight said:
Yeah, I'll be curious to see how this all plays out. The idea for a 0% interest rate for first-time homeowners has been pitched, and I'd be absolutely pissed if that happened. I bought my house in 2010 at 4.95%, which wasn't exactly low.

I'm definitely empathetic to the fact that prices have gone way up since then, but if you offer 0% interest to first-time homeowners then they'll probably go up another 50% - 100% from where they are now and I'll never be able to afford to upgrade.
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It will come down. I can speculate why it hasn't crashed yet, but it eventually will. The amount of (normal not rich) people who bought homes the past 3 years who have mortgage payments that are approaching 50% of their monthly take home salary is astonishing. The banks and government didn't learn anything from the great recession ( by desin imo) and the bubble will burst.
 
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Mikefln said:
It will come down. I can speculate why it hasn't crashed yet, but it eventually will. The amount of (normal not rich) people who bought homes the past 3 years who have mortgage payments that are approaching 50% of their monthly take home salary is astonishing. The banks and government didn't learn anything from the great recession ( by desin imo) and the bubble will burst.
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Also, all the boomers who are still living in their big homes in nice communities will start to die. A lot of great homes in great school districts are tied up by them right now. But not for long.
 
TheWerewolfFromTwilight said:
Yeah, I'll be curious to see how this all plays out. The idea for a 0% interest rate for first-time homeowners has been pitched, and I'd be absolutely pissed if that happened. I bought my house in 2010 at 4.95%, which wasn't exactly low.

I'm definitely empathetic to the fact that prices have gone way up since then, but if you offer 0% interest to first-time homeowners then they'll probably go up another 50% - 100% from where they are now and I'll never be able to afford to upgrade.
Click to expand...

That ain't gonna fly. I dont shed any tears for first-time homebuyers. Go buy a house in less-attractive town for 250K. Pay it down. 10 years later, you have built up some equity and are making more money so now you can buy that 500K-600K house.
 
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OH Pete said:
Also, all the boomers who are still living in their big homes in nice communities will start to die. A lot of great homes in great school districts are tied up by them right now. But not for long.
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This is part of it. Read an article that these folks arent downsizing, arent moving to that Florida condo. They are going to stay in the big homes they raised their families in.

I dont know though, everyone says the market is going to drop significantly. I wouldn’t count on it.
 
Sean Miller Fan said:
This is part of it. Read an article that these folks arent downsizing, arent moving to that Florida condo. They are going to stay in the big homes they raised their families in.

I dont know though, everyone says the market is going to drop significantly. I wouldn’t count on it.
Click to expand...

The poor are reproducing way more than people with money these days. A lot of these "tweener" towns (like, kind of good but kind of rotten) seem to going downhill fast, and they keep just building more houses to accommodate those with money.

Eventually, something has to happen where they circle back around and start fixing up some of these shit towns. You can't keep clearing land indefinitely.
 
TheWerewolfFromTwilight said:
The poor are reproducing way more than people with money these days. A lot of these "tweener" towns (like, kind of good but kind of rotten) seem to going downhill fast, and they keep just building more houses to accommodate those with money.

Eventually, something has to happen where they circle back around and start fixing up some of these shit towns. You can't keep clearing land indefinitely.
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I've always thought that some smart developer should try to buy up property in some of these old "mill" towns in the Mon Valley. Places like Allenport, Fayette City, Belle Vernon, Glassport, New Eagle and redevelop them into small towns that primarily cater to retirees. Build small single family homes and town houses. Maybe have a building with condos as well. Have a community pool and a park. I think it could be a major winner. Could even attract families if done right.
 
OH Pete said:
I've always thought that some smart developer should try to buy up property in some of these old "mill" towns in the Mon Valley. Places like Allenport, Fayette City, Belle Vernon, Glassport, New Eagle and redevelop them into small towns that primarily cater to retirees. Build small single family homes and town houses. Maybe have a building with condos as well. Have a community pool and a park. I think it could be a major winner. Could even attract families if done right.
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Yeah, there is nothing more depressing than a western PA river town. Brownsville, Monessen, Monongahela, Homestead, Clairton, Glassport, McKeesport, Charleroi, Duquesne, Buena Vista, Sutersville, McKees Rocks, Beaver Falls, Kittanning, Elizabeth, Donora, Confluence, New Eagle, etc., etc., etc.

Not sure what the heck can be done with them, other than the natural gentrification process for a select few, but something needs to be. It can't just keep being, "Ah, well I guess Brownsville is basically condemned. Let's just leave these empty building here and everyone has to live someplace else."

At some point, government intervention in affordable housing needs to include fixing up what already exists.
 
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Mikefln said:
Only a fool thinks the good times roll forever. Nothing ever goes up and never goes down.
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There are blips but I think some people think prices are going to drop 20%-40%. I think you'll see a slight drop but nothing significant. Everyone predicted a recession. I even thought it was inevitable but it didnt happen.
 
TheWerewolfFromTwilight said:
Yeah, there is nothing more depressing than a western PA river town. Brownsville, Monessen, Monongahela, Homestead, Clairton, Glassport, McKeesport, Charleroi, Duquesne, Buena Vista, Sutersville, McKees Rocks, Beaver Falls, Kittanning, Elizabeth, Donora, Confluence, New Eagle, etc., etc., etc.

Not sure what the heck can be done with them, other than the natural gentrification process for a select few, but something needs to be. It can't just keep being, "Ah, well I guess Brownsville is basically condemned. Let's just leave these empty building here and everyone has to live someplace else."

At some point, government intervention in affordable housing needs to include fixing up what already exists.
Click to expand...

I am always surprised that people live in those towns. Like we'll play some youth sports game against those towns and they'll have some parents who look fairly normal and I think why on Earth are you living there. What normal person goes to Brownsville or McKeesport but sadly, there are.
 
Sean Miller Fan said:
I am always surprised that people live in those towns. Like we'll play some youth sports game against those towns and they'll have some parents who look fairly normal and I think why on Earth are you living there. What normal person goes to Brownsville or McKeesport but sadly, there are.
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There are definitely towns that have a little of both. Like downtown Elizabeth and Belle Vernon aren't so hot, but they both have nice parts as well. But yeah... some towns just don't seem to have any redeeming qualities.

I assume the people who grew up in them perceive them differently. I still have an infatuation for the town I lived in when I was young, even though an outsider probably wouldn't consider it worthy of urinating on if it caught fire. Then again, it probably has its own volunteer fire dept even though the median income is $850/year.
 
Sean Miller Fan said:
I'm not so sure they are as popular as social media makes them out to be or else you'd see more. They arent much smaller than trailers and can be built and sold cheaply so if they were popular, you'd think they would be going up like crazy.

Honestly, if I was right out of college, I'd buy one for 80K or so instead of paying rent. Perhaps this tiny home community has a pool, gym, etc, I wouldn't need a ton of space.
Click to expand...
Can your toxic taxi fit in one?
 
TheWerewolfFromTwilight said:
There are definitely towns that have a little of both. Like downtown Elizabeth and Belle Vernon aren't so hot, but they both have nice parts as well. But yeah... some towns just don't seem to have any redeeming qualities.

I assume the people who grew up in them perceive them differently. I still have an infatuation for the town I lived in when I was young, even though an outsider probably wouldn't consider it worthy of urinating on if it caught fire. Then again, it probably has its own volunteer fire dept even though the median income is $850/year.
Click to expand...
North Belle Vernon has some very nice parts to it. Nice community. But downtown...not so much.

I feel like the land in those areas can be valuable and great places to live. Find a way to control the flooding and Fayette City and downtown Belle Vernon could be gems. But unfortunately for everyone that lives there today, that would mean they need to get out because they are causing the towns to be the dumps that they are.

I'd start with somewhere like Fayette City because it is small. Wouldn't cost much to buy it up or take it over under eminent domain. Imagine how cool a planned community on the banks of the Monongahela River would be. Something that brought back the spirit of what those communities once were (circa the post WW2 boom time) but had modern amenities and new construction. I'd love to live somewhere like that.
 
TheWerewolfFromTwilight said:
Does anyone know anyone who actually lives in one? Could you live in one? Craziest one I've seen might have been these two guys who live in a tiny house on top of an old fire tower. That thing looked flimsy as hell and had to be 60 feet high. Looked like if a cat walked into the fire tower the wrong way they'd both end up in a similar predicament as the Wicked Witch of the East.

I admit that some of them look pretty cool on the shows, but I feel like the novelty would wear off in about 3 hours and then I would start bouncing off the walls. Only way I'd stand a chance in one is if it was in a pretty cool piece of land with year-round decent weather and it had some type of screened deck that basically functioned as an outdoor living room or something. But I feel like you can't really just buy beautiful pieces of land out in the middle of nowhere like that. I'll see what looks to be someone who did that, and then they'll say something like, "Yeah, and her dad lives 100 yards away and was nice enough to donate this little nook in his farm."

I wish I knew the first thing about making videos, because I can think of some ideas for a pretty good parody skit on one of those shows. I'm thinking the murder/suicide rate for couples who live in these houses has to be close to 100%.
Click to expand...
Our new mantra "Dream Small"
 
Mikefln said:
To pay $80K for them is acceptable is the land cost you $60K. I thought about buying some nice land and building one in Potter County for a camp and I wished I pulled the trigger on that.

When I was looking at pre built ones, it was crazy to me what some of them were going for. Many are going for $60-90k and to me that defeats the purpose of them. I could easily build one myself for $15k with better craftsmanship ( I am handy) and higher quality materials than what I was looking. I understand these guys/company's were in business and trying to make a profit, but to me it was bonkers.

As to the original question, to have as a get-a-way, yes I could do it. To live year round, no I couldn't. But I could live in a house not much bigger. My son graduates Hs in 2 years, at that point my house is for sell and the house plan my wife and I like and will build is 1442 Sq ft. After helping my parents downsize when my dad was 80 and mom 72, I refused to do it at that age. I will do it at 46/7. So I can live in small house, but not a tiny house.
Click to expand...
I mean , it’s essentially a Winnebago or camper that doesn’t move .

Anything in potter costing more than $40k is too much .
 
TheWerewolfFromTwilight said:
Yeah, there is nothing more depressing than a western PA river town. Brownsville, Monessen, Monongahela, Homestead, Clairton, Glassport, McKeesport, Charleroi, Duquesne, Buena Vista, Sutersville, McKees Rocks, Beaver Falls, Kittanning, Elizabeth, Donora, Confluence, New Eagle, etc., etc., etc.

Not sure what the heck can be done with them, other than the natural gentrification process for a select few, but something needs to be. It can't just keep being, "Ah, well I guess Brownsville is basically condemned. Let's just leave these empty building here and everyone has to live someplace else."

At some point, government intervention in affordable housing needs to include fixing up what already exists.
Click to expand...

Have you been to Charleroi recently? A lot different than 10 years ago.
 
TheWerewolfFromTwilight said:
I've not. Is it nice now? Towns like Charleroi and Monongahela definitely have the framework to have a potentially nice "main drag," but neither were nice last time I was there. Monongahela seemed to be on its way down, in fact.
Click to expand...

Transforming would be the word. I'm not getting political but it is now an immigrant hub. Many stores catering to the new community are popping up. Old houses being fixed up.
 
pittdan77 said:
The upside of a "tiny home" is that they may be okay in areas that prohibit trailers. You can also add onto them without as much hassle since it's an existing permanent structure.
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But does that outweigh the fact that if your girlfriend gets mad, storms out, and slams the front door the kitchen ceiling falls on your head?

I kid. I'm sure most of them are quite sturdy. Just seems like a lot are built on the cheap with materials that simply wouldn't last.
 
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TheWerewolfFromTwilight said:
But does that outweigh the fact that if your girlfriend gets mad, storms out, and slams the front door the kitchen ceiling falls on your head?

I kid. I'm sure most of them are quite sturdy. Just seems like a lot are built on the cheap with materials that simply wouldn't last.
Click to expand...
Have you ever really looked closely at some of the million dollar homes that are getting "thrown" together?
 
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pittdan77 said:
Have you ever really looked closely at some of the million dollar homes that are getting "thrown" together?
Click to expand...

Oh without a doubt. The office building I work in is also fairly new but is a "corkboard special." Just the cheapest materials you could possibly think of and the fruits of those flaws just keep piling up.

Still, I think that would only be magnified in a tiny home. Every room - if there even are multiple rooms - is getting a ton of use.
 
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TheWerewolfFromTwilight said:
It seems like the entire South Hills is now an immigration hub. That's all I see in Baldwin, etc.
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Baldwin and the South Hills have a huge population of Nepalese. I think I read somewhere that Pittsburgh has the largest Nepalese community in the US.

As for Charleroi, the poster made it seem like its getting nicer with immigrants coming in and fixing up houses? Would be curious to learn more about this.
 
Sean Miller Fan said:
Baldwin and the South Hills have a huge population of Nepalese. I think I read somewhere that Pittsburgh has the largest Nepalese community in the US.

As for Charleroi, the poster made it seem like its getting nicer with immigrants coming in and fixing up houses? Would be curious to learn more about this.
Click to expand...

Yeah, they're all over the place. Lots of Nepali grocery stores on Brownsville Road and 51.

Baldwin has to best one of the better examples of a town that hosts all walks of life. You have some really nice plans, two projects, and everything in between.
 
TheWerewolfFromTwilight said:
Oh without a doubt. The office building I work in is also fairly new but is a "corkboard special." Just the cheapest materials you could possibly think of and the fruits of those flaws just keep piling up.

Still, I think that would only be magnified in a tiny home. Every room - if there even are multiple rooms - is getting a ton of use.
Click to expand...
Curious if they have an expected life span, per the builder?
 
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