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Small World: The Tiny House Trend

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Re: Small World: The Tiny House Trend

#61

Post by NeedMoreTea »

vertex-four wrote: post #48
NeedMoreTea wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shared walls often mean you know when your neighbours are in, when they're watching TV, when they argue and what they're arguing about, when the dog is barking or the toddler having a tantrum, and even when they're walking to the other room. Even insulation benefits can't be relied on as shared walls are often uninsulated and overall insulation in apartment blocks often bare minimum to code rather than adequate. Last…

I live in an apartment in the U.K. and this is just not the case - I have absolutely no idea what anyone else is doing. Proper construction goes a long way. There’s something about America that makes proper construction of apartment buildings impossible, apparently - whether that’s building codes or cost-saving exercises I don’t know.

I'm also in the UK. It was the case in those I've rented. That included one fancy river front expensive one that work rented while I was working in Docklands. In short, never again.

Maybe newer ones are better as that was back in the 90s.

Re: Small World: The Tiny House Trend

#62

Post by topkai22 »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #29
igneo676 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems to me that the core ethos is upping our standards of living. Sort of like a whole-life kon-mari tidying method. Tiny houses help focus specifically on things like: 1. Owning high quality and purpose built possessions 2. Becoming debt free and allowing yourself to take on tasks of great risk (regular world travel, start your own business, etc) 3. Removing things from your life that aren't useful or clutter yo…

I agree with all of these points, but also believe this is a reactive response to a culture younger generations can’t afford (as well as overloaded consumerism/materialism). I know plenty of 25-40 year olds who would love a detached single family home with a two car garage and a yard near their work, but it’s out of their financial grasp, as is other components of “The American Dream”, hence embracing experiences and…

@beamatronic- the median SFH in Reno is now over $380,000, and median household income is $58k. According to a quick housing affordability calculator, $58k will get you to a $280,000 house if you really stretch it under normal conditions.

The affordability issue has impacted the entire west coast, possibly most of the western US depending on how you measure. Of the cities you listed, I think Columbus is the only actual option for someone of average means.

Re: Small World: The Tiny House Trend

#63

Post by arethuza »

NeedMoreTea wrote: post #61
vertex-four wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in an apartment in the U.K. and this is just not the case - I have absolutely no idea what anyone else is doing. Proper construction goes a long way. There’s something about America that makes proper construction of apartment buildings impossible, apparently - whether that’s building codes or cost-saving exercises I don’t know.

I'm also in the UK. It was the case in those I've rented. That included one fancy river front expensive one that work rented while I was working in Docklands. In short, never again. Maybe newer ones are better as that was back in the 90s.

I suspect its actually older properties that are more robustly constructed - the flats we had in central Edinburgh had 1m+ thick sandstone walls and we never heard anything from neighbours.

I'm currently in a 10 year old house based on old farm buildings and the walls here are even thicker (still sandstone).

Re: Small World: The Tiny House Trend

#64

Post by mrspeaker »

vertex-four wrote: post #48
NeedMoreTea wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shared walls often mean you know when your neighbours are in, when they're watching TV, when they argue and what they're arguing about, when the dog is barking or the toddler having a tantrum, and even when they're walking to the other room. Even insulation benefits can't be relied on as shared walls are often uninsulated and overall insulation in apartment blocks often bare minimum to code rather than adequate. Last…

I live in an apartment in the U.K. and this is just not the case - I have absolutely no idea what anyone else is doing. Proper construction goes a long way. There’s something about America that makes proper construction of apartment buildings impossible, apparently - whether that’s building codes or cost-saving exercises I don’t know.

If that is true, I am moving to the U.K. next. I've lived in 4 different countries, 12 different apartments and I've known when each of my neighbors is playing XBox, watching some cop drama, playing bass guitar, getting in arguments, kid is crying - heck, even snoring in a couple of them!

Having no idea what they are doing sounds like dreaming the impossible dream!

Re: Small World: The Tiny House Trend

#66

Post by jniedrauer »

tjr225 wrote: post #12

The Tiny Home trend and the "Van Life" trend are slightly unsettling to me - I wonder which forces are at play who intend to convince us that lowering our standards of living is cool? No judgement from me if you do choose to do these things, though. I do see the appeal. Maybe there is no conspiracy, maybe it is a coping mechanism. Edited "deeply" to "slightly" upon further reflection.

I actually really resent the McMansion obsession in housing design for the last 40 years. Houses are not built to be functional or comfortable. They're built to be a status symbol. A shoddily built, poorly insulated, overpriced status symbol.

I would already own a house if there were reasonably sized houses on the market that were well built. But there aren't. There are acres of McMansions springing up everywhere, but no sensible, functional houses.

Re: Small World: The Tiny House Trend

#67

Post by NeedMoreTea »

arethuza wrote: post #63
NeedMoreTea wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm also in the UK. It was the case in those I've rented. That included one fancy river front expensive one that work rented while I was working in Docklands. In short, never again. Maybe newer ones are better as that was back in the 90s.

I suspect its actually older properties that are more robustly constructed - the flats we had in central Edinburgh had 1m+ thick sandstone walls and we never heard anything from neighbours. I'm currently in a 10 year old house based on old farm buildings and the walls here are even thicker (still sandstone).

On reflection, that's more likely. It's certainly been our experience of houses. The London apartment was a new conversion in an old building.

I've no experience of those converted or purpose built long ago.

Re: Small World: The Tiny House Trend

#68

Post by peteey »

justaguyhere wrote: post #41
tjr225 wrote: post #12

The Tiny Home trend and the "Van Life" trend are slightly unsettling to me - I wonder which forces are at play who intend to convince us that lowering our standards of living is cool? No judgement from me if you do choose to do these things, though. I do see the appeal. Maybe there is no conspiracy, maybe it is a coping mechanism. Edited "deeply" to "slightly" upon further reflection.

If you watch interviews of people who went the tiny house route, a lot of them started with "why do I need to be in debt (mortgage) for 30-40 years of my life?". There is a growing movement of people rejecting being in debt for decades and that is really a good thing. And if moving into a tiny house is carefully done, then it doesn't need to be lower standards of living.

>debt

The concept of "tiny house" romanticizes a small budget. Poorer people get smaller houses.

Re: Small World: The Tiny House Trend

#70

Post by war1025 »

jerf wrote: post #27

Tiny house retention seems to be fairly poor. Search a bit for "give up tiny house" or something and you'll get a lot of people giving up the lifestyle, and it seems hard to come by people who have been doing it for a long time. Not impossible, because nothing is impossible, but not easy. It makes journalists swoon, but I don't see it as something that has a lot of future to it. Seems like something that sounds a lot…

I lived in a 600sqft studio apartment for ~5 years with my wife. For the last year of it with our oldest daughter.

I found that size of house to be pretty great.

Then we found out we were having twins. Now we live in a 1200sqft townhouse, which is also pretty nice.

It seems plenty big for what we need. The thing that always amuses me is that all our relatives are wondering when we'll move into a "real" house. Apparently this one is just a "starter" and too small for longer term living in their eyes.

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