Small World: The Tiny House Trend • Hacker News Board

Re: Small World: The Tiny House Trend

#271

Post by ghaff » Tue, Feb 05, 2019, 10:30 PM UTC

ams6110 wrote: post #251

fouc wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly I find it strange for some people to have TVs in their bedroom. I think it's nice to have some separation of concerns. I think sleep quality is better when the bedroom is mainly for sleep. Have you thought about moving the TV out of the bedroom?

When I was a kid most people in my neighborhood didn't have a TV in their living room either. It would have been too casual. The TV was in a "den" or "family room" and the living room was the formal room where the adults would gather and kids weren't allowed in it. I would joke with my parents "why is it called a living room when we can't live in it" For context, TV at that time meant a handful of channels received o…

Yeah. Growing up, we had a "TV room" upstairs--sort of an upstairs family room. Guests, meals, most family activities, etc. were always downstairs.

I guess I've kept a similar pattern. My TV is in a little dedicated TV room. I have another wall-mounted TV but it's mostly just a big digital picture frame. [ADDED: I watch TV/movies but I don't really like to mix it in with other activities for the most part.]

Re: Small World: The Tiny House Trend

#272

Post by rootusrootus » Tue, Feb 05, 2019, 10:30 PM UTC

fouc wrote: post #174

stcredzero wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Trailer homes are pretty incredible when you think about it. They're the closest we've come yet to building houses on an assembly line in a factory. People are already building house components on an assembly line in a factory. By components, I mean entire rooms and sections of houses. I wish some brave soul would undertake the task of creating, I don't know, the VW bug of trailer homes. Doesn't have to be a luxury t…

I think he meant an assembly-line manufactured small house with strong personality & branding that people can fall in love with. Just like they fell in love with the Volkswagen Beetle.

That seems like the kind of thing that happens more by accident than deliberate attempt.

In any case the equivalent would be an Airstream trailer.

Edit: I see someone below also mentioned Airstream.

Re: Small World: The Tiny House Trend

#273

Post by rootusrootus » Tue, Feb 05, 2019, 10:35 PM UTC

crooked-v wrote: post #221

kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The upscale trailer homes are branded as "manufactured homes" and come in modules that piece together in more appealing ways than a double-wide.

I really wish a company would make modular homes that are actually modular, in that you could start with a 'tiny home' module, then a few years down the line add a 'bedroom and master bath' module and turn the original bedroom into a child's space, and so on. The end result might be at a premium over getting a big house all at once, but in the meantime you'd get the benefit of being able to invest most of your money…

It would probably need to be constructed from standalone modules with something akin to an airlock to get between them. Even then whatever you save by buying piece-at-a-time might still end up more expensive than just building a bigger house and blocking off parts until you need them.

Re: Small World: The Tiny House Trend

#274

Post by rootusrootus » Tue, Feb 05, 2019, 10:39 PM UTC

icebraining wrote: post #210

crankylinuxuser wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly! That's what I've been saying all along. The "Tiny Home" trend is "I make way too much but want to show my opulence with virtue signalling of "I'm rich enough to build dinky" Versus a trailer. I live in a trailer with my wife in Indiana. It is portable. Its a bit smaller than what we want, but we own the trailer out right. Our total utilities (land rental, electricity, internet, water, sewer, trash) is $500/m…

It's interesting that your complaint doesn't seem to be against the use of the "trailer trash" stereotype, but your inclusion in it. And in the process, you manage to stereotype other people.

Well, in this thread we have a lot of implicit (and some explicit) derogatory stereotypes of people who live in larger houses, and nobody seems to mind. Plus, trailer trash absolutely exist. But they frequently don't live in trailers.

Re: Small World: The Tiny House Trend

#275

Post by ghaff » Tue, Feb 05, 2019, 10:43 PM UTC

bluGill wrote: post #261

ams6110 wrote: post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> why do I need to be in debt (mortgage) for 30-40 years of my life Because you're (hopefully) going to come out of the other side of those 30-40 years, regardless. In one case, you can have a house you own free and clear. In the other case, you're still paying rent to someone else. And 30-40 years is the extreme. Paying just a little extra principal every month you can have the loan paid in well under 30 years.

Those are some big ifs in there that you didn't mention. There are a lot of people who take our home equity loans every time their value goes up. A coworker of mine bought a house for 250k, the previous owners had bought it for 90k 20 years ago, and 6 months before selling refinanced for 200k. Each loan is carefully recorded in the title for all time. (I probably have the numbers wrong, but they they are close enough…

People make lots of poor financial decisions. Some are a product of unfortunate circumstances. Others of basically greed.

Buying a house isn't for everyone. And is harder in some areas than others. But buying something within your budget can also provide a lot of stability over time. (Which, of course, may or may not be something you care about.)

Re: Small World: The Tiny House Trend

#276

Post by war1025 » Tue, Feb 05, 2019, 10:45 PM UTC

falcolas wrote: post #260

war1025 wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What I think the biggest part of it might be, really, is the size of furniture and other "things" people think they need. If you tried to fit two couches and three chairs into our living room like my parents have, it wouldn't work. We also don't have a "kitchen table" and a "dining room table" like my parents do. Yes, we'd probably have a hard time hosting 30 people for a holiday, but that seems like an odd standard…

> but that seems like an odd standard to base your home purchase around My wife and I made several house (and furniture) purchase decisions based off this. Big families like to have big parties in family settings - it's an important feature of the house for us. We've made do in ~300 square feet in the past, and just didn't enjoy the compromises on comfort and the constant extra effort to keep the space livable.

Yea. I think it's all about personal priorities. And also letting your own priorities dictate your life rather than those of the people around you.

Re: Small World: The Tiny House Trend

#277

Post by dvtrn » Tue, Feb 05, 2019, 10:52 PM UTC

effingwewt wrote: post #268

dvtrn wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>It evoked nostalgia from the military. Well now I'm remiss of not getting to see what the comment was, since it's now flagged. I can appreciate that specific nostalgia w/rt living quarters.

HN lets you see dead comments by toggling to in settings.

Ah, cheers for that

Re: Small World: The Tiny House Trend

#278

Post by atari800 » Tue, Feb 05, 2019, 10:57 PM UTC

kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #176

Bjorkbat wrote: post #142

I really wish there was more diversity in offerings when it came to manufactured/trailer homes. To clarify, I'm not talking about RVs. I like tiny houses, but really only in the sense that I'm fascinated by unusually small things. Otherwise I think they're actually kind of ridiculous if your motives are to downsize and not pay $300,000+ on a house Trailer homes are pretty incredible when you think about it. They're t…

The upscale trailer homes are branded as "manufactured homes" and come in modules that piece together in more appealing ways than a double-wide.

No. "Manufactured Home" has a specific, legal meaning in the USA. They are also referred to as "HUD Code" homes. "HUD Code" refers to the building code under which they are constructed. There are multi-section Manufactured Homes (informally called "double wides"), and single-section Manufactured Homes (informally called "single wides").

Manufactured Homes used to be called "Mobile Homes", and that term is still sometimes used, but it has no legal meaning; the last "Mobile Home" was built in 1976, before the HUD Code was codified.

"Modular Homes" also has a distinct meaning. Modular Homes are different than Manufactured Homes because they are built to different building codes - basically to whatever local or state building codes apply where the Modular Home will be sited. Modular Homes (informally, "Mods") are typically more expensive because they are generally fancier, but also because of the additional cost in constructing a home to varying (and usually more stringent) local and state building codes.

I'm a software developer, but I know a lot about this because my family owned a manufactured home dealership for four decades. And, I wrote and sell MH dealership management software.

Re: Small World: The Tiny House Trend

#279

Post by dakna » Tue, Feb 05, 2019, 11:16 PM UTC

zdragnar wrote: post #227

Bjorkbat wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People are already building house components on an assembly line in a factory. By components, I mean entire rooms and sections of houses. As in prefabs? Of course. But trailer/manufactured homes take it further. It's one single unit. If "the VW Bug of" means a willingness of the manufacturer to modify the traditional chassis and body layout to better accomplish design goals, then GMC did build something along the lin…

Modular homes are virtually indistinguishable from ground-up-stick-built homes, and are most definitely not prefabs. https://www.wausauhomes.com/ and http://www.wisconsinhomesinc.com/ are a pretty good example of what you can do. Either they typically ship in 3-6 sections and are stitched together on-site by your framers, electricians and plumbers, or they ship wall and roof segments that take 2-5 days to stitch toge…

Modular homes that are not stick-built onsite tend to appreciate a lot less. And if your assessor or appraiser categorizes it as a manufactured home it is even less. Try to sell one to find out how much of a local stigma they have, even though they are perfectly fine and are usually built out of 2x4s too. But I heard people saying they don't shop at Ikea because it is a "cookie cutter" store. Buying a house is often a status issue.

Re: Small World: The Tiny House Trend

#280

Post by temp-dude-87844 » Tue, Feb 05, 2019, 11:20 PM UTC

Bjorkbat wrote: post #142

I really wish there was more diversity in offerings when it came to manufactured/trailer homes. To clarify, I'm not talking about RVs. I like tiny houses, but really only in the sense that I'm fascinated by unusually small things. Otherwise I think they're actually kind of ridiculous if your motives are to downsize and not pay $300,000+ on a house Trailer homes are pretty incredible when you think about it. They're t…

People will find ways to diminish others, but a recent manufactured home on a well-kempt lot just looks like a normal house, even if it has a simple roofline and is conspicuously devoid of brick above the floorline. In much of rural America, this kind of house doesn't look out of place, and is worlds apart from the image of cramped disheveledness that people associate with a suburban or edge-of-town trailer park.

What's ironic is this kind of home ownership is fairly commonplace among people who aren't high earners, yet higher earners are moving into cookie-cutter subdivisions in distant exurbs of major cities and into homes that are built rapidly with poor materials. And yet there's no such stigma there.