They got the property for 3,000 and sold for 115,000 (with cabin) Where can you buy so low for so much land?
Here in Louisiana for sure.
We quit our jobs to build a cabin
21–30 of 402 posts
Re: We quit our jobs to build a cabin
#22It ended up costing ~$50k (not counting labor) and took a year to build, and they sold it for $115k. The cabin looks phenomenal. I wonder how a tinyhome would compare in cost and features?
I built a tiny house on wheels. My house totaled about $55K, due to my preference for premium materials and contracting out work that I did not feel comfortable doing myself (e.g. wiring a 50amp power box). My house was built to be on grid and could be parked in any trailer park. I could connect to city power, water, natural gas, and sewage. Off-grid homes are more expensive due to the need to install solar panels, d…
> I could connect to city power, water, natural gas, and sewage
How?
Re: We quit our jobs to build a cabin
#23I purchased land in the North Cascades area (Methow Valley, about 3 hours Northeast of Index where these guys built) in 2007 with the intention of building a weekend home myself. I prepped the property myself and ran the main power. It was a junk show and I quickly learned that the best approach was to continue writing software and pay pros to do the job. That was one of the best decisions I have ever made. My wife a…
Yeah it sounds like a nice romantic dream, but mother nature is cold and uncaring.
Maybe the article overstated their woes, but it sounds like they were very under prepared. And winging the technical parts. Like software the easy part is the build. The harder part is research and planning.
I have notions of retiring someday and run a wood shop. But I'm working on learning the basics and doing small projects.
Re: We quit our jobs to build a cabin
#24They got the property for 3,000 and sold for 115,000 (with cabin) Where can you buy so low for so much land?
Probably tons of places in the rural West. Note this was only a 1/4 acre and off-grid.
The rural American Midwest can also be quite inexpensive. Of course, you have to put up with harsh winters, hot and humid summers, poor secondary education, living 3 hours away from the nearest natural grocer (though maybe you can raise your own chickens and grow organic food) and conservative politics. I do find the bucolic landscapes and slower pace of life appealing at some level, however.
Re: We quit our jobs to build a cabin
#25Earlier quoted context omitted.
Your Q reminded me of Frank Lloyd Wright's Pope-Leighey House . The client, Pope, had challenged the famous architect, who to date had built mansions for the super wealthy, to design an affordable house for the everyday American: "Dear Mr. Wright, There are certain things a man wants during life, and of life. Material things and things of the spirit. The writer has one fervent wish that includes both. It is a house c…
That works out to about $123,000 after inflation, for anyone else wondering.
Thanks, was wondering about that. (I think one should factor in the war effort and impact, if any, on construction material cost.)
Re: We quit our jobs to build a cabin
#26I think they misjudged the timescale and the complexity added by slope. Good outcome though so clearly wasn't too badly misjudged.
Youtube channel Wild Wonderful Offgrid [1] built a much bigger absolutely gorgous house...but on flat terrain and over two years.
The other thing I've noticed is that many successful projects have pretty permanent "temporary" accomodation on site that take the pressure off needing to complete it asap.
[1] https://www.youtube.com/c/WildWonderfulOffGrid/videos?view=0...
Re: We quit our jobs to build a cabin
#27They got the property for 3,000 and sold for 115,000 (with cabin) Where can you buy so low for so much land?
There's a lot of land this cheap in places where there are no utilities and/or access to the property.
landwatch.com has 5,734 listings for properties in the US priced for less than $3,000 right now.
Re: We quit our jobs to build a cabin
#28It ended up costing ~$50k (not counting labor) and took a year to build, and they sold it for $115k. The cabin looks phenomenal. I wonder how a tinyhome would compare in cost and features?
$65k "profit" not including labor wouldn't seem so bad if they could have worked on it full time and gotten it done in 4-6 months, right? You could certainly live on $60k/yr (split proceeds from selling two of these), once you put in the initial capital to get off the ground. I guess on the pro side, you would assume they'd get better at it as they went along; on the con side, maybe they got lucky with the selling price for this one and it's not a repeatable business process.
Re: We quit our jobs to build a cabin
#29This reminds me of a similar article I once read: "I opened a charming neighborhood coffee shop. Then it destroyed my life."
https://slate.com/human-interest/2005/12/my-coffeehouse-nigh...
Re: We quit our jobs to build a cabin
#30It ended up costing ~$50k (not counting labor) and took a year to build, and they sold it for $115k. The cabin looks phenomenal. I wonder how a tinyhome would compare in cost and features?
I don't really get the tiny home fixation some people have. If it's a move towards minimalism, fine, but I don't think it's a practical cost cutting measure if we're talking about rural properties.
The reason I say this most of the costs in rural homes have little to do with house size. My septic, well, electricity, tractor + attachments, mower, etc. and the piles of tools I need are all fixed costs that have little to nothing to do with my house size. Likewise my municipal taxes are based on assessment value which in large part is lot size and location.
And many municipalities and townships have rather tight restrictions on what can be built and where, and many of the ad-hoc tiny homes may not meet them.
Living in the country looks simpler to people in the city than it is. It is often very very expensive no matter how low the actual land value cost is.