If you think it’s crazy to spend half your income on a home and pay monthly utility bills in the hundreds of dollars, you should consider joining the “tiny house” movement. Whether you buy or rent a tiny home, according to The Tiny Life, it will give you much more financial freedom, independence, simplicity, and mobility than you could achieve with a typical 2,600-square-foot home.
A tiny home is generally 400 square feet or less, cutting your purchase, building, maintenance, and operating costs with a living space design to one-sixth or less of what you’d pay otherwise, not counting land purchase or rental fees. You have numerous options in lifestyles open to you. You can buy, design and build, or repurpose a vehicle or a building, such as a van, retired school bus, or a shed.
You can also buy a trailer to move the home to other locations. Depending on local zoning laws, you could put a tiny home on a property that already has another home—an ideal situation for guests, aging parents, and boomerang adult children.
An added bonus is that tiny houses aren’t taxed the same as other properties for several reasons. If your tiny house is mobile, you pay vehicle taxes. If your tiny house is attached to a foundation, you’ll pay far fewer property taxes in Texas and many other areas.
Contact your Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices network professional and local zoning authority to learn about tiny house options in your state.
