>>MAT: Hey everyone, we know that a lot of you might be interested
in building or buying a tiny house one day.
So in this video we want to give you more than just a tour or a profile of someone living in their tiny house.
We're diving a little deeper and we're gonna give you 5 really important things to consider
before you build or buy a tiny house.
>>DANIELLE: These are not meant to encourage or discourage you from building a tiny house
but they are problems or barriers or
issues that we've seen other tiny house builders and dwellers deal with
so we want to put them on your radar so you have the
chance to figure them out in advance before you decide to start a tiny house project.
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In terms of finances, tiny houses can be a more affordable option
than a full size house.
But there's a lot more to think about than just the price tag of the actual house.
So some questions you might want to ask yourself will be: are you going to build your tiny house yourself?
or are you going to have a builder do it? and look at the prices of both options.
Are you going to have to buy a piece of land to park your tiny house? or will you be renting a space?
Another thing that we've noticed is that a lot of people who live in tiny houses have had to find a space outside
of a city center or a town center
which means they either need a car or some alternative
form of transportation to get to work
and just to get around and that can add up to be a pretty big expense.
Another thing to think about is that
tiny houses tend to lose value or maintain their value over time
rather than going up like a typical house would.
A couple of reasons for that might be that
people who are interested in tiny houses right now seem to want to build a custom house
so they may be less likely to buy someone else's home;
and another thing is that tiny houses are not necessarily attached to a piece of land and often housing prices
go up based on the location of where the house is.
So there's a lot of things to think about, a lot of research to do in terms of the finances
associated with a tiny house project.
If you're looking to try and save money,
you might want to create a budget and look at let's say
a five-year plan.
How much is your tiny house going to cost you to build and live in for five years
and compare that to what it would
cost in your current living situation and just see which one is actually less expensive.
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>>MAT: When it comes to location, we would definitely suggest
researching and
securing a place to put your tiny house
before you start building or before buying.
If tiny houses happen to be legal where you live or where you're thinking of moving to,
you'll definitely have a much easier time finding a place for it.
But in places where the rules are less clear,
you should probably plan to have multiple
location options just in case one of them doesn't work out.
When you're looking for a location,
you'll want to think about the cost. Often if people don't own the land,
they'll be renting
but we've also seen some people living in tiny houses on other people's land
and instead of paying rent,
they have some kind of work exchange where they maintain and work on the property, for example.
So that could be something to think about.
You'll also want to know if the potential location
has electricity,
water and sewage hookups available;
and knowing these things in advance might help you decide how to design the systems of your tiny house.
On a side note, it's also really important to try and be realistic about your needs,
your living situation,
how many people,
and/or pets are going to live in the same house,
and how much space you're going to need to store your stuff.
These are all important things to consider ahead of time.
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>>DANIELLE: For insurance, you'll want to find out if you can get house insurance
before you actually start your tiny house build in case there are any
requirements that the insurance company has before being willing to insure your tiny house.
So for example, they may only insure a house that's been built by a professional
or that has some kind of RV certification.
So it makes sense to call the insurance
companies in advance and find out
if they're willing to insure tiny houses
and what their criteria is before issuing you a policy
because you don't want to end up with a tiny house that's all built and you've invested a lot of money in it
and then no one will actually insure the value of it.
Another form of insurance that you might want to consider is transportation insurance
and so when your tiny house is being moved from one location to another
it may not be insured if you're towing it yourself.
One thing tiny house owners have told us is that if you hire a professional
transportation service to tow your home from one place to the other
whatever they're towing is actually covered under their insurance policy
so that's one trick that some people have found to be able to have their
tiny house insured while it's on the road in case
something happens, but definitely do your research because that might not be the case with every company.
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>>MAT: Climate can definitely have a huge impact on how you build a tiny house
and how enjoyable it is to live in one.
In warmer climates, tiny houses can overheat pretty easily.
So you're gonna want to think about how you're gonna keep it cool.
You might need an air conditioner,
good insulation,
strategically placed windows,
and if you're gonna be sleeping up in a loft,
they do tend to get really hot in the summer
since hot air rises
so you're gonna want to plan for that if you don't have air conditioning,
you'll want to have at least two windows up in the loft for cross ventilation
and also a good fan to keep some air flowing.
In a colder climate, you might be spending a lot more time indoors
so you'll really want to think are you the type of person who can be comfortable spending a lot of time
indoors in a small space.
In the winter, there are other things to think about like how you're gonna keep the house warm
even when you're away.
For example, if your only heat source is a fireplace,
when you're not there the house is not getting heated
and that might be something that you want to avoid.
So you might want to look into another heat source or a secondary heat source that's controlled by a thermostat.
You'll also want to think about how you're going to get fresh water
into the tiny house and gray water out of the tiny house without your pipes freezing.
You may also need to think about how to avoid
condensation and humidity build-up that could lead to mold issues
and how you could skirt your tiny house to reduce cold air
circulating under the house.
So again considering the climate might really affect how your house is built and designed.
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>>DANIELLE: When you live in an apartment or a house,
you don't often think about where things like
water and power come from
or where your waste goes after you flush it down the toilet
or down the drain.
But with a tiny house these inputs and outputs are things
you're gonna have to design and plan for and manage yourself when you're living in it.
If you're gonna park your tiny house in the country on a big piece of land you might be able to get away with
composting your waste out there
but in a town or a city you might not be able to do that
and so you might need to have a hookup
so that you can connect to a septic tank or a sewer system.
And the same goes with water. If your tiny house is parked in a remote piece of land,
you might not have access to a well or to a municipal water source
so you might have to collect rainwater or you might have to find some way of bringing water to your property and
storing it for use in your tiny house.
For power, depending on where you are
you might be able to just plug in or you may need solar power or a generator for example.
So thinking about the inputs and outputs that you need to plan for in your tiny house is really important
because that will determine the
types of systems you install in your tiny house.
>>MAT: So hopefully you found this video helpful.
We thought it was really important to talk about all these issues for anyone who's in the planning process.
>>DANIELLE: If you want to see tiny house tours or profiles of people living in their tiny houses,
we've got a couple of great playlists for you to check out
and we'll link to those in the description below.
Please subscribe if you want to see more alternative living videos.
We post a new one every single week.