Why We Decided to Build a Tiny House Part 2

After a bit more investigation, we recognized that there were some other major advantages to building a tiny house that we hadn't previously considered. For one, a tiny house on wheels can go with you. We figured if we built the house first, acquiring the land later wouldn't be such a big deal because we would already have a place to live. While the house would be movable it would also be permanent, meaning we would always have a place to live. Knowing we would have a home of our own felt like forward progress, even if we weren't making any headway on buying property.

A second advantage to tiny houses on wheels is that because they are mounted on a trailer, and not attached to the land, they are generally exempt from building codes. Of course, this is a bit of a grey area and lately some municipalities have been passing additional laws to restrict tiny houses.

The counties surrounding us, where I checked, all had minimum square foot requirements for new dwellings. For example, the county where we finally ended up purchasing land requires a minimum house size of 800 sqft. What I have heard is that counties enact these sorts of restrictions because larger houses increase property values more which in turn means larger tax receipts for the county.

Financially, one thing that made a lot of sense to us was that once the tiny house was built, if we lived in it for just two years we would have saved enough on rent and utilities that the house would be paid for. After that second year, the house would then become a positive financial asset, meaning no matter what we did with the house it would be a win financially.

We are planning to build a more normal sized house now and once it's complete we have plenty of options for the tiny house. We can sell it, rent it out, or use it as guest house. If we ever buy a lake lot or a bug out property we can instantly transform it into a useable and comfortable place with the addition of the tiny house.

Photo by Hannu Keski-Hakuni on Unsplash

There were even some other considerations we made that were centered around our specific situation and not just a plus for tiny houses. For example we hoped that during the construction of the tiny house that the price of land might correct. The price of oil was dropping which usually means that real estate in the province of Alberta, where we live, would also drop.

Things didn't quite pan out the way we wanted though. The Canadian dollar dropped so much that food commodities like wheat, canola, and beef increased in Canadian dollars. This, in turn, meant another good year for farmers and another round of rising land prices. At the same time, many of the materials we needed for the tiny house also went up in price because of the weak Canadian dollar. Talk about bad luck!

That covers the main considerations and advantages that convinced us to give tiny house living a try. In hindsight, it may not have been the best financial decision we could have made. Perhaps, moving back in with our parents would have been a better option, although there were non-financial draw backs if we had gone that route. But, living in a tiny house also hasn't been a disaster either.

One of the big pros that I hadn't factored into our decision to build the tiny house has been the building experience I gained by doing all of the work myself. I basically learned how to build a house! I had to learn about framing, electrical, plumbing, finishing work, and more. Now that we are getting ready to tackle a larger house I have skills and experience needed to accomplish that goal with confidence!

Thanks for reading everyone! As always comments are welcome and I will do my best to answer any questions you might have. Any support you wish to give is much appreciated!