3 ms·

Trailers and prefab houses have existed for many decades. Why is now the time?

Shivetya 11y ago
marketing. Having watched some of the shows I still don't catch the full appeal. Perhaps so you can claim you don't live in a trailer? Modern campers are at times better finished and likely to pass more stringent inspections. Throw in that trend towards slide outs on campers/trailers and they have space on demand. Custom workmanship might be the real key, still it is a trailer by any other name.
- timmaah 11y ago
  Most modern campers can't do winter though. I live in a 25' Airstream. The windows and insulation are crap. Living in an Airstream in a Vermont winter would be painful and miserable. But it has wheels, so I head south.
toomuchtodo 11y ago
Economic conditions. If you're a millennial, you'd typically buy a starter home. Student loan debt and wages (having been disconnected from productivity in the 70s) cause workers to have insufficient income to devote to a "traditional" housing expenses. Therefore, a tiny home with less financial exposure is more attractive. Even though they're not dirt cheap, they can be of high quality construction and cost about the same as a traditional deposit on a traditional home.
- a8da6b0c91d 11y ago
  You can't park one of these anywhere near an urban area with jobs. They do nothing to alleviate housing affordability. In semi-rural areas without jobs housing is already dirt cheap, so they're of little practical use there either.
  - toomuchtodo 11y ago
    My anecdotal experience has been that people who are buying these are creative types or tech workers with remote work. There was a gentleman who posted his entire progress and his financials for the Tiny House on HN a few weeks back, and parked his in rural Texas. There was another young man who placed his on some borrowed land near the University of Michigan, as what he paid to build his was substantially less than what his dorm would've cost. Remember, tiny houses get you around zoning laws. They're not homes, they're RVs/trailers. You can get much more creative about where you place them compared to a house you'd have to build.
    - Rmilb 11y ago
      I tried to find this article and couldn't. Could you point me to it please? I'm interested in it because I'm in the middle of building a Tiny house my self.
      - toomuchtodo 11y ago
        http://www.theworkhouse.co/postmortem/ http://www.theworkhouse.co/postmortem/ http://college.usatoday.com/2015/09/15/university-of-michigan-student-builds-lives-in-tiny-house/ http://college.usatoday.com/2015/09/15/university-of-michiga...

marketing. Having watched some of the shows I still don't catch the full appeal. Perhaps so you can claim you don't live in a trailer? Modern campers are at times better finished and likely to pass more stringent inspections. Throw in that trend towards slide outs on campers/trailers and they have space on demand. Custom workmanship might be the real key, still it is a trailer by any other name.

timmaah 11y ago
Most modern campers can't do winter though. I live in a 25' Airstream. The windows and insulation are crap. Living in an Airstream in a Vermont winter would be painful and miserable. But it has wheels, so I head south.

toomuchtodo 11y ago

Economic conditions. If you're a millennial, you'd typically buy a starter home. Student loan debt and wages (having been disconnected from productivity in the 70s) cause workers to have insufficient income to devote to a "traditional" housing expenses. Therefore, a tiny home with less financial exposure is more attractive. Even though they're not dirt cheap, they can be of high quality construction and cost about the same as a traditional deposit on a traditional home.

a8da6b0c91d 11y ago
You can't park one of these anywhere near an urban area with jobs. They do nothing to alleviate housing affordability. In semi-rural areas without jobs housing is already dirt cheap, so they're of little practical use there either.
- toomuchtodo 11y ago
  My anecdotal experience has been that people who are buying these are creative types or tech workers with remote work. There was a gentleman who posted his entire progress and his financials for the Tiny House on HN a few weeks back, and parked his in rural Texas. There was another young man who placed his on some borrowed land near the University of Michigan, as what he paid to build his was substantially less than what his dorm would've cost. Remember, tiny houses get you around zoning laws. They're not homes, they're RVs/trailers. You can get much more creative about where you place them compared to a house you'd have to build.
  - Rmilb 11y ago
    I tried to find this article and couldn't. Could you point me to it please? I'm interested in it because I'm in the middle of building a Tiny house my self.
    - toomuchtodo 11y ago
      http://www.theworkhouse.co/postmortem/ http://www.theworkhouse.co/postmortem/ http://college.usatoday.com/2015/09/15/university-of-michigan-student-builds-lives-in-tiny-house/ http://college.usatoday.com/2015/09/15/university-of-michiga...