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Tag: mobility

Tiny Town Benefit 5

Why own the land you park your tiny home on?

It’s an asset that ties you down, limits when and where you can go, plus it’s a huge expense. In addition to purchasing the land, you will also need electricity, water, sewer, internet, and gas. These utilities require a further investment, they will need to be maintained and they add to the things that tie you to your land. At some time in the future, you may want to move. What then? Do you sell your tiny home with the land the way traditional homes are sold or do you try and sell the land alone? Either way, moving has now become a chore.

Tiny Towns will be owned by the not-for-profit Association so that revenues can be re-invested in the development and maintenance of the towns. Rents are planned to be kept low by using renewable resources to provide the utilities for its citizens. Citizens are free to move within the town and between towns by simply booking their new location online. All sites will provide complete hookups (included in the monthly rent) so it’s just plug-n-go to connect to your site. Services provided will include water, sewer, electricity, gas, TV, internet (fiber optic connection to each tiny home). We have designed our towns with 12 tiny homes to the acre, which we call a Pod (like a mini-neighborhood). Each site has a concrete pad with tie-downs to park on, lots of green space, a central common area and gardens for the residents of each Pod. Common areas are community maintained and socializing will be available for those that want to participate.

Tiny Towns complete the concept of tiny homes as an affordable housing option by removing the biggest upfront costs, the land purchase and utility installation. Looking forward, they will enable a tiny home’s mobility through plug-n-go and provide a network with access to all major cities. We believe that while tiny homes will expand our housing options, they also have the potential to expand other areas of our lives.

#TinyTownBenefit4

We believe that mobility is a key feature of a tiny home. The fact that you pack-up and move your entire house, rather than the contents of your home makes so much sense to us (we all dislike the moving experience).

Many second-hand tiny homes on the market today, are located on a piece of property. A lot of effort goes into finding a property and setting up the services for a tiny home. Unless the property is sold to another tiny homeowner, this is a significant expense that would not be recovered. The easiest way to recover the expense is to sell the tiny home with the lot. Sort of like you would do with a traditional home.

Buyer beware! Often the tiny home is legally parked on a lot because the homeowner has applied for a building permit for a traditional home. This allows them to reside in the tiny home for 2 +/- years while they are “building” their traditional home. This is a somewhat short-sighted approach as, during the permit period, the municipality that issued the permit expects that a conforming home will be built. They may extend the building timeframe for an additional year, but in most cases that is all.

Our Tiny Town plan is to locate our towns within commuting distance (15 minutes) of large cities. We refer to them as “Host” cities. These cities can provide jobs, markets for products and services, shopping and entertainment. Our Tiny Town will have services to each tiny home lot and plenty of common area around them. Tiny homeowners will be able to pull in, connect to the services and be set up in the new town in little time. Because they do not own the site, they are free to move to another site or town whenever they want. Moving is as simple as booking the new site online, then moving on the schedule they select. Rents (including all utilities) are planned to be modest, as we are designing the town services using renewable resources.