“The Daily News’ Matt Chaban lives with his wife in one of the Bloomberg administration’s 325-square-foot mini-apartments…
“‘My wife and I are intimate again — thanks to the Bloomberg administration’s latest housing initiative.
That’s not kissing and telling: The missus and I got a chance to spend a night inside one of the city’s new “Mike-ros,” a 325-square-foot studio apartment that the mayor thinks is the future for young urban couples.…'”
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“That almost impossibly tiny house in Toronto…has found a buyer after just three weeks on the market, though it sold for well below asking price.
The property at 30 Hanson St. on the east side of Toronto’s inner city got a lot of publicity on real estate sites and blogs as an example of just how tight the city’s housing market has become.
So tight, in fact, that a house the size of a typical backyard tool shed went on the market for $229,000, enough money to buy a large suburban home in some Canadian cities.
But it sold this week for $165,000, the National Post reports, a good 28 per cent below asking price.…”
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Tiny homes are the rage now. Tons of media on the subject. From which we, of course, benefit with our book Tiny Homes (50,000+ copies sold in last year.)
But you know what? Much more realistic for someone who can’t fit into 3-400 sq.ft. of living space, or who doesn’t have a piece of land, and who has a full-time job, are the small fixer-uppers in not-so-stylish towns. In the San Francisco Bay Area, for example, forget SF, Berkeley, Alameda, Mill Valley, Sausalito, Palo Alto or even San Mateo, but check out Richmond, Hayward, El Cerrito, San Leandro—towns that are either rundown, but improving, or towns that are not hip and don’t have B&Bs listed in Lonely Planet books.
There are 1000s and 1000s of little houses in towns that are not of the hip- or destination-persuasion , with backyards and neighborhoods that may be on an uptick. The crack houses have gone. The meth dealers have moved elsewhere. Home prices are WAY lower than the sought-after areas.
Just sayin…
Sioux City Journal Aug 23, 2013. Article by Brett Hayworth. Photo by Dawn J. Sagert
Dakota Dunes this ain’t.
Carter Smith, 24, has downsized after moving out of a three-bedroom, two-bathroom home in Vermillion, S.D. Downsized in this case means relocating into one of the smallest homes in Sioux City, fitting his possessions and two cats into 387 square feet at 1120 17th St.
“I lost a lot of space,” Smith said. “I like it. It is a good change of pace.”
Woodbury County Assessor Office records show there are eight single-family homes with less than 400 square feet of space in Sioux City. The smallest, in the 2500 block of South St. Aubin Street, is 312 square feet.
Andrea Cook’s house, at 2325 W. 14th St., is about 40 square feet bigger. She moved in two months ago.
“I just knew it was less than 500 …. This is the first time I’ve ever lived in a small house,” she said.
Cook, 48, said she enjoys the simple, one-bedroom rental home, which was built in 1925 and has an assessed value of $13,800. She’s had to use a walker since losing motor skills following a head injury, she said.…
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I can’t tell if this will actually sell for that little, but check out prices for houses in Detroit here.
$125 per night, includes wi-fi. Click here.
“Located in Dresden, Germany, the small colorful house is built with some funnels on the wall and they’ll create charming (really?!) musical sound whenever the rain comes. Due to that interesting and unique idea, the wall is also one of the most enjoyable attractions in Dresden’s student district in the new town.”
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From Anonymous
“Wanted: a home for a tiny house.
The 144 square-foot house, built by students at the Emily Carr University of Art and Design as potential accommodation for a homeless person on Bowen Island, is itself homeless.
Charles Dobson, an associate professor of design at the university who has a background in architecture, led a group of about eight industrial design students to create the house, complete with propane fireplace heater, single bed with storage underneath, laminate floors, shower, a small kitchen and composting toilet.
The house was built, using a $10,000 grant from BC Housing, for the Bowen Community Housing Association, which had expressed interest in using the house as part of a pilot project to deal with the island’s homeless problem.
But Dobson said the association has been unable to find a place to put the tiny house, and the municipality of Bowen Island says it needs more time to sort out zoning and liability issues. ‘It’s a shame because I think they really trying hard to make this work, but all these rules are getting in the way,’ said Dobson. “So we are trying to find a community that will say ‘yes we want to do this.…’”
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Note: See first comment, below.
From Mike W, who has sent us a ton of good stuff.
“In late July 2008, we built two garden cottages to the side of a little house at the rear of a 50′x100′ residential lot in NE Portland. These tiny homes are “detached accessory structures” and are fully permitted through the City of Portland. Each is 12′x14′ and has a front porch, bathroom with shower, and loft.
The existing house is quite small – just 526 sf on the main level with a 200 sf bedroom in the attic and a full basement. All residents can share the kitchen in the primary house. Most importantly, this development plan preserves the entire front 55′ of the property for gardening and fruit trees!”
Click here.