Tiny House Rentals/Village. Instant Semi or Full ERE?

[theanimal]

This thought has been crossing my mind for a while now. It is possible to build a high quality tiny home for less than $10k in a short period of time. So why not build a few and then rent them out? I believe the ROI would be very high. Depending on the area, you could likely charge at least $500/month for each one. 2-4 houses and your expenses are covered (for many of us on here). Someone interested in purchasing one from you? Well many of these homes go for around $50,000 plus.

A related option to this is to create a tiny house village. The founder and President of Four Lights Tiny House Company, Jay Shafer (founder and former President of Tumbleweed Houses), has a plan for such a village in Sonoma County in northern California. It wouldn't take a ton of land as the houses are obviously quite small. Jay's village will encompass somewhere around 3-5 acres. Featuring 40-70 houses, shared green space, parking lots and a common house. His plan has been accepted by the local government, it will be zoned as an RV park.

See site for more details on village: http://www.fourlightshouses.com/pages/t ... on-complex

Thoughts?

[pete]

Most communities have zoning laws which require a certain minimum size house, certain required lot setbacks
$500 a month? That's just plain greed. If you were trying for $300 a month you would be more admirable.

[Ego]

Zoning is a problem for residential developments. If the entire property is permitted as a campground then you can put "camping houses" on the camping spaces and circumvent zoning requirements. Each jurisdiction is different.... in general if the house is movable (built on a trailer with removable wheels) then you are in the clear. You can landscape around the trailer all you want. You just have to show that the trailer could in theory be moved. It's got to be registered with the DMV as a trailer.

[theanimal]

This is mainly hypothetical. I will likely not do this as I have other plans.

@Pete- just because they're smaller than regular houses doesn't mean they come without costs. Many of these houses cost more per square ft than a typical 2000 sq ft house. I made no mention of sq ft so I see no need for the greed or admirable comment.

Yes.Zoning would be the biggest issue. It'd likely be a more feasible idea out west due to related reasons.

[JamesR]

I definitely like the idea of a small home village.

Here's a picture of one:
http://www.monolithic.com/stories/lette ... nham-texas

I like monolithic domes - they seem easy to build, secure, insulated, last forever. Just a thin shell of concrete & polyurethane.

[champ0608]

Out here in Tucson, particularly in the historic neighborhoods, you see that sort of thing often. Large lots with four, five, or six tiny, single bedroom houses sharing a courtyard, that are rented out as apartments. That's what my wife and I live in. Rent for these is usually 400-600 but that's because we're in a historic district, right off the UofA campus, and only a 1/2 mile from downtown.

My wife and I are thinking of buying one of the pre-existing lots of houses as our ERE investment. Our neighborhood is mostly filled with quiet grad students, and its a nice place/way to live.

[JohnnyH]

I'm not sure it can happen in the city, the local government will shut you down pronto... Outside of city limits (no building codes) it could happen. But even out in the sticks state governments run software that identifies new structures via satellite imagery and send out the revenue locusts.

[Felix]

What would the land for something like this cost?

I like the idea.

[theanimal]

Felix- Depends on the location you select You would likely only need about 5 acres max but I guess that depends on personal preference.

It looks like the land for the village created by Four Lights Housing Company, in Sonoma County, California, will likely be $100-200k depending on the acreage they select. Their plan is 16-22 houses per acre, with 40-70 houses total.

[jacob]

@Felix - I think the land is the least of your worries. The cost would depend on location. Anywhere from a couple of hundreds an acre...

Getting zoning approval and installing electric, drainage, and septic for X number of sites is going to be the bigger cost/headache.