Tiny House (how it started)
Why a Tiny Home? and why maybe really don’t do a tiny home….
So, I will preface this with the fact that tiny houses are very trendy and things are changing constantly. There is also a big difference in laws based on your county/state so take this into consideration. I will also state that before I started this process (almost two years ago), I didn’t know that tiny houses on wheels are illegal in most states as your permanent residence. That being said, I hope this can help someone like me because had I known this 2 years ago, wow it would have saved me a ton of money, time, and stress.
I feel like we all know the answer to “why a tiny home??” but I will tell you my side of it just in case. I am an adult, but don’t have much money saved, trying to live in an expensive valley and create my independence from my parents. Tiny home seemed like the best step up from a van but not yet a house? I also prefer small spaces and yes tiny houses are adorable, sometimes affordable, and seems like an undertaking a 23 year old can handle.
So a huge decision here was deciding to purchase a home instead of build my own. Much of this came from outside requests that I go the purchase route and also a bit of fear of having a structurally sound tiny house. I did SO much research on which tiny house to buy: Tiny Heirloom, Wheelhaus, Mitchcraft, and so many more. Basically seeing pricing and style and how custom they are able to make them. During all my research on tiny homes I basically found that I needed a property with no HOA and no CC&R’s and I also naively assumed the tiny house company I went with would inform me of all that it takes to live in a tiny house. Looking back, I wasn’t too worried because of how popular tiny homes are even around Jackson, Victor, and Driggs.
A reminder that this is deep COVID 2021 craziness of the housing market, but land is still somewhat available around Teton Valley Idaho. I ended up finding, and closing on a lot in about 24 hours after months of looking. It was just an off chance that they were kind of in a rush to sell and I was in a rush to purchase, so I ended up with a .074 acre lot (that is 50ft by 60ft), perfect for my tiny home and about one parking spot. This lot has no HOA and no CC&R’s, which in my mind and the realtor and the tiny house manufacturers means you can basically do whatever the heck you want. So, things are going well at this point, designs for the tiny house on wheels are looking incredible, but that did not last long.
I will preface this with the fact that when I chose the tiny home manufacturer they ask lots of question, how tall are you, how many people, any specifics you like or don't like, and will this be your primary residence (to which I answered yes because if you forgot, this whole thing started with independence from my parents). Pretty quickly after purchasing the lot I had contractors reaching out to me to see if they could help me build a home, to which I replied no, but I would love a contractor to help me go through any permits for decks, landscaping and water & electric hookups to the tiny home. I quickly found out that the tiny home I have purchased (not yet built), would be allowed to stay on my property for 120 days and then me and my home would be asked to leave the property. This is because Tiny Houses on wheels are classified as an RV (which by law in Driggs as well as many other county’s you can have on your land that you own for 120 days), and no you can't move it off and move it back on. I tried that. What you should know is some of this is kinda a don’t ask don’t tell situation. I am sure if you live on some back road with no neighbors in Driggs and have a tiny house, no one sees it and no one cares (but if they did, they are legally allowed to kick you off your land and leave you homeless). My lot is downtown Driggs on Little Ave, right on the way to Targhee so I knew off the bat I would not get away with this work around. Wow this is a long story, getting through it let’s keep going.
So at this point I was in “oh shit” mode and basically considered selling the land, pulling out of my contract for the tiny house, or just hiding in the woods. Of course none of those options were going to work and I had put myself in this position. After much deliberation between tiny house manufacturers, county approval people (did you know they can take from 10-90 days to respond to any request?), and my general contractor, we found the only solution was to put the tiny house on a foundation and permit it as a normal home (because I am not in an HOA there is no minimum sqft requirement). This opens the door for a lot more complications now that the home has to meet building code, inspections, and still be shipped here from Oregon.
I really wish this story had a happy ending and things got all tied up nicely, but I really don’t know yet. It's July 2022 and I am not yet in my Tiny House, but things are looking up. The county has approved all the plans, production is supposedly starting this week, and we are estimating a September/October delivery timeline. Don’t worry, another blog will be happening when we actually move into the home or get delayed again.
I would love to wrap this all up with advice and things I would have done differently but that will come later. All in all I know I will be in love with this tiny house and all the crazy effort is worth it, but I also now think I could be a tiny house lobbyist.
