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19 Feb ’12
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I'm thinking about trying to make the switch to a "small" house in the near future. To me, that seems the most cost effective way for housing, and I regret our decision to go big 10 years ago. Typically, what do small and tiny house owners for water and sewage?? It seems as though a well and septic are a large hurdle to "affordable housing".
Also, what's the opinion on trailers for small housing options? I know they have a pretty bad rep, but what's the small housing community's consensus on them?
I'm envisioning a 600-800 sf 3 BR house. Probably a total of 7 rooms including 1 bath and a hallway.
15 Feb ’12
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I think public versus private utilities is tough decision for a lot of people, we are on public, but wish we had gone private.
Obviously you can hook up to public cheaper initially, but we pay roughly 800 dollars a year for water and sewer, who knows what it will be in the future.
The other issue with public is what happens when it breaks down, remember when the sewage backed up into my house from the main?
http://thehomesteadi.....aw-sewage/
Another issue is most locations that offer public services have zoning laws that dictate minimum square footage for a home, usually as a total or ground floor size; I would start by checking the zoning ordinance in the town you are thinking of to see what the minimum square footage is.
So lets say it's 900 square feet, and it costs 2000 dollars to hook up to the public utilities. But you and your wife have your heart set on a 800 square foot home, do you pay the extra 15,000 (based on 150 dollars a square foot) for the extra square footage or find a town that allows you the 800 square foot that doesn't have public utilities and you spend 8000-10000 for a well and septic; with no bills for those outside of maintenance.
I think trailers are an excellent option, especially some of the smaller park models
http://thehomesteadi.....homestead/
the only issue is going to be resale value, it's still a trailer. The other option would be to find a trailer design you like, and stick frame it on a slab or basement. For example; I have always loved caboose conversions, but I would imagine financing or reselling it might be difficult.
I would build this on a slab in a minute.
http://thehomesteadi.....ose-cabin/
As someone who lives in less than 800 square feet, be prepared for outbuildings, it's why I am usually building something lol.
But it helps keep property taxes down immensely.
19 Feb ’12
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I think no matter what you do with a trailer, you'll have issues with resale. The problem is they depreciate like a car. Also, it's more difficult to finance an older model than a newer one. Our current house now has well and septic, and it has it's cons as well. With the well, water quality is always a concern. Our water is so bad, we don't use it for anything other than bathing and laundry. We even have to use bottled water for ice cubes as the water tastes so bad (we affectionately refer to them as "asscubes"). Then with septic, you have to be careful what goes down, and you can just as easily have a sewage backup if you system goes on the fritz. Also, with well and septic, if you lose power, you lose water and the ability to flush. Finally, there's always the concern that your well could dry up (or become contaminated).
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