Recently, you’ve probably seen stories here and there about people living in mini homes, a trend that has been gaining popularity and is an antidote to spending a lot on traditional homes. While looking at these mini homes, which usually only take up a few hundred square feet, it’s easy to see the appeal of living in such a home, but it’s also easy to see the limitations. We’ll begin with the advantages.
The two demographics that are most likely to have a home such as this are millennials and retiring baby-boomers. Millennials consider these homes because, with all of their student loans, they are seen as less of a financial burden. Homes of this small stature will allow owners to save on costly factors, such as heating and electricity. Because these homes allow the owners to save a considerable amount of money, they will be able to save enough if they decide to ever move to a bigger home. Decreased spending on housing is a huge draw when you’re a first-time homeowner, and when you have loans to pay off, you probably don’t want to spend anymore money than you need to on housing.
Recent retirees, on the other hand, will be lured to small homes because of the considerably low maintenance that’s required to keep the house running. After retirees have been working hard their whole lives, they deserve a place that’s simple to take care of, and a mini home is the answer. In a house such as this, the ability to get cleaning done quickly is a very attractive benefit. When you have a bigger home, it takes longer to clean because you have to go from room to room, and having helped my family clean our house before having company over, I can tell you that it takes about 30-45 minutes just to vacuum.
If you live in a mini home, you will be able to live a comfortable and much simpler lifestyle because, due to the limited amount of space, you can free yourself from many superfluous belongings. You won’t be surrounded by too much furniture and other household items, and with the small size of the home, you’ll feel less compelled to spend money on something that could be deemed unnecessary. One thing is for sure, you won’t be seeing an owner of a tiny home on an episode of “Hoarders.”
A disadvantage to living in a mini home is that the size usually restricts the residency to one or two inhabitants. If you have plans to start a family, this would not be the type of home in which to do so. Although you transition to a tiny home in order to live an easier life without too many possessions, you will eventually need a lot of space for whatever items your baby may need, so a mini home will not be an ideal place in which to raise a family.
If there is more than one individual living in a mini home, privacy will be nearly nonexistent. I’m not a person who needs privacy 24/7, but I do enjoy some whenever I sit down to read, so I don’t think I would be able to live in such a home if I couldn’t have time to myself. The living situation of residing with someone in a mini home is pretty similar to living with a student in a college dorm room, but it’s much easier to get time away from each other in the latter scenario than it is when you live with another individual in a mini home. If you’re a person who prefers privacy from time to time, you should not consider residing in a tiny home.
When you live in a mini home, you also won’t be able to host many get-togethers. Sure, you can always set up some sort of fire pit for whenever you have friends or family come over, but you would be able to offer your guests more if you lived in a regular-size home or apartment. One of the best parts about get-togethers at home is that they are a great alternative to a night out, which can be expensive. If you don’t have enough room to have people over, and you don’t want to spend much money to hang out whenever you want to see your friends or family, there’s not much else you can do. When you have a regular-size home, at least you will have enough space for your guests to disperse throughout a couple of rooms and walk around. If you have anyone over at your mini home, you and your guests will have to socialize outside, and this is only doable when you have favorable weather or outside space.
This tiny-home movement is something we will likely be seeing more of in the coming years. Despite the disadvantages of living in a mini home, the benefits aren’t simple to ignore, especially the financial ones, and will probably outweigh the cons for certain homebuyers, and there might even be some improvements on the mini-home design in the near future that can lessen the effects of the disadvantages. If you’re interested in real estate, you’ll definitely want to keep on eye on this trend to see how it progresses.
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