for a long time people have been asking me to make a video about what I dislike about tiny house living I think the expectation is that I'll make a cutesy video talking about the problems of limited storage or how quickly a small space gets messy or what a pain in the assd is to make a bed and a sleeping Loft all of those things are true but I can live with them the truth is though there unfortunately is a real dark side to the tiny house movement and that is what I want to talk about in this video it goes without saying that I love tiny homes I've dedicated 10 years of my life now to exploring the world of tiny homes alternative living and small space design and I believe in them now more than ever before tiny homes have offered us a new model of home ownership being able to own our own homes without needing to own land it's something that is more obtainable creates another path to finding Financial Freedom and the downsizing aspect has encouraged us as humans to explore what's innately important to us become more critical of the rabbit hole of consumerism and debt and instead focus on the things that truly bring us joy so where in all of this do I find the darkness well let's dive into some of the things that I hate most about the tiny house movement legality in my opinion those who build tiny homes for themselves are doing nothing more than exercising a basic human right the right to build humble simple and safe shelter for ourselves to create a home that meets our most basic needs and yet in a world filled with red tape and bureaucracy in many places tiny homes continue to exist in a legal gray area and Tiny House dwellers live under constant threat of being kicked out of their homes how this makes sense is beyond me many of the places with the strong regulations regarding tiny homes are the same areas with the most rampant and heartbreaking rates of homelessness it is my heartfelt belief that no government or Council has the moral right to kick people out of Safe simple shelter such as tiny homes while thousands of their citizens sleep rough on the streets or in their cars and yet sometimes that is exactly what they do there is hope on the horizon though thanks to the amazing work of tiny house activist groups around the globe such as is the American tiny house Association the Australian tiny house Association the New Zealand tiny house Association and so on thanks to the exceptional work of such tirelessly working activist organizations many places around the world now have legalized tiny houses and more places are added to this list every single year but the wheels of bureaucracy turn slowly as the cost of living increases and the rates of housing insecurity continue to rise the laws are changing too slowly to keep up with the demand for tiny homes our lawmakers are failing in their duty of care to their citizens most of our governments have created policy and tax structures which encourage wealthy people to accumulate more and more property driving up real estate costs and forcing now even middle class people to be renters for Life generally speaking very little more than token gestures are done by governments towards actually helping people into their own homes when it comes to policy and the tiny house movement though I want to make it clear that the tiny house movement is not asking for handouts right now we are simply asking the government to get out of our way while we try to create solutions for ourselves at the very least governments should be proactively working to create an amiable and workable legal framework for tiny homes and their regions which will remove a huge entry barrier for many who are concerned with the legal repercussions of living in a tiny house right now though building a tiny house in most cases remains a valuable Act of civil disobedience cost over the years the cost of building tiny homes has exploded in recent years we've watched tiny homes go from something that seemed extremely affordable to something that for many now is aspirational there are several things that have substantially driven up the cost of tiny homes over the years the first and probably the most significant is rampant inflationary forces we live in an economic system where we are constantly robbed of our buying power through inflation every day the money in our bank is worth less than the day it was before now inflationary forces aren't specific to tiny homes right now you feel inflation every time you go to the grocery store or fill up your car at the pump but tiny houses have undeniably been affected by the increasing costs driven by devaluing money over the past few years we've seen the material cost of essential build materials such as Timber and plywood more than double to the extent that the cost of even the average DIY tiny house now is well over $60,000 New Zealand dolls to build on a side note this is why I consider gold and silver to be the only real money and that's a great 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resources that you need to make an informed decision on what's best for your personal circumstances thanks itm trading for supporting this video and helping to make what we do possible now back to tiny homes Beyond inflationary forces driving up the cost of tiny homes it's also true that tiny houses in general aren't what they used to be just think back to the early days of our show when tiny houses were truly tiny when they were built simple and designed to be much more basic shelters as the tiny house movement has grown so too have the designs the luxury tiny house market has seen an explosion and tiny houses are becoming flasher and in many respects could even be called a kind of mini Manion now I'm not critical of this at all a huge benefit of going tiny is that you can increase the quality by reducing the size but doing so does obviously drive up the cost a lot of people do have that money to spend though and I think that's great one of the Lar demographics of people building tiny homes are baby boomers coming into their retirement many of that generation are facing the situation where they have been paying mortgages for all of their lives and all of their capital is tied up in their homes and they need to downsize to free up capital resources in order to have quality of life in their retirement in that case they are sacrificing square footage for Financial Freedom and so it only makes sense that they invest in getting the best they can for their retirement on the subject of raising costs that brings me to another thing that I dislike about the tiny house movement see I love that so many people are driven to tiny homes because of a genuine love of simple downsized minimalist living but I hate that others are driven to it by disparity to that end the ridiculous cost of housing means the barriers to entry into the conventional housing market in general are higher than ever let's take the city where I grew up as an example ockland New Zealand where the average house price at the time of filming is now $1.2 million New Zealand do or roughly us $730,000 with a 10% deposit of $120,000 the monthly repayments on a 30-year mortgage with a 6.99% interest rate would currently be $ 7,179 or $86,400 th000 what that means is that now average middleclass people people can't get into conventional homes and those that do are encumbered under the weight of backbreaking debt so many people who in previous generations would have been buying conventional homes who are on comparatively good wages are choosing to build tiny homes instead and again this demographic is willing to spend more money to make their homes the best that they can be building their homes for what would be the deposit amount on a conventional home and allowing them to escape the rent trap so that they can put more financial resources into building a future for themselves and not landlords that makes so much more sense often they use tiny homes as a stepping stone living in tiny homes while they save up for land or upsizing their homes again in the future as their family grows or as life circumstances change this means that tiny homes are filling a valuable place on the housing ladder they've become necessary but I hate the fact that housing is being driven into the hands of fewer and fewer people it is morally wrong that this is happening with the cost of even building a tiny house as high as they are though and for those who are looking at tiny homes as now completely aspirational know that the DIY tiny house movement is still alive and well as often as possible we try to feature these stories of people who have DIY built their homes for incredibly Low Cash figures to show that it is still possible and that it can still be done you just have to be resourceful cons and cowboy Builders now I really hate this part sadly there's something about the largely unregulated tiny house movement that has attracted more than its fair share of cowboy Builders and conmen too often we've heard stories of tiny homes that have been riddled with Builder issues from leaky roofs to poorly engineered trailers that Buckle under the weight of the homes there are cases where Builders have lost or never even got their licenses and so have started tiny house building companies where because they are largely unregulated there are no inspections or even real standards to build to often this gives the industry in general which is actually filled with phenomenal Builders a bad rap in the worst cases we've seen actual conmen using the promise of tiny homes to cheat people out of their hard-earned savings for this reason it is especially important that you do your due diligence here before selecting a builder jump onto tiny house forums online and ask others who have already worked with that Builder about their experience try to find people who have recently constructed their homes so that you're getting upto-date feedback beyond that make sure that you're contractually protected it's normal to pay a deposit and then an installments based on the construction progress it's highly unusual to be asked for the complete sum upfront unless the build is already finished ultimately just like any other major investment in life make sure that you're working with trusted reputable Builders and that you're legally and contractually protected along this note beware of cheap pre-built tiny homes imported from Nations like China there is a chance that these homes might be fine but you also really run the risk of electrical non-compliance and a whole other Myriad of issues so this is something that I wouldn't entirely rule out but I would personally be skeptical about and again here you really have to do your due diligence now let's talk about Finance banks are a ripoff while our banks report record profits we are being crushed under the weight of punitive interest rates because tiny homes are technically considered unsecured assets such as cars in most cases it's still not possible to get mortgage Finance on tiny homes leaving people who need Finance to secure it as a personal loan some of these personal loans now carry interest rates not far off of credit cards and the idea of that makes me sick hopefully as the tiny house movement grows in popularity we will see more Banks offering better loan terms for these tiny homes most likely this is something that will occur once better legal framework for tiny homes is in place insurance is something that we also have to talk about insurance this can be really tricky for tiny homes this isn't a universal problem and again as the tiny house movement grows in some locations such as the US for example there are even companies that are now entirely dedicated to tiny house insurance in other areas where tiny homes are more Uncommon though Insurance can be both difficult to obtain and Incredibly expensive again this is a great opportunity to jump onto to Tiny House forums online ask around and see what Solutions others have come up with now it would not be a video on the dark side of tiny houses if we didn't talk about parking spots for those who are relatively flexible with their locations parking spots for tiny homes usually are not difficult to find we've made a whole video dedicated to just this topic for those who are interested but there's also a few things that you have to be aware of here just like if you were renting somebody else's home if you're renting land for a tiny house you don't really control what's happening on the land around you hopefully you've got a really great landlord but in some cases people aren't so lucky if there are issues with the land owner you generally are not protected under the same kind of tency laws as conventional rental agreements so this is something that you have to be aware of again it's really important to take time to draw up an agreement between you and a land owner to make sure that everything is clearly agreed upon before moving your tiny house on on to somebody's land now with all that being said and done while it's important to be aware of potential pfalls I really hope that I haven't dissuaded anyone from taking the leap into tiny house living the important thing is that you go into it with your eyes open and make sure you cover your bases and keep yourself protected it's just like that saying goes trust in God but tie up your horse despite these kind of dark elements to the tiny house movement I can't State enough how much I love tin houses and the way that they have positively changed so many people's lives the vast majority of people who choose to build and live in tiny homes have overwhelmingly positive experiences but it's important to go into this with your eyes open cover your bases do your due diligence and go for it
