Did you know some tiny house owners ended up hating their small homes?
Let’s be honest, the tiny house movement has been making raves around the country for years!
We cannot blame anyone for seeing this type of living arrangement as appealing given how expensive it can be to have a full house, but there are also cons to tiny houses!
Let’s be honest, it sounds amazing: smaller space to heat, easier to clean, a great moment to downsize, and you can save some money.
However, there are a lot of things that people who think extremely highly about the tiny house lifestyle forget to consider before making the plunge.
If you are thinking about making the change to a tiny home and are not sure about it yet, we invite you to think about the cons that some tiny home owners have started to face and did not expect before they made the switch!
Keep on reading to discover the grievances of tiny house owners and get a fuller picture of this lifestyle!
What is your opinion on tiny houses? Share your thoughts in the comments!
The small spaces make tiny houses a challenge.
While it may make sense for some, for others the idea of living in a small space is not an issue at first glance. However, once you have to squeeze into a way smaller home than the one you previously resided in, it may seem like the world is ending.
Tiny houses do save a lot of things that work in their favor, but you will have to change some habits that you may have had when you had a full-sized home.
Once you downsize, you may not have space for leftover foods or for cooking bigger batches of meals; no more buying in bulk since you may not have space for all the items; you may not be able to host people for long; and since the space is small, you will find yourself having to clean way more often than you imagined.
One thing that most homeowners who have a tiny home on wheels have started to face includes the likes of worrying about how much things weigh.
It turns out that when you have a choice between two options, the price or quality will end up being the least of your worries if one item is way heavier.
A lot of tiny house owners have defaulted by choosing the less heavy items due to worries about weight. In the end, there’s only so much a truck can haul around before you end up having issues.
Those who choose to travel, hate the logistics and how expensive it can be.
If you have been thinking of a tiny house on wheels, then you need to take into consideration how difficult it can be to travel around with it.
If you do not already have a bigger truck, then you will have to purchase one, and it can get expensive if you have to rent a U-Hault truck every time you need to move the home.
Not to mention, you will have to make sure that everything is secured when you move it so as to not have everything flying around on the road!
What’s more, tiny house owners who were not prepared for moving items report that things have broken down when they were on the highways due to the high wind speeds.
People who have sold their property in order to travel on their tiny house on wheels have also shared how expensive it can get in the long run; in one case they use a 20-foot U-Haul box truck to tow their touse around, which ends up eating about one gallon of gas per mile.
Thus, they have to stop to fill the tank around every 150 miles. As you can imagine, it can get pricey extremely fast!
If you choose to not have a mobile tiny house, this is not a point to worry about, but many who were taken in by the easy travel appeal did not consider the expenses.
Saying goodbye to most home luxuries has surprised them.
While it should be obvious that you are going to be giving up certain luxuries when you move into a tiny house, some people have still not thought well about how much this will impact them.
A tiny house means that you will be giving up full-sized kitchens and bathrooms and having to make do with a lot less space. This means way less counter space and storage, which can make those of us who love to cook a bit inconvenienced.
Not to mention, a lot of people forget that they may not have space for other things they think of as essential in a tiny home.
The likes of washers and dryers may be a thing of the past if you do not have the space for them, and it could also be that you may want or need to use the space for something else.
If you like to take long baths, know that most tiny houses simply cannot accommodate more than a tiny shower, so getting ready in the morning may transform into a quick in-and-out situation.
You can luck out and have space for full-sized appliances, but there will be things that you will have to give up on to have the space for other or simply storage space.
So owners who have dealt with this once recommend making a wishlist and then keeping the things you truly need or cannot live without before committing to the move.
Another thing that many new owners did not expect to bother them is the sleeping arrangement. To have more space, a lot of people end up using a loft space as their bedroom.
However, if you have mobility issues or health problems, always having to go up a ladder may end up becoming a problem sooner than later.
Likewise, since it is close to the low ceiling, you will not have that much space to move around, and you can already forget about being able to walk around the loft space. Not to mention, you may have to have a mattress bed, and any furniture you may have had before will need to be sold or put in storage.
What’s more, consider that you will have to live a pretty minimalist life when it comes to clothes. Most tiny homes do not have closets, so you need to borrow downsize your closet, and get creative with storage solutions.
Tiny houses are going to lose you money.
Yes, you read that right. A lot of people are going to downsize to a tiny house in order to save money, but they forget that like all houses, there will be a depreciation in value over time.
Normal houses depreciate in value mostly due to where they are placed, but tiny houses depreciate in value somehow, like a car.
These structures fall into a gray area since they are not seen by certain state laws as actual homes due to the small space they occupy, so this brings along a couple of issues many did not foresee.
Getting a loan for it is going to be close to impossible; selling a tiny home is extremely complicated and hard, and when you consider the simple cost per square foot, tiny homes are actually a bit of a crazy investment.
And the value ends up depreciating pretty hard over time. A lot of people, when they decide that they want to sell their tiny home on wheels, end up losing money when compared to how much they invested initially.
What’s more, the upgrades you can do to raise the value are not going to cover the depreciation. Unless you keep the home in pristine condition and it looks close to perfect and unusual, you need to get used to the idea.
But do not despair! If the local governments start to recognize tiny homes as viable residences, then we may end up seeing a new real estate market for tiny houses.
If a tiny house still appeals to you, know that there are plenty out there for quite affordable. If you do not mind container or prefab homes, then you should have a look on Amazon, as their selection is pretty extensive!
There are a lot of reasons why some people might hate tiny houses and reasons why they may love this transition. For many, these are just some of the reasons why a tiny house did not work out, but others have no issue with them. If you want to find out more reasons to move to a tiny home, check out this article: Tiny House on Wheels: 7 Genius Reasons Why You Should Switch.