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small/tiny house vs mobile home

4K views 37 replies 18 participants last post by  Rb's Memaw 
#1 ·
Hi all,
I'm considering moving onto my SIL and daughter's ranch, at their request to help with the kids and farm. I've spent the better part of the past 2 months living in the unfinished basement and we have all come to realize that I need my own space to call home. My SIL despises mobile homes and really doesn't want me to move mine onto his land...I'm trying to be respectful of that and am looking at other options. I've been looking at sheds to convert to homes, but am disappointed by the costs of an unfinished shed. I was wondering if any of you had built cabins from the ground up, or paid an amish crew to do your build, and if you would be willing to share a cost breakdown? I'm not into luxury, but definitely need a bathtub not just a shower...this old gal has a fetish for a hot bath.We have also considered building a small apartment in the basement, but I don't have any idea what that entails or costs. I don't need a lot of space, their house has a canning kitchen and plenty of storage space for things I only use once in awhile. TIA
 
#4 ·
Construction costs of a stand-alone structure usually run in the neighborhood of $100 per sq ft.. Assuming you're putting it where access to water, septic, electric & gas is not going to add significantly to the cost, you could probably put up a cute little cottage of 4-500 sq ft for $30-50Gs-- with concrete footing/foundation and all the amenities of civilization, depending on labor costs and how fancy you wanted it.

Is a "MIL Addition" onto the existing house feasible?--Even cheaper because it's already plumbed, etc and no need to duplicate kitchen, heating/cooling and such.
 
#5 ·
We are considering all of our options right now. The easiest "addition" would be to finish out a bedroom and bathroom in the basement, but there have been comments about the stairs though they aren't a problem now they could be in the longer term. We also have a spot out behind the house that has a workshop/greenhouse on it that is wired and plumbed. We have been seriously considering taking it down since it was constructed rather poorly and can't be converted to something livable, and then building a small cabin on that spot. I don't need fancy, just warm, dry, and with a tub in the bathroom. I'm actually pretty happy with rustic and simple.
 
#8 · (Edited)
I have seen mobile homes prettied up with wood siding added to look like a cabin, and given a peaked roof. All aesthetic, and you could live in it while adding the finishing touches.

General example
 
#10 ·
Probably not what you want to hear, but -- since it sounds like you will being paying another party to do all the work --

Dollar for dollar, foot for foot: The better building is always going to be the mobile home. (I'm assuming 'mobile home' here is a single- or double-wide trailer.)

They are MADE to be lived in permanently, by multiple people. They are built to code for your entire state, and it's production was highly regulated. They can be put on permanent foundations (and should be) and if taken care, can last as long as any house. All in all, it'll be a safer structure.

And you've already spent the money on it.

Your only costs here, should you move it, is going to be to a contractor to build a new level pad for the home, transportation, and hook-ups to the (presumably) existing power and water. And there isn't power/water/sewage, a lot of those contractors can put in the permits FOR you and handle everything that is needed. You can spend a little extra and have an over roof put on it and new siding, like someone else suggested.

If you are looking at a tiny house, you are going to be spending almost 3-4 times per square foot than you already spent on that mobile home, and a lot of what you need to do, you are going to need to do yourself. And you still may end up with a home that is going to have issues, like improper electrical wiring or unsealed window panes.

Honestly, it just sounds like your only problem here is your son-in-law's unyieldingly refusal to do the best thing because ('m assuming here) he's got some weird class aversion thing going on.
 
#11 ·
I already posted what I thought. But as far as the mobile home goes, this is one I bought last winter. I’m posting it to show you what can be done. I didn’t even realize it was originally a mobile home till I looked into it a little further. It is also on a permanent foundation with a basement. Is SIL opposed to the way they look?
Snow Sky House Panorama Winter
Snow Home House Property Winter
 
#16 ·
Here’s What They Don’t Tell You About Living in a Tiny House
I can't read that link past the first like, 2 sentences without downloading some BS app they want me to have in order to read their "news". Could you copy and paste that or give a good link for it please?
 
#15 ·
Here’s What They Don’t Tell You About Living in a Tiny House
 
#17 ·
If you are reading on an Android phone using Google Chrome, click the three vertical dots in the top left corner and select "Desktop Site.". It's usually at the bottom of the menu.

It will stop bothering you about the app.

Or just go here --- looks like that site scraps articles off other sites:

 
#18 ·
Without being there, the son in law strongly opposed to a mobile home on his property is a tell.
How is your relationship with him? Will your daughter be pressured into confronting you over "issues"?

Personally, if I should come to a similar point in time, I would get a nice camper/RV. Fewer restrictions and more mobile.

When my mother retired, I told her to take a year and travel the country and visit us kids (5). I told her to spend a month at each child's home. After that you will be sick of eachother. Then take a few weeks and go see and do things you always wanted to. Then to the next kid, etc.

I have always been open and told my wife and my mother in law that she is welcome to come live with us anytime and forever how long she chooses. We get along fine and our home is spacious, but for the benefit of the relationship, I would prepare something for her to stay in, next to our house. You need your time and they need theirs.
 
#23 ·
My SIL and I have had issues in the past, but worked our way through them and get along wonderfully now. His opinion about mobile homes is likely a classist issue passed down from his parents...and in this area more often than not you see them get run down, fall into a dilapidated condition and left to rot. We talked about parking a camper in the barn during the winter and out on the land during the summer months...plus that gives me the ability to run to the other 4 kids like you were saying. SIL and DD both still really want me to have a home here and are tossing ideas around and trying to figure costs and such. At this point we are information gathering so that we can plan appropriately.

What you told your mother was my retirement plan, and the kids all knew it and thought it was wonderful that they are pushing hard for me not to go back to working a regular job ever, but to just keep rotating through their houses.
 
#21 ·
I imagine it's nation-wide. Most "in-town" areas that I've seen already have square-footage requirements which would eliminate tiny homes right off the bat.

I think states struggle with how to classify these homes. Since a lot of the earliest tiny homes were all built on trailer frames, some states want to class them as RVs, but then the RV industry is just like, "Whut" because they have a lot of regulations to follow. (Also, you know, how are they going to sell $250,000 RVs when Bojack can legally build a Tumbleweed replica in his backyard?)

I noticed that a lot of shed companies have quit selling cabin shells. Tuffshed was one of my favorites to tour and play inside, they had two-story shells you could get for $8000-12000, with enough square footage to actually be a legitimate apartment (300-500 sq. feet). And the timber and floors were actually proper floors, not just "good enough for a shed loft" flooring. I can only guess they were getting in trouble about these, because people definitely wanted to buy them.

Personally, I think it's a sad state of affairs. We might technically have TONS of open land available in the US, but anyone who's honest about it should admit a lot of that is rocky badlands with no access to potable water. When you subtract all that land, and then subtract all the private land that people are squatting on and will never sell, you realize we DO have a housing/space problem. I don't know if "tiny homes" are the answer, but we do need something better than tenement buildings that feel like rat warrens for the homeless and laws requiring sprawling estates for neighborhood building.
 
#25 ·
We are different but we all need a "space".
When we used a camp a lot, I would always have a 27' or larger RV parked outside. It was always plugged in and hooked up to water. We had a lot of campers thru the years. When not on the road, they were extra quarters for guests, our kids when they were teens and wanted a get away, etc. It could be hooked up in 20 minutes and gone if need be.
A full bedroom, bath and shower, kitchen and living area. They were great. And best of all, it forces you to get rid of "stuff.".
I would not want to be with my adult kids and extended family 24/7. There are too many moments that belong to only a couple, both good and bad.
 
#26 ·
we had our motor home parked about 400 ft from the house in the woods and when my husband would come home on vacation that's where we would live most of the time he was home. such good memories of that time.

i only have my son and he's a bachelor with 2 large dogs (course they are old dogs and they will soon be gone) i love him to distraction and we get along like 2 peas in a pod but i don't want to live with him. he's been on his own too long and so have i. he's use to the country and i'm quite contented in the city now.

i could have a mother suite built onto his home completely seperate. he would go along with whatever i wanted to do. hopefully i wont need anyone. i'm sure we'll work it out though should the need arise. ~Georgia
 
#28 ·
I like the "mobile" aspect of your "retirement" system (rotating amongst the kids); it's in our retirement planning as well. We live in a 70's mobile home, which we got for peanuts, moved onto our acreage, gutted/rebuilt on a foundation, and are now in it mortgage-free. It is nice, and fits our current homestead lifestyle, but it is still a mobile home ... no amount of gutting/reworking will ever make it like a stick-built home, because it started life as a MH.

IMHO, every (mobile home, modular, old farmhouse, custom stick-built) home will always and ultimately still feel like the thing it started out as. I see this in my home, and in other homes of every type I've ever visited and stayed in awhile. This is my way of saying "I feel the reservations" of the SIL.

We're in the process of building our own tiny homes on wheels (THOW) for the kids who are close to launch stage. Being handy, I'm building three of these, in about an 8' x 12' size each to meet the requirements. The kids will move out of our current house and be independent (on training wheels), in a THOW on our property.

If our kids move away to other areas of the country at some point, they've indicated they'll buy land first, and set their THOW on it. One day, they'll build their own tiny home to fit their lifestyle and phase of life. We hope to be able to rotate among them in our own THOW, which will be in the 16' size. Thus, I believe in our family, we are all migrating away from "foundation homes".

I'd look hard at a THOW. They can be as mobile as an RV, so you get all those benefits. They can be much better built, so you are in a custom home, not an RV. I've owned RV's, and they have always felt like an RV, not like a home. Then tiny homes came on the scene, and you can't mistake the "home" in a tiny home. THOW's are bigger, roomier, home-ier, etc. Think woodstoves, exposed beams and vaulted ceilings, and lots of warm wood (or finishes of your choice) everywhere ... no plastic, no tight spaces, just custom home-ness, up to your desired budget. Consider selling the mobile home, and putting the money into a tiny home that fits your requirements to a tee. It is truly a home, just w/o the concrete foundation, so you aren't locked to one location, and can rotate amongst the kids, or even the great outdoors.

In your case, each child's home & property, if their codes don't outrageously preclude it (and many areas of the country are now easing codes to include them), can easily be set up to support this THOW, such that you don't have stairs (think ramps, decks, etc.) The wheels can come off a tiny home, and it can be lowered to ground level. They can go back on again, if you move to another kid's property in a year or three.

My (long-winded) 2 cents ...
 
#29 ·
I will definitely look more into this! I've looked at several RVs, seem to be a lot of folks wanting to sell them right now. I feel fairly uneasy about them because I'm totally ignorant of how to operate them, what the limitations might be and so on. I'll probably make a visit to a dealership just to see what more I can learn and also read more online.

This past couple of days have thrown yet more kinks into our not planned plan. My middle son may be needing to relocate, the place he lives right now has some neighbor issues that I'm a bit afraid will get quickly out of hand given his PTSD, he will be able to tell me more in a day or two but called last night from his car parked at a rock quarry because he had to get away from the neighborhood racket...sounds like he may need to use my house for a bit until we can find a better option for him. Also, the folks who were renting the cabin on the far end of the kids' property is buying a home and will be moving out in early spring, there's a pretty good chance that I'll just move in there. It's a really nice little cabin with a pond right off the porch full of fish and surrounded by woods...I rented it for a year before I moved in with my ex and loved it.

The kids keep me "mobile"...I hadn't really intended to retire yet, but I will always do everything I can to help my kids. It's been a really wonderful experience to get to spend so much time with my kids and grandkids, and I'm sure they will keep me on a circuit of sorts, but I still want to have a place to feel anchored when I want to separate myself and have some quiet alone time. We are all learning very quickly that every time we start to make a plan a new priority pops up, or a circumstance changes on us...so we are flying by the seats of our pants and just determined to enjoy it all as much as possible.
 
#30 ·
Anything can be stolen, for crazy reasons we'd never understand ...

Tiny home theft itself seems more unusual, unless you lump it into RV theft, which would seem more common ... hook your vehicle to it and go. Theft should be easily deterred with the usual: security cameras, "the boot" or tire removal, tie-downs, decks, etc. The theft article may have gone into details about what was done, or not done, for deterrents; I'm guessing not much.

While nothing stops a determined thief, or for that matter, a stupid one, deterrents work for the majority of thefts. Add to the deterrents with rural living, fencing & dogs, etc.

You can spend 70k or more on a TH, but you can also spend a lot less; the costs are flexible, not cast in stone. It can easily be done in smaller budgets; I don't think the trade-offs are prohibitive, if you like trade-offs to save money. To quit hijacking this thread, I'll go see about starting a (low-budget) TH thread in the construction forum.
 
#34 ·
They own over 120 acres, with a house on one end and a cabin on the other. The cabin had been rented until very recently when the young couple who were renting bought a home. It's looking like I may end up in the cabin. We have been discussing building a small home on a portion of the land, but have yet to determine a budget or what that may look like. As I said I came running when the kids had a crisis, we are still in the midst of dealing with a lot of legal messes because of the loss of my SIL's father who was his business partner and passed on intestate. Right now we have a few storms to ride out before we know which way to go. It would be helpful to have a basic idea of how much to budget to build a small home, not micro tiny, but large enough for a few grands to spend the night from time to time...and I need an office space to work in, it doesn't need to be large or fancy but I work from home online so it's necessary. I apologize for the slow and probably confusing answer. I've been pretty ill with covid, so I'm not sure I'm communicating very effectively.
 
#38 ·
We are crunching numbers and ideas about the cabin. I actually ended up just recently selling the trailer to a missionary family who had outgrown the camper they were living in. It worked out well enough that we were all smiling and thanking God for his wisdom in the situation. I was spending money to keep it from freezing or decaying while sitting empty, and there were folks who truly needed and appreciated the trailer. I actually feel a lot better not worrying over the trailer while I'm out here dealing with grandkids and covid.
 
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