Possible Blue Ocean? Affordable "tiny" housing park

[minivanman]

Makes me think of a yurt.

I think, personally, I would like a Yurt better. I think I'd have a hard time living in a straight line. I always say when the lil woman dies I'm going to live in a travel trailer but in reality..... I don't think I can live in a straight line.... now a Yurt has possibilities.

 

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[reedracer]

I'd probably go Apartment or AirBnB bait if I found myself single again. Wife like her backyard without neighbors

 

[minivanman]

We both LOVED apartments/'condos', after all, she did live in New York City for 10 years + 3 years.... but the neighbors were getting so bad! I like to think of everyone as equal but we found ourselves asking how these type of people could afford the high rent! That's 1 of the reasons we had to, sadly, give up apartments. And then, you don't even know who might walk in and shoot you in your own apartment while you are eating ice cream!

 

[Blackadder]

Sorry @Blackadder I would have to disagree. The expensive part of kitchens and baths comes in the finishes (tile, cabinets, countertops, fixtures). There just aren't that many finishes in a tiny home.
@WJK @Davidla ?

I'm Not saying they aren't heavily marking up the tiny houses, especially the ones on wheels, But you are not going to find any over 140 share feet or so under $40k if it was possible to crank em out at 16K I'd rather think someone would be doing it (adding to this is the fact that tiny houses are often built with normal house materials and mobile homes are traditionally made with the cheapest stuff they can find and one can start to see why the gap between the two prices.)

 

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[Blake_Writes]

Here's @Andy Black's idea tweaked for artists, hippies, vacationers... They leaned in to all the trailer park stigmas instead of trying to conquer them-

Hicksville Trailer Palace

An eclectic trailer park retreat in the middle of the California desert.

www.atlasobscura.com

I'd go...

 

[minivanman]

I spent 3 days living in a 350-square-foot house in a community of tiny homes — see what it was like

 

[MJ DeMarco]

I visited a mobile home park today in a not-so good area, it was 55+ and I was actually quite stunned how nice it was. Everyone was very nice, the park was landscaped and manicured, and it had a certain welcoming "homey" feel to it.

This also could be another area of focus, the population (boomers) are getting older and many of them will need to retire on half of what they are used to earning. I'm guessing when you add in the 55+ requirement, it probably keeps a lot of the tweekers and low-rent types out... so that might be a micro-niche in this realm.

 

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[Major]

Keep in mind how easy it is to have the inventory just up and leave.

Can get brand new 1,200sft manufactured homes with high end materials and fixtures for under $50K. Not sure I understand the economics.

 

[Blackadder]

Keep in mind how easy it is to have the inventory just up and leave.

You would think they could easily leave, But they have to have someplace they could move to, and after 10 years or so the homes may not be roadworthy at all....they Do become captive to an extent. the tiny houses (park model rv's) seem to be more sturdily built but even those will reach a time when moving them would be more expensive than they are worth. (if they sit for a few years at least.)

 

[MitchM]

I thought about this before. I feel like the problem that tiny houses solve is affordable rent and because of that, it will inevitably attract certain types of tenants. And there's only so much management you can do without discrimination. The thing about managing a community or group is that when you have 1 bad neighbor, rather than the bad neighbor leaving, it causes the good people to go.

If rent was truly affordable say $1000/mo for a house here in CA or even $1500... what's to stop criminals, dealers and drug users from applying and taking up housing versus the ideal, young college graduate who wants a nice small place that's affordable? Because I see that already in mobile homes communities around here even the upscale ones.

The only way I feel that it would work, is if it was a commune or some sort of restricted community based on certain criteria to keep out bad tenants and criminals that can afford to pay that price point as well.

Also, as someone who looked into tiny housing before there are a lot of bureaucratic and government laws that seem hell bent on not wanting any tiny houses around. I'm not sure what the reasoning is but you would think that in places where rents are extremely high (i.e. socal), everyone would be open to more smaller but private spaces such as mobile/rv/tiny home set ups and yet it seems impossible to get that even started at all due to city regulations.

Ideally speaking, I would love it if this was possible as it would open up a lot more housing that's affordable, sustainable and efficient for a lot of people in crowded areas where housing is at a premium.

What about marketing it as "college housing?"

I've thought about it as well. There are so many people working on their own small business now, etc. that would love to join a community of people with the same goals - living affordably.

Also with all of these barriers to entry, I can't help but feel that someone who makes it work would make a killing.

 

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[Major]

Would also consider the depreciation of an RV vs a Mobile home. You are not able to get rid of a large part of tax liability due to the current 23 year depreciation schedule. I have no idea the depreciation schedule of an RV but would imagine it less than 10 years. Be a shame to pay for the higher cost, lower life inventory, and not get the tax benefits. However I have seen resorts like this.

If you are serious about a project like this and running it. PM me.

 

[Red]

What about marketing it as "college housing?"

You might wanna brush up on the Fair Housing laws before you go that route....