Building a Tiny House on a MoCo lot - possible? implications?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't be discouraged, OP. Keep in mind that the DCUM forums pull from every part of the DC sprawl. Your family, your house, your life. I have a hard time understanding the hostility toward the idea. I would guess that you will end up in a cool, funky little neighborhood where you will not find this kind of resistance.

The original post suggested doing this in Silver Spring or Takoma. Well, the development there is all infill, and many people have questioned why you would tear down an existing small house to build something even smaller. Doesn't seem green or smart (for resale, for comfort....). People offered a variety of very practical advice and suggestions. The OP has made it clear that what he really wants is to live out some romantic idea about being unique and special....

Anonymous wrote:We are not entirely opposed to standing out per se.

Anonymous wrote:If you are living somewhere that small you actually want it built exactly how you need it not a bunch of cubes inside a big cube but lots of windows, open areas, and so forth.

Anonymous wrote:Modular is definitely an option but we like the hobbitat aesthetic.

....which is the kind of thing you need to get over when you're grown up and married and have kids. Most posters in this thread have been giving advice in good faith, but its like spitting into the wind.

Dude- the OP is a she. Taking all of this into consideration. We really posted here to learn and iron out the details. Thanks! We are grown up but not in a stodgy, refuse to dream sort of way. Hope you aren't either whether your dreams are a yatch, a tiny house, or some monster on the French riviera. The world is sad enough without dreams.

Huh? Post at 11:12 on page three said "partner" "husband" and "queer"....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't be discouraged, OP. Keep in mind that the DCUM forums pull from every part of the DC sprawl. Your family, your house, your life. I have a hard time understanding the hostility toward the idea. I would guess that you will end up in a cool, funky little neighborhood where you will not find this kind of resistance.

The original post suggested doing this in Silver Spring or Takoma. Well, the development there is all infill, and many people have questioned why you would tear down an existing small house to build something even smaller. Doesn't seem green or smart (for resale, for comfort....). People offered a variety of very practical advice and suggestions. The OP has made it clear that what he really wants is to live out some romantic idea about being unique and special....

Anonymous wrote:We are not entirely opposed to standing out per se.

Anonymous wrote:If you are living somewhere that small you actually want it built exactly how you need it not a bunch of cubes inside a big cube but lots of windows, open areas, and so forth.

Anonymous wrote:Modular is definitely an option but we like the hobbitat aesthetic.

....which is the kind of thing you need to get over when you're grown up and married and have kids. Most posters in this thread have been giving advice in good faith, but its like spitting into the wind.

Dude- the OP is a she. Taking all of this into consideration. We really posted here to learn and iron out the details. Thanks! We are grown up but not in a stodgy, refuse to dream sort of way. Hope you aren't either whether your dreams are a yatch, a tiny house, or some monster on the French riviera. The world is sad enough without dreams.

Huh? Post at 11:12 on page three said "partner" "husband" and "queer"....

Yep. I'll wait for you to put it together. Regardless, this is not the issue of the post except for the part about staying in MD. The VA posters did point out some advances for the LGB part of the LGBTQ but that alone would not help us much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:http://tinyhouseswoon.com/wildwood-cottage/

I just fell in love with you! OP- here. THANKS!

There are all kinds of blogs and FB pages on this. Google tiny house, tiny homes, etc. Good luck OP, I envy you, you will be living my dream!

If you like that you might like this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMAAWABynns

Thank you so much! We shall be obsessing for the next year while we squirrel away our funds.

[Anonymous]

http://www.attainable-sustainable.net/building-living-tiny-house/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't be discouraged, OP. Keep in mind that the DCUM forums pull from every part of the DC sprawl. Your family, your house, your life. I have a hard time understanding the hostility toward the idea. I would guess that you will end up in a cool, funky little neighborhood where you will not find this kind of resistance.

The original post suggested doing this in Silver Spring or Takoma. Well, the development there is all infill, and many people have questioned why you would tear down an existing small house to build something even smaller. Doesn't seem green or smart (for resale, for comfort....). People offered a variety of very practical advice and suggestions. The OP has made it clear that what he really wants is to live out some romantic idea about being unique and special....

Anonymous wrote:We are not entirely opposed to standing out per se.

Anonymous wrote:If you are living somewhere that small you actually want it built exactly how you need it not a bunch of cubes inside a big cube but lots of windows, open areas, and so forth.

Anonymous wrote:Modular is definitely an option but we like the hobbitat aesthetic.

....which is the kind of thing you need to get over when you're grown up and married and have kids. Most posters in this thread have been giving advice in good faith, but its like spitting into the wind.

Dude- the OP is a she. Taking all of this into consideration. We really posted here to learn and iron out the details. Thanks! We are grown up but not in a stodgy, refuse to dream sort of way. Hope you aren't either whether your dreams are a yatch, a tiny house, or some monster on the French riviera. The world is sad enough without dreams.

Huh? Post at 11:12 on page three said "partner" "husband" and "queer"....

Yep. I'll wait for you to put it together. Regardless, this is not the issue of the post except for the part about staying in MD. The VA posters did point out some advances for the LGB part of the LGBTQ but that alone would not help us much.

OP, I am that VA poster and the reason I would not consider living in MD in the DC area (especially if this is going to be your "forever" house) is because of the amazing public universities that Virginia has for in-state students. If you have kids and eventually want them to go to college, you really cannot beat Virginia on the east coast for college. A huge consideration for me - my dream is to move back west to the Pacific Northwest or Mountain West, but my DH's family lives nearby and if we are going to stay on the east coast, it's going to be in Virginia because of this.

[Anonymous]

Regarding one bathroom vs. 2 bathrooms: I'm guessing that OP and her partner are women and don't spend nearly as much time pooping as my husband does. Husband's poop time/poop stink is the reason to have at least 2 toilets in the house.

In general, I admire OP's spunk and I think the tiny houses are darling. I am, however, slightly suspicious of a parent of two kids under the age 4 thinking she has a firm grasp on the type of space she'll want/need as the kids grow. But hey, follow your dream, OP, and see how it goes for you. If it were me, I'd try to keep just enough of a next egg to allow myself flexibility if needed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Regarding one bathroom vs. 2 bathrooms: I'm guessing that OP and her partner are women and don't spend nearly as much time pooping as my husband does. Husband's poop time/poop stink is the reason to have at least 2 toilets in the house.

In general, I admire OP's spunk and I think the tiny houses are darling. I am, however, slightly suspicious of a parent of two kids under the age 4 thinking she has a firm grasp on the type of space she'll want/need as the kids grow. But hey, follow your dream, OP, and see how it goes for you. If it were me, I'd try to keep just enough of a next egg to allow myself flexibility if needed.

Lol! We have no firm grasp. Only lots of hope that we are doing right by them and will not crash the ship. This will likely not be our forever home. We dream of returning to the West Coast but all of the grandparents are here. So, for the foreseeable future, we will be here too. - OP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Realtor?! This is not me. Unless the post says it's OP, it isn't. I am following along though since I actually don't know all of this info (hence seeking information here) but the links are helpful and I appreciate the breakdown between permits, tear down, and all. Your chain of events does in fact sound unhinged; it makes me worry about you a little bit. But maybe you are just being funny and ridiculous. I hope so.

While you're here, though, can you comment on whether you've had any experience getting with buying infill lots in MoCo that could then have movable structure(s) on them that did not require a permit. It seems that this is what the folks in DC did. Those structures are too tiny but I wonder whether you have any knowledge of the rules regarding developing infill lots and/or where I could get that info.

Thanks- you are really amusing and helpful so I hope you stick around until we have all of our questions answered. In fact, do you sell in MoCo? You remind me of our old realtor and the attitude with which she discussed popcorn ceilings and basement renters apartments. Most amusing. By-the-by the "going postal" thing is not so funny if you've actually been to the post office where the term originated. Pretty sad.

But it was you. You've been going off on rants that are actually quite scary. I don't think it would serve you well to live in a small confined space with others. It would put them in danger because you are yes, acting like you are coming unhinged.

Here's a clue: Nothing in Montgomery County can be done without a permit. And yes, I've worked on infill lots in the county again, 15 years. Good luck. But it is you who is humoring us. If you don't see that then you really do need to get a clue. And a therapist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Realtor?! This is not me. Unless the post says it's OP, it isn't. I am following along though since I actually don't know all of this info (hence seeking information here) but the links are helpful and I appreciate the breakdown between permits, tear down, and all. Your chain of events does in fact sound unhinged; it makes me worry about you a little bit. But maybe you are just being funny and ridiculous. I hope so.

While you're here, though, can you comment on whether you've had any experience getting with buying infill lots in MoCo that could then have movable structure(s) on them that did not require a permit. It seems that this is what the folks in DC did. Those structures are too tiny but I wonder whether you have any knowledge of the rules regarding developing infill lots and/or where I could get that info.

Thanks- you are really amusing and helpful so I hope you stick around until we have all of our questions answered. In fact, do you sell in MoCo? You remind me of our old realtor and the attitude with which she discussed popcorn ceilings and basement renters apartments. Most amusing. By-the-by the "going postal" thing is not so funny if you've actually been to the post office where the term originated. Pretty sad.

But it was you. You've been going off on rants that are actually quite scary. I don't think it would serve you well to live in a small confined space with others. It would put them in danger because you are yes, acting like you are coming unhinged.

Here's a clue: Nothing in Montgomery County can be done without a permit. And yes, I've worked on infill lots in the county again, 15 years. Good luck. But it is you who is humoring us. If you don't see that then you really do need to get a clue. And a therapist.

Ok, realtor. I think it best we part ways. You need someone to love you. You seem like a very sad person and a bit too on the edge. Best of luck. If anyone else has any knowledge about the infill lot option, we'd appreciate it!

Thanks all for your help.

[Anonymous]

^^ that was OP

[Anonymous]

The fact is that it makes little sense to build a small place after going through the permitting process and paying all the fees etc... In fact you may have trouble securing a loan because the bank may not believe it will appraise for a proper price. This is why you see people trying to build the largest home possible because the cost difference is much smaller after you get the initial foundation built.

[Anonymous]

I have not read all of this thread, about 1/2. But I think if the OP wants to build this small house, Takoma Park is probably not the place to do it. For one thing, don't you have to get a permit to cut down trees? If what the OP really wants is a big garden, and if it is for fruits and veggies, then you need sun. Takoma Park is full of shade and shade gardens and they are not going to let you cut down trees.

I think further out in the country is what you need. But close in Silver Spring and Takoma Park are probably not the best place. If you want to stay in close, then choose Silver Spring over TP, because of the sun/light and tree issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Where we moved from (employment reasons), building permits were based on the sq. footage so 500sq ft. would never be 50K. How are building permits priced here? These are the ones in DC that you are probably referring to http://boneyardstudios.com/. Yes, we have lived all over the world in very small spaces. We have two kids and live in 1200sq ft. now and probably use about 800 of it. They are still small. We would not be opposed to building (later) another small structure for storage/privacy/entertaining. The person who noted the weather does have a point. We are both from warm places originally and do hate winter but, as it turns out, a 1200sq. ft. condo is too small for preschool and toddler anyway so we spend all of our time out and about summer or winter. To start getting a space premium, in terms of having the ability to stay home for days on end, I think we'd need about 5000sq. ft. of empty floor for the kids to run around. So, we really just need a kitchen, bedrooms, and a place to sit and be together in the evenings and before heading out in the mornings. I'd really like to know more about the building permit issue. We've tried to do some research but it seems that everything is geared toward a large project and we cannot get any direct answers when we call in terms of whether it would be approved fairly seamlessly. Obviously, we do not want to end up with a lot upon which we'd have to build a typical structure if the whole point of buying a lot vs. a SFH was to build this type of structure. Here are some others we've thought about too - https://www.bluhomes.com/. Some of these you can even design off the grid.

I triple highlighted this for you.

1200 sqft is too small for you but yet an even smaller place will be perfect? How exactly will that happen if you couldn't stand being in a space that many people live in long term with 2 children?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure if someone posted this but take an existing small home and just keep the foundation. Site work, county requirements are very expensive and don't scale down that well. Uneconomy of small scale.

We ended up restoring a small old home after looking at costs to completely tear down and build new.

OP here- Someone mentioned this but then others said it was probably cost prohibitive too- as in over 300K. Mind sharing your house size, location, and total cost of purchase and renovation? Ballpark is fine- just wondering if it is doable.

We heard it was more like $50-75k. Every architect we met discouraged us from starting completely over mostly because of the very small lot and modern setbacks. And the additional cost of starting new.

Close-in VA
$650k house a few years ago when market was down
$300k for major reno
Went from 900 sq ft to very functional and attractive 1100 sq ft

Most people think we're nuts to live in a such a small space with our 2 kids and 2 dogs, but we love it. We previously lived in a larger home further out and felt like we had so much space that wasn't efficiently used. It was very satisfying to downsize - a refreshing lifestyle change.

Good luck, OP!

[Anonymous]

I obsessed over these plans a lot before we did our project:
http://www.thesmallhousecatalog.com/
http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com/products/b53/
http://www.perfectlittlehouse.com/