A Newer Trend--shed Homes

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Is this boxcar mentality getting us use to not owning rivate property ? We live in a resrited community on how many feet a home or mobile home has to be, yet its turning inot a campers homeless villiage, if we needed to sell for emergency our equity is pretty much gone if it keeps up. All the hard labor and sacrifice to save and build is just gone so some can squat and live for free.But its no different than any other third world nation so who cares. Who needs a piece of land and a home ,right?
According to county only two residents can live on certain amount of acreage and the resident has to be inspected and a certain aount of square footage.
Restrictions are only for those wh obey the law.
Soon they will also go afte those with lots of land nd force them to give up a portion of it.
If you look at the socialists play book it always contains "seize land" which is why I would prefer to be in the woods. That would be the last land sought.
Large farms and ranches would become govt properties first, inhabitants become govt employees. 5-10-20 acre's in the mountains are a logistical nightmare. Fingers crossed.
 
If you look at the socialists play book it always contains "seize land" which is why I would prefer to be in the woods. That would be the last land sought.
Large farms and ranches would become govt properties first, inhabitants become govt employees. 5-10-20 acre's in the mountains are a logistical nightmare. Fingers crossed.

They already went after our pine trees 10 ye ago.vMaybe they could put up a few sheds for the rats?
Said pine beetle was found aand we'd be charged TEN THOUSAND a tree for every tree they took down, so we called pulp wooder and there went our beauti little pine forest.We had about 1/4 of property that was pine the rest were oak,bays, cedars and some cherry pecan,now we lost all pecan trees too for some reason.:(.
Theives are coming on dirt roads and stealing peoples cedar trees now too, but who cares about private property,right?

Let em find one insect or rat on endangered species list and good private land,now it belongs to the rat squatter.
 
What some of those sheds cost you could build a MIL suite on your home.
 
Hell I lived in a 10x10 cabin for years. Not a big deal. I don't accumulate a lot of stuff. Small shed for storage. Feel cramped, go outside.

A great many of our ancestors raised large families in one room cabins. People like this are considered poor these days but they had riches that people today do not have.

They may have died younger than some do today but their quality of life was better in my opinion. Who wants to live to be over 100 years old if you spend the last 40 in a diaper drooling? Not me.

In many states if the building is not on a permanent foundation it is considered temporary and not added to your property taxes.

I would like to buy a place and build with these and connect them with a breezeway. You want open concept, get your posterior outside.

P.S. I would have been happier 200 or more years ago making my living as a free trapper.
 
I would like to buy a place and build with these and connect them with a breezeway. You want open concept, get your posterior outside.
This is pretty much what I am doing now. I know people look down on us. I know they think we are dirt poor and hard done by. And you know what? I don't actually care one bit.
Could we qualify for a home loan and buy a house. For sure. But we don't want the debt. This way on our own land we don't owe anybody one cent.
So yes I built with my own hands a "shed" or "cabin" if you prefer. I'm doing another one now. Join them with paths or breezeway.
Is it small? Yes
But hey I still can all my produce. I still store all my preps. I probably have too much stuff lol. You just have to be inventive. You have to not mind doing things outside. Have a storage shed or two. I love living like this. I'm as close to nature as I can get without sleeping under a tree. We have no debt. I have the accomplishment of having created this rather weird home myself. We are warm and comfortable and safe. So who cares if it's not a cookie cutter home? We don't.
 
Is this boxcar mentality getting us use to not owning private property ? We live in a restricted community on how many feet a home or mobile home has to be, yet its turning into a campers homeless village, if we needed to sell for emergency our equity is pretty much gone if it keeps up. All the hard labor and sacrifice to save and build is just gone so some can squat and live for free. But its no different than any other third world nation so who cares. Who needs a piece of land and a home ,right?
According to county only two residents can live on certain amount of acreage and the resident has to be inspected and a certain amount of square footage.
Restrictions are only for those who obey the law.
Soon they will also go after those with lots of land nd force them to give up a portion of it.
I think there are several things going on. Just for curiosity sake, look for property in your area, similar to yours and see the price of it. My home is worth more than 22 times what I bought it for 30 years ago. I could never afford to buy it now, nor the mortgage payments. Many, maybe most, can't. They don't earn enough. Wages are low in comparison to expenses, and some people would really have to work 24/7 to afford rent or mortgage now. Not everyone is lazy or other. Finances are not what they used to be. I am aware of this because of my daughter and her friends.

Life events can affect people's finances and then their ability to own a decent home: health, divorce, economy, more.

When the economy goes into a slump, like it has this year due to COVID, it can really hurt people. I know a man who had a great job for 15 years. He got laid off this year, due to the virus. Is there something wrong with him? No.

1. Population versus available space.
2. Price of housing. The down payment to buy my house now would be more than I paid for it.
3. Employment and the economy
4. Developers! In my area, there are people who are always looking for property to buy. There are developers who pay people a finder's fee for properties they can acquire for them. Someone shared that there are people trying to buy up blocks of homes. Then they rent them out. They are making housing unavailable, and causing the value of homes to be too high.

We can all joke about grown children living in the basement, but the economy is not good at all now. How many restaurant employees are laid off now? Many. And what are they going to do now?
 
I think there are several things going on. Just for curiosity sake, look for property in your area, similar to yours and see the price of it. My home is worth more than 22 times what I bought it for 30 years ago. I could never afford to buy it now, nor the mortgage payments. Many, maybe most, can't. They don't earn enough. Wages are low in comparison to expenses, and some people would really have to work 24/7 to afford rent or mortgage now. Not everyone is lazy or other. Finances are not what they used to be. I am aware of this because of my daughter and her friends.

Life events can affect people's finances and then their ability to own a decent home: health, divorce, economy, more.

When the economy goes into a slump, like it has this year due to COVID, it can really hurt people. I know a man who had a great job for 15 years. He got laid off this year, due to the virus. Is there something wrong with him? No.

1. Population versus available space.
2. Price of housing. The down payment to buy my house now would be more than I paid for it.
3. Employment and the economy
4. Developers! In my area, there are people who are always looking for property to buy. There are developers who pay people a finder's fee for properties they can acquire for them. Someone shared that there are people trying to buy up blocks of homes. Then they rent them out. They are making housing unavailable, and causing the value of homes to be too high.

We can all joke about grown children living in the basement, but the economy is not good at all now. How many restaurant employees are laid off now? Many. And what are they going to do now?

I understaand times are really bad now but this was also going on about 5 years ago when first old couple moved into storage building and we figured they were just saving up but its been almost 10 years now.
And last year or so we see a nice camper on a lot with no power or septic. Now 4 months ago another camper not so nice moved onto a lot with no power.
Most of the shed dwellers are not because of pandemic though,nothing wrong with getting on your feet ,we liveed in tents for ahile but no permnant plans for homestead. ;)

I'm just discussing on the forum not planning on being shed guard or police,lol.
 
I understaand times are really bad now but this was also going on about 5 years ago when first old couple moved into storage building and we figured they were just saving up but its been almost 10 years now.
And last year or so we see a nice camper on a lot with no power or septic. Now 4 months ago another camper not so nice moved onto a lot with no power.
Most of the shed dwellers are not because of pandemic though,nothing wrong with getting on your feet ,we liveed in tents for ahile but no permnant plans for homestead. ;)

I'm just discussing on the forum not planning on being shed guard or police,lol.
Do you know the people and what is going on with them that they have been living in a shed for 10 years? Is the shed ratty looking? Is their yard trashy? Have you seen their home?

There are many older people who are nomads now, living in vans and RVs. I am sure that they all have stories about their lives. I like to listen to the stories, and try not to be judgmental in the process, even if I disagree with people's life decisions.

Many people have made decisions that I wouldn't make, but they get to live with the consequences of their decisions. I know many people who have made bad decisions with money, and as my daughter says, I have lived very frugally with little traveling and not having to have the latest and the greatest. About a year ago I had coffee with a couple of people from my hometown. I went to school with them and hadn't seen them in decades. After h.s. they both were into heavy drugs and it greatly impacted their lives with divorces and more. When their mother died, they were not informed of her death and were written out of the inheritance, because parents weren't leaving them money to drug with.
 
@Rebecca, sounds beautiful to me. :)
People have different ideas about what's important in their housing. I celebrate everyone being able to do what they want with what's theirs. Sometimes it's necessity that makes people think outside the box as to what is housing - and sometimes it's just marching to a different drum. But being debt-free, building it yourself, adding on as you need/desire - honestly, that really does sound beautiful to me.
 
Do you know the people and what is going on with them that they have been living in a shed for 10 years? Is the shed ratty looking? Is their yard trashy? Have you seen their home?

There are many older people who are nomads now, living in vans and RVs. I am sure that they all have stories about their lives. I like to listen to the stories, and try not to be judgmental in the process, even if I disagree with people's life decisions.

Many people have made decisions that I wouldn't make, but they get to live with the consequences of their decisions. I know many people who have made bad decisions with money, and as my daughter says, I have lived very frugally with little traveling and not having to have the latest and the greatest. About a year ago I had coffee with a couple of people from my hometown. I went to school with them and hadn't seen them in decades. After h.s. they both were into heavy drugs and it greatly impacted their lives with divorces and more. When their mother died, they were not informed of her death and were written out of the inheritance, because parents weren't leaving them money to drug with.

No I don't know any of them and don't care why they are breaking the law.I do know they have better vehicles than we do very nice new trucks. Wonder how they managed that?
I think all bleeding hearts about most poor should take them into their homes and see what thy are dealing with. Begging is now an art form.
We are already a socialist society only worse we are now slaves to those who take and never give back. when I was young most of us would rather starve than beg, which I understand can be opposite extreme of it.
Parents are now making weaklings out of their kids by 'helping' them.
I watched my mother ruin my youngest brother and my son got the brunt of that.
He refused to stay away from the kid next door and didn't do his school work long story short at 16 I gave him 3 days to get out of my house or get a job,he had a job at Mc.Ds next day and paid me board.
I told all of them I will NOT raise a weakling or a like the kids I was seeing ,like my mother did her youngest who ended up a lazy person till this day at 55 yr old.Plus I knew how life can get.
Spoiling a child is not loving them it is loving oneself.Its a wild cruel world turning a weakling loose in it is not love.
 
I need to read more of the posts, but for the same price (roughly) you can have a much higher quality home. The sheds typically are “home-depot” quality so might not be a wise investment in the long run. A good resource (my opinion) is Noah Bradley’s Handmade Houses.
 
I need to read more of the posts, but for the same price (roughly) you can have a much higher quality home. The sheds typically are “home-depot” quality so might not be a wise investment in the long run. A good resource (my opinion) is Noah Bradley’s Handmade Houses.

LadyL glad you came after my mean rants. I only feel half of what I say.
 
This is an interesting thread and I'm really surprised to see any of our members looking down on someone in a "shed" home, or tiny home. And no matter what sized of home they can have junk cars or antique cars they are fixing up.

Many folks are doing the smaller home as they don't feel as if they need to impress or have a bunch of THINGS. They have travel, or sitting out by a firepit in the evenings,, or creating a small place for other small homes and making a village. I really have a difficulty seeing people being put down here. And if there was ever one place for non-traditional living to be celebrated I thought homesteaders, survivalist, and preppers to be at the head of the line.

And the small homes that are being built in some cities for homeless, or for vets = that terrific.

And then I started helping admin a Portable Building Group in Facebook since he needed help and I have experience and I'm VERY interested in tiny portable buildings into homes.

I want you to take a look at this page. Jonathan is the fellow I help but his greenhouse bathroom attached to his "shed" home, just is so wild. I love it, but would need curtains or a few carefully place plants around the toilet and bathtub.

https://www.airbnb.com/users/178958...DWLrArxgIfoyqtUGnOj7cPK9lcwCzW0quuQ8sDSmHMv3o
 
I don't look down on anyone living in a tiny place, but I couldn't do it. Our son lives in a 28 ft trailer that was ours. Thing is, when he was on our property, he counted on us to have all the canning equipment, food storage, animal necessities, etc in our space. One of my cousins has an AirBnb in a Santa Fe Railcar in Kansas. Really cool and always booked. Plus, they are amish so people think it's cool to be near them. Ha.
 
I think smaller homes makes a lot of sense, for some people. I'm not interested in a tiny home, but something less than 1000', maybe 800 or so (considered a small home) would be plenty. But if we did that I would also have a building primarily for storage. Small homes are mostly just for living in, most are too small for much else such as canning large quantities, etc.
I see no reason for any derision about them, taxes are less, cost should be much less. Some tiny homes are built on trailers and can be moved around. I would be more inclined to make fun of folks that have 5000-10000' houses, with 1-2 or no kids in particular. That seems more just for show to me.
 
I want you to take a look at this page. Jonathan is the fellow I help but his greenhouse bathroom attached to his "shed" home, just is so wild. I love it, but would need curtains or a few carefully place plants around the toilet and bathtub.
That is a awesome bathroom, the whole place is lovely. I really like the yurt they have. I am much too self conscious for such a bathroom though, I would be imagining the whole time that a hunter 500 yards away looking through his scope and getting an eyeful gaah
A greenhouse kitchen may be more up to my bravery lol
 
Lots of ways to live in these good ol' United States. :) And no worries if some of us are different than others.

We lived in an RV for nearly 10 years. That would be a "tiny home". And there were a good many plusses.

In one of our "pit stops" along the way, we bought a 4 acre property in central Mississippi where we had thought maybe we'd settle down. At the time we had two RV's, one that we lived in, one that we had lived in previously that we hadn't sold yet. Neighbors probably thought we were nuts but there were no regulations to speak of. We put in a septic system and electric service and got city water hooked up. Also built a shed with about as much square footage as the RV for storage. Had intended to build a house. But there were issues in MS that told us that it wasn't the place for us. So we sold the property and moved on. Funny thing was, the people that bought it did the same thing as us, lived in an RV.

What's right for one might not be what's right for another. And what was right for me 20 years ago may not be what's right for me today or 20 years from now. Life changes along the way, and it's OK if the last part doesn't look anything like the first part... unless it does, and then that's OK, too. Some of us just need more stuff and more space to do our thing. Others, not so much. Neither is wrong.

Honestly, when we bought our place in TN, I had thought it would be our "forever until we die" home. As I've matured a bit more, I'm not nearly so attached to either the place or the stuff. Should the Good Lord tell me to move tomorrow, I'm perfectly willing. Or if He tells me to stay here till He comes back for us, I'm good with that, too.

:)
 
That is a awesome bathroom, the whole place is lovely. I really like the yurt they have. I am much too self conscious for such a bathroom though, I would be imagining the whole time that a hunter 500 yards away looking through his scope and getting an eyeful gaah
A greenhouse kitchen may be more up to my bravery lol
I'm with you. I value my privacy in many ways. I once had neighbors who had an outdoor shower which was just on the side of their house, no other walls. Nope, not for me!
 
@Backpacker I've always wanted a little home for "living" and then across a dog trot have a 2nd one that is the warehouse/workroom. Or have the workroom/storage in a separate building nearby. That way you can set the temps for when you are using each one and not have to have heating and cooling so much. Also, I'd want it in southern style of having very tall windows that can open from the top and the bottom so I can make cross breezes. And it would not hurt to ad an opening at the top so the hot air in the summer can escape. And porches. I've seen some wonderful shed/little homes with a big amount of porch space for what they have as interior space.
 
I think smaller homes makes a lot of sense, for some people. I'm not interested in a tiny home, but something less than 1000', maybe 800 or so (considered a small home) would be plenty. But if we did that I would also have a building primarily for storage. Small homes are mostly just for living in, most are too small for much else such as canning large quantities, etc.
I see no reason for any derision about them, taxes are less, cost should be much less. Some tiny homes are built on trailers and can be moved around. I would be more inclined to make fun of folks that have 5000-10000' houses, with 1-2 or no kids in particular. That seems more just for show to me.

I hear ya! The time we spent in an RV, I learned a bunch. It was 8' wide, 4 slides and a rear deck, and 40' long. That's not a lot of space. But, it had a queen sized bed, two comfortable chairs, a small desk for a computer, a place for a TV, a table and chairs to sit and eat, a fridge, a stove, a microwave, a washer and dryer, heat, air conditioning, and enough of a battery to keep us going during temporary outages. (Actually we even had a 5 cu ft chest freezer and my fullsized piano keyboard.)

If it weren't for company that comes a few times a year (kids and grandkids, mostly), we could easily do with a house half this size and still be way comfortable. Now outside, barn, garage, gardens, pond, stuff like that means more to me than how many square feet of house.
 
That is a awesome bathroom, the whole place is lovely. I really like the yurt they have. I am much too self conscious for such a bathroom though, I would be imagining the whole time that a hunter 500 yards away looking through his scope and getting an eyeful gaah
A greenhouse kitchen may be more up to my bravery lol

I agree with you on the greenhouse would be neat for a kitchen and I like more privacy than a greenhouse bathroom can give.
 
Angie, around here in the 1700-1800's most houses were 600' or less. And many had lots of kids. There might be 10-12 in a house that size, so it is doable and traditional. But almost all home sites around here had multiple buildings. Corn cribs, barns, work shops, wood shed, blacksmithing, you name it. It makes sense if you think about it, in case of a fire, you don't lose everything.
 
This is a painting my grandmother made of her parent's place in Mississippi. I think I'd like a small but reasonably modern with the ability to turn off modern and still survive. And I've always loved these types of homes, even before I ever saw this as my grandma painted it after she was retired and my granddad was passed away.
Avatar Cropped Mamaw painting.jpg
 
LOL, nope I wouldn't want to be in a small house with 10 kids. Whew. But considering those folks were cutting the logs and building as they went, they didn't have time for much larger. Barns were normally built before the house.

I'm trying to remember, weren't there some New England farms where the barn and the house were connected? It seems like I remember of seeing that. Seemed a bit odd to me but in cold winters, I can understand how that might seem desirable. Only thing would be... fire. Lose one and you'd lose both.
 
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