Tiny house movement thrives amid real estate bust

As Americans downsize in the aftermath of a colossal real estate bust, at least one tiny corner of the housing market appears to be thriving. To save money or simplify their lives, a small but growing number of Americans are buying or building homes that could fit inside many people’s living rooms, according to entrepreneurs in the small house industry.

Some put these wheeled homes in their backyards to use as offices, studios or extra bedrooms. Others use them as mobile vacation homes they can park in the woods. But the most intrepid of the tiny house owners live in them full-time, paring down their possessions and often living off the grid.

“It’s very un-American in the sense that living small means consuming less,” said Jay Shafer, 46, co-founder of the Small House Society, sitting on the porch of his wooden cabin in California wine country. “Living in a small house like this really entails knowing what you need to be happy and getting rid of everything else.”

Shafer, author of “The Small House Book,” built the 89-square-foot house himself a decade ago and lived in it full-time until his son was born last year. Inside a space the size of an ice cream truck, he has a kitchen with gas stove and sink, bathroom with shower, two-seater porch, bedroom loft and a “great room” where he can work and entertain — as long as he doesn’t invite more than a couple guests.

He and his family now live in relatively sprawling 500-square foot home next to the tiny one.

Shafer, co-owner of the Tumbleweed Tiny House Company, designs and builds miniature homes with a minimalist style that prizes quality over quantity and makes sure no cubic inch goes to waste. Most can be hooked up to public utilities. The houses, which pack a range of amenities in spaces smaller than some people’s closets, are sold for $40,000 to $50,000 ready-made, but cost half as much if you build it yourself.

Tumbleweed’s business has grown significantly since the housing crisis began, Shafer said. He now sells about 50 blueprints, which cost $400 to $1,000 each, a year, up from 10 five years ago. The eight workshops he teaches around the country each year attract 40 participants on average, he said.

“People’s reasons for living small vary a lot, but there seems to be a common thread of sustainability,” Shafer said. “A lot of people don’t want to use many more resources or put out more emissions than they have to.”

Compared to trailers, these little houses are built with higher-quality materials, better insulation and eye-catching design. But they still have wheels that make them portable — and allow owners to get around housing regulations for stationary homes.

Since the housing crisis and recession began, interest in tiny homes has grown dramatically among young people and retiring Baby Boomers, said Kent Griswold, who runs the Tiny House Blog, which attracts 5,000 to 7,000 visitors a day.

“In the last couple years, the idea’s really taken off,” Griswold said. “There’s been a huge interest in people downsizing and there are a lot of young people who don’t want to be tied down with a huge mortgage and want to build their own space.”

Gregory Johnson, who co-founded the Small House Society with Shafer, said the online community now has about 1,800 subscribers, up from about 300 five years ago. Most of them live in their small houses full-time and swap tips on living simple and small.

Johnson, 46, who works as a computer consultant at the University of Iowa, said dozens of companies specializing small houses have popped up around the country over the past few years.

Before he got married, Johnson lived for six years in a small cabin he built himself and he wrote a book called “Put Your Life on a Diet: Lessons Learned from Living in 140 Square Feet.”

“You start to peel away the things that are unnecessary,” said Johnson, who now lives in a studio apartment with his wife. “It helps you define your priorities with regard to your material things.”

Northern California’s Sonoma County has become a mini-mecca for the tiny house industry, with an assortment of new businesses launching over the last few years.

Stephen Marshall, 63, worked as a building contractor for three decades before the real estate market tanked three years ago. That’s when he jumped into the tiny house business, starting Petaluma-based Little House On The Trailer.

His company builds and sells small houses that can serve as stand-alone homes equipped with bathrooms and kitchens, and others he calls “A Room of One’s Own” that can be used as a home office or extra bedroom. Many of his customers are looking for extra space to accommodate an aging parent or adult children who are returning home, he said.

He said his small houses, which sell for $20,000 to $50,000, are much cheaper than building a home addition and can be resold when the extra space is no longer needed. His company has sold 16 houses this year and aims to sell 20 next year.

“The business is growing as the public becomes aware of this possibility,” Marshall said. “A lot of families are moving in with one another. A lot of young people can’t afford to move out. There’s just a lot of economic pressure to find an alternative way to provide for people’s housing needs.”

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Famous Homes On Sale

The Ben Rose Auto Museum Home, Photo: Realtor.com
Photo: Realtor.com
The Ben Rose Auto Museum Home

Address: 370 Beach Street, Highland Park, IL
Asking Price: $1,650,000

To children of the ’80s and other John Hughes aficionados, 370 Beach Street will always be Cameron’s house from “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”. It was from this distinctive midcentury modern home’s glass-walled garage that the rascally Ferris and the reluctant Cameron liberated Mr. Freye’s 1961 Ferrari, and the ravine this home is perched over is where the classic car later met its demise.

“The Ferrari that went through the window was of course a mock-up of the real car,” says the property’s realtor, Meladee Hughes (no relation to John). “They could not have an explosion in the ravine so smoke bombs were put in the shattered car for effect. The window was Hollywood glass and the original window was replaced after the shoot.”

Followers of modern architecture know the home for a different reason. Acclaimed architect James Speyer, who was Mies Van Der Rohe’s first graduate student and protege, designed this 4- bedroom, 4-bath in 1953.

The former owners since the house was built were the famous textile designer Ben Rose and his wife. “Later in their lives [they] were European race car drivers and traveled the world collecting objects of art,” notes Meladee. The Beach Street address is also known as Ben Rose Auto Museum. In addition, “His work and the architectural works of James Speyer are at the Art Institute in Chicago.”

Meladee is currently negotiating with a buyer who is intrigued by the movie background but even more so by the architectural significance, and who is also interested in the art contents of the home and the European sports car collections.

Lost House, Photo: Google Maps
Photo: Google Maps
The House That 4, 8, 15, 16, 23 and 32 Built

Address: 4637 Farmer’s Road, Honolulu HI
Selling Price: $3,550,000

This 5-bedroom, 6-bath mansion was featured in Season 3 of “LOST” as Hugo “Hurley” Reyes’ nouveau riche digs in the episode “Tricia Tanaka is Dead.”

Although it was set in Los Angeles, the actual location of the home is in the Kahala neighborhood of Honolulu, Hawaii, where Lost was shot. The house of another main character, Kate, was in the same Honolulu neighborhood, as was the “LOST” headquarters.

So what’s this place like? Dude. Hurley’s new home was a long way from Mr. Cluck’s Chicken Shack, at almost 7500 square feet with a gourmet kitchen, numerous balconies, a sound system, a pool, a whirlpool, and a dolphin fountain.

It sold in August for nearly $400,000 less than the former asking price of 3.9 million. The selling price worked out to about 3% of Hurley’s $114 million lottery winnings.

Elrod House, Photo: Realtor.com
Photo: Realtor.com
The Elrod House

Address: 2175 Southridge Drive, Los Angeles, CA
Asking Price: $13,890,000

Although you may have seen this dazzling and distinctive midcentury modern dwelling before, you may not remember it so much as the beautiful women it housed. The 5-bedroom, 6-bath Palm Springs home has been the setting for the James Bond film “Diamonds are Forever”, as well as numerous Playboy shoots.

Architect John Lautner, who worked with Frank Lloyd Wright as a young man, and created the once-maligned Googie style of the 1950s and ’60s, built the distinctive Elrod House in 1968.

In addition to the singular look, the design pedigree, and the pop-cultural cachet, the Elrod House is set on between 5-10 acres in a gated community, and it has a rooftop deck with panoramic views, a pool, and a four-car carport.

How much does all that cost? To break it down, the monthly payment on this would be about $55,840. Let’s hope the buyer has enough diamonds.

Amestoy Estates House, Photo: Realtor.com
Photo: Realtor.com
Amestoy Estates House

Address: 5266 Amestoy Avenue, Encino, CA
Asking Price: $5,493,600

This 7-bedroom, 10-bath single-level Tuscan style villa is only two years old, but it’s already famous for playing the role of Vincent Chase’s house during Season 7 of the HBO series “Entourage”.

And rightly so: The 9,000 square-foot Amestoy Estates residence offers features that seem tailor-made for movie stars (and those who aspire to the Hollywood lifestyle, hopefully sans the coke binges featured this season on Entourage).

It features a media room for screening dailies (or Netflix), 20-foot ceilings, three covered patios, an Italian-tiled pool with waterfall, several fountains, a four-car garage, and an attached casita with fireplace for that special entourage member (or in-law) requiring private quarters.

Rodriguez House, Photo: Realtor.com
Photo: Realtor.com
Rodriguez House

Address: 1845 Niodrara Drive, Glendale, CA
Selling Price: $1,995,000

The esteemed Modernist architect R.M. Schindler, who developed “Space Architecture”, built this pre-WWII home for writer/composer Jose Rodriguez in 1941.

But the kids today might recognize Schindler’s creation due to a different type of space architecture: the Seth Rogen/James Franco stoner comedy “Pineapple Express”. In it, the Rodriguez House was used for the home of the drug lord Ted Jones.

The structure is made from wood, stucco, and stone, with exposed beams, large clerestory windows, two modernist fireplaces, a balcony, two screened-in patios, as well as built-in furniture separating the living room from the dining room, and in most other rooms.

It’s surprising that it listed last year at $2,475,000 but sold for much less and is now valued at $918,046, one million-plus below its sale price last December. This unique standout property is on the Glendale registry of historic places and is considered one of the best-preserved examples of Schindler’s work.

Malibu Beach House, Photo: Realtor.com
Photo: Realtor.com
Malibu Beach House

Address: 24826 Malibu Road, Malibu, CA
Rent: $55,000

Remember in the first “Sex and the City” movie when one of the sexers was no longer living in the city? This premium Malibu beach house is where Samantha Jones and Smith Jerrod made their home.

This furnished beachfront rental has 5 bedrooms and 6 baths and features four decks, an enormous glass wall facing the ocean for breathtaking ocean views, stone flooring, a bar, a pool table, closed circuit TV, as well as fireplaces in the library, living room, and master bedroom. The film location website Iamnotastalker.com notes that it appears the same furniture provided in the rental was used in the movie.

The same website reports that when the movie filmed in 2008 the house was on the market for $17 million, which later dropped to $14.5 million. It’s now renting for $55,000, down from $75,000 in 2009. No word on whether the swarthy showering hunk Dante from next door is included in the package.

Ennis House, Photo: Realtor.com
Photo: Realtor.com
Ennis House

Address: 2607 Glendower Avenue, Los Feliz, L.A., CA
Asking Price: $7,495,000

This dramatic Mayan-inspired residence embodies architectural and celluloid history. Frank Lloyd Wright designed the hilltop home known as Ennis House in 1924, and it features Wright hallmarks like prairie-style leaded mitered glass. Another distinguishing factor is its glass mosaic fireplace-one of only four of its kind, and the best-preserved example.

Built in 1924, this 4-bedroom, 4.5-bathroom, 6000 square-foot temple-like home is situated atop a hill in a gated community in Los Feliz. It features cavernous ceilings with exposed beams, marble floors, a guest house, a pool framed by a window-lined loggia, and unhindered views of the ocean, canyon, and city lights.

Classic film buffs will recognize it as the home where Vincent Price’s character offered $10,000 to anyone who could last the night there in the 1959 thriller, the original “House on Haunted Hill”. It also served as the home to Angel the vampire in seasons 2 and 3 of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”, and made appearances in “Blade Runner”, the TV series “Twin Peaks”, and too many others to list. Visit the home’s website for more of its history.

Malibu Colony House, Photo: Realtor.com
Photo: Realtor.com
Malibu Colony House

Address: 23360 Malibu Colony Road
Selling Price: $14,950, 000

This early-’90s era 4-bedroom, 4-bath mansion in the exclusive gated community Malibu Colony once belonged to Lawrence and Linda Elins, victims of Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, who lost the home to foreclosure. To add insult to injury, Wells Fargo bank senior VP Cheronda Guyton, who worked with foreclosed properties, was then caught hosting lavish parties there in September of 2009. Guyton’s jig was up when neighbors noticed her taking long weekends at the home and decided to investigate.

At one point the home was listed for $18 million, but it sold in August for $3 million less. What’s included with a price tag like that? An airy floor plan opening out to the Pacific Ocean, chef’s kitchen with high-end appliances, master bath with steam shower and spa tub, walk-in closet, neighbors like Tom Hanks, and hopefully no more partying squatters.

Valley Oak Two, Photo: Realtor.com
Photo: Realtor.com
Valley Oak Two

Address: 5731 Valley Oak Drive, Los Angeles, CA
Selling Price: $2,325,000

This 4-bedroom, 4-bath midcentury home in L.A.’s Los Feliz neighborhood is known from seasons 2, 3 and the recently concluded Season 4 of Bravo’s real estate reality show “Flippin’ Out”. It’s actually the second house on Valley Oak Drive that was lived in and revamped by host Jeff Lewis and his entourage of humans and pets on the house-flipping program.

The previous owner of the house refused to leave the property, even after demolition had begun. Fortunately this makes for good reality TV, but not wanting to leave is understandable. With open terraces offering city, mountain, and ocean views, and a pool with whirlpool, this home is an inspiration for California dreaming.

Lewis bought the house in 2007 for just over $1,700,000 million. After he and his crew worked their magic, his original asking price in 2008 was $3,195,000, which went down to $2,595,000. It sold in October for $2,325,000.

Beverly Hills, 90254, Photo: Realtor.com
Photo: Realtor.com
Beverly Hills, 90254

Address: 3500 The Strand, Hermosa Beach, CA
Asking Price: $10.5 million

This charming 3-story Cape Cod built in 1915 boasts 6 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms, hardwood floors, a wrap-around patio, and decks on the top two floors.

But what really makes this home special is its past role as the college apartment for some of the characters on “Beverly Hills, 90210” during seasons 3 and 4. This site was the stage for many a dramatic plot twist from our shared cultural heritage: the time Kelly Taylor’s stalker went all Single White Female on her, and that other time that Donna Martin was assaulted by a different stalker before David Silver saved her… Ah, memories.

Bonus pop culture points: This beauty of a property also makes a cameo in the background of a beach scene in the 1989 Jeff Goldblum/ Geena Davis movie Earth Girls Are Easy.

Oh-there’s also the slight matter of the house being directly on Hermosa Beach overlooking the Pacific Ocean. That could also account for the $10.5 million price tag.

Amid housing slump, home sizes shrink

The median American home size has dropped to 2,100 square feet — down from 2,300 at the peak of the housing boom in 2007 — according to a study by Trulia.com, a real estate website. Each year, Builder magazine designs a concept home to reflect the current state of the market. This year, the “Home for the New Economy” is just 1700 square feet.

In part, the downsizing trend is a product of necessity. During the years of the housing boom, many home expansions were financed through home re-financing deals. Now that home loans have frozen up, people are less likely to be able to afford building that new game-room they’d been wanting.

[Video: Man’s tiny, 89-square-foot house]

But a broader shift of cultural preferences could also be spurring the shift, experts say. Backyards are also getting smaller, with more homeowners opting for spreads that feature front porches and communal green spaces. Some say that’s a sign that Americans are hungering for more of a sense of community in their living environments.

So how are homes changing as they get smaller? Builders are increasingly doing away with formal living rooms, sitting rooms and extra bathrooms, which many people have found they don’t use.

[Related: Sprawling (and modest) homes of Internet wizards]

“The whole glow of bigness kind of wore off all of a sudden,” Sarah Susanka, an architect, told CNBC.com. It’s time, she added, “to bring some sanity back to the equation.”

“This is yet another piece of data that the pendulum is swinging back toward smaller housing in walkable urban locations,” Christopher Leinberger, an urban planning expert at the Brookings Institution, told The Lookout. In Leinberger’s view, the small-is-beautiful shift comes from established baby boomer homeowners as well as from so-called millennials who are just coming into their first mortgages. “One’s downsizing and one’s getting their foot in the door,” he said. “And both are looking for walkable urban places at higher rates” than is the case among other age demographics.

[Photos: One of world’s most expensive homes]

Dan Burden of Walkable Communities, which supports a smaller-scale, less auto-centric approach to urban planning, agreed. “More and more of the millennial generation are recognizing that they don’t want to grow up in the ‘burbs,” Burden told The Lookout. “They want more livable, walkable communities.”

New Listing Featuring a VIDEO TOUR – EAST 90S & 3rd Avenue – Below Market Value

Just hit the market…Upper East Side One Bedroom Rental…VIDEO TOUR…East 90S & 3RD Avenue

Well maintained walk up building, fourth floor unit, newly installed video intercom system, separate eat in kitchen including appliances, tiled bathroom, large living room featuring a southern exposure view, 12′ X 12′ bedroom – can fit a queen size bed and extra furniture, original prewar detail, new hardwood floors, live in super, three blocks away from the 6 line!

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