looking for alternative ways to live rent free and my latest obsession is tiny house big living… I have talked my husband into doing it with me this spring. We are also considering keeping our apt just for airbnb alone. Any suggestions?
My partner has tapped into Airbnb and is slowly converting his shop into a tiny house. Seems that in some markets, tiny living is on the rise and very popular. I’m from Los Angeles and tiny houses fetch a premium there. I would stay in the apt and Airbnb the tiny house.
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This makes me feel so old. Tiny Living? How very hip. All ten of us used to live in a cardboard box in the middle of the road back in the day. We just called it normal.
joke
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@Elaine_Dannie_Eason There are lots of resources out there for Tiny House Living, including Tiny House Magazine - which I highly recommend - but my one word of advice is that Tiny Houses are actually not that cheap - not the ones most often highlighted - and they will never be considered real property. They are fancy trailers. Unless mobility is your main directive I would consider simply buying a very small house. It depends on the area in which you live, but in New York State there are TONS of small houses that sit unoccupied because no one will consider living in 700 sq ft house anymore.
When the Tiny House fad is over you might regret sinking 60K into something that is not really property, but disposable goods.
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And I should also point out that the real issue with a TH is not buying one but figuring out where you will park it. If you price land and then the cost of bringing electric and water to it you might as well buy a real house. (Which is the dilemma I had in the Catskills.) There are some nice Tiny House parks out there, but unless you have a family member willing to host you you’re gonna end up in a trailer park.
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I think if you have an apt and a tiny house, it may be better to Airbnb the tiny house because more people may be interested in this concept and they may want to experience it. But it also depends on maintenance and other issues.
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I guess it;s kind of a novelty thing? I’d love to stay in a tiny house just because of the concept, like Freya said.
There’s no such thing as Free Lunch — or Free Rent. Tiny houses – the cute ones you see on TV have mega price tags that do not include the place to put them.
I have a “tiny house” - it’s the 26 ft sailboat that I liveaboard when I’m not at my partner’s house cooking dinner for our AirBnb guests. I own that “retirement boat/home” outright, but still get charged a couple hundred a month to park it at a marina. I could have “free rent” by anchoring out in the middle of the river; but then I’d pay good money and extra effort to dinghy back and forth from a boat launch to the boat. Not to mention the potential for an un-inhabited boat to be vandalized or even stolen.
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Precisely. It’s a fancy trailer. And trailer space, at least in Calfornia, is going to be at least $400 or $500/month plus your utilities.
If you can find someone to let you park the thing on their land it might be a good thing, but you’d need to tap into their electricity and you’d most like have to use a port-a-potty.
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can you believe an entire family lived in a home with JUST ONE BATHROOM !
I build a small house I rent on air. I can see myself living there when the children move out. I don’t know if my husband feels the same… 
That made me laugh - the majority of families in the UK live with ‘just one bathroom’. 
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I was just thinking that @Helsi. Here in London the majority of siblings also room share.
Still I had a new understanding of tiny when I watched a video about Japanese flats in Tokyo. They make even my little place seem positively palacial.
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A WHOLE BATHROOM?! How posh! We used to have a tin bath in the kitchen. And an outdoor toilet …
Unfortunately NOT a joke, just life in a Northern England working-class home in the 1950s …
and @Magwitch, you’ve been watching too much Monty Python!
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And squares of newspaper hanging from a nail.
Ditto. 
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I echo Catskills.
Is this a business proposition, or would you just like the idea and if it makes some money great?
If you’re asking whether it’s a viable business proposition need to consider questions people have raised.
Not absolutely clear from your question, but am I correct that you’re thinking of building a tiny house to live in, then retaining the apartment that you currently rent to use for airbnb?
Indeed. I think that sketch has come up on here before now!
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