The Big Appeal of Tiny Homes

Since the housing crash of the late 2000s, more and more Americans have been downsizing and simplifying their lives by moving into tiny homes. Tiny homes are traditionally defined as a home with around or below 400 square feet. Over the past decade, an entire tiny house cultural movement has sprung up featuring everything from tiny house Instagram influencers to HGTV shows. There are several reasons people have been making the switch from wanting to be environmentally friendly or living a simpler life.

1. They are good for the environment.

Tiny homes are great for the environment. They generate substantially less CO2 than average homes and traditional mobile homes. Heating and cooling a tiny home generate roughly 850 pounds of CO2 compared to 12,000 pounds of CO2 to do the same for a traditional home.

It’s not just heating and cooling reducing the environmental impact. The manufacturing process is also substantially more efficient. Tiny house builders employ greener, more sustainable materials. During the construction of an average 2,000-square-foot home, four to seven tons of waste can be generated. Tiny homes, by comparison, generate significantly less waste in their construction.

2. Minimalism is trendy. 

The average size of a single-family home in the United States has been trending upwards. From 1978 to 2013, the average size of a single-family home grew from 1,708 to 2,662 square feet despite a decrease in the size of the average American family. The rise of the tiny house movement is often seen as a small-scale rebellion to the trends in American homebuilding.

Minimalism itself is having a moment in pop culture. Japanese consultant Marie Kondo took Netflix by storm with her show focused on clearing out people’s homes of everything that did not spark joy. Countless podcasts, blogs [link to “Marie Kondo Your Mobile Home” blog post], and books have proliferated in recent years giving advice on how people can live life with less clutter. All this is to say, minimalism is in right now and looks to have serious cultural staying power.

3. They are affordable. 

Perhaps the biggest factor in the tiny home movement is their affordability. In the Bay Area, for example, tiny homes offer the chance to own a home for about the same price you’d pay to rent the same square footage in an apartment complex, and for far less than you’d spend on a mortgage in the area. Tiny homes even have a leg up on traditional manufactured homes. The price for a fully equipped, two-story tiny home, including transport, setup, and skirting is approximately $70,800. Compare this to a well-appointed 24×54 doublewide with the same services coming in at $153,600.

Furthermore, tiny home owners save money on their monthly utility bills. Tiny homes are incredibly energy efficient, requiring approximately 7 percent of the average kilowatts required to light an average-sized American home. Tiny homes also offer other efficiencies through the use of specially designed ventilation systems, passive solar orientation, and more. This can provide substantial savings for residents. Older manufactured homes are tremendously inefficient, leading to energy bills upwards $200 a month. Tiny homes can reduce energy bills by 75 percent on average.

Making the Switch 

Tiny homes have taken off over the past decade. Whether you’re looking to reduce your environmental impact, save some money, or even just live a simpler life, tiny homes can help you meet your goals.

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At Harmony Communities, we feel strongly that each resident has a sense of home. That they come home from work and feel pride in their environment and in their place in the greater community. That families are comfortable raising children in our neighborhoods, and that couples and singles know that they belong to something bigger than their four walls. In other words, we seek to create harmony within each community, making our communities not just passable, but peaceful, safe, functional, and beautiful.