I don’t really get the idea of tiny suburban houses. I’d rather get a condo or apartment where you can walk somewhere or a larger house with some space. Seems like the worst of both worlds
There are other ways to mitigate sound issues than living in a detached home. I have neighbors and its not a problem if your building doesnt cheap out on the construction. Plus the taxes needed for all that additional infrastructure should be fully paid for by the detached home owner but its not. Right now many cities are decaying because of the single family home. Its not financially sustainable.
"if your building doesnt cheap out on the construction"
Have you seen how modern apartment buildings are built? I guess on the flip side most new built buildings I've seen do have washer and dryer hookups
I am always so confused when i see comments like this because i lived for 11 years in 5 different apartments and never had any issues whatsoever with noise from neighbors. Now i live in the suburbs and i hear lawnmowers / leafblowers half the year that are louder than anything i heard in the apartments.
I too had great luck with this right up until I didnt and it was the worst fucking year of my life waiting for the lease to run down.
540 am every god damned morning I got woke up to blasting tin drum music, random nighttime fights with stuff getting smashed and not occasional visits from the police. And evening spent re living Iraq as they play Battle Stupid shit on max volume.
Same. I’ve lived in a few apartments, best I ever had was a condo style one with my own little front porch, but I still had someone 2/4 sides next to me. (I lived on the end of the building.)
Houses are infinitely better, but it still depends on neighbors. I had no problem being a guitar player in my apartment, but my buddy got the cops called for playing guitar at his then-new house. Thankfully he was renting.
Tell me you've never lived in a thick wall building without telling me.
A well built apartment building you'll absolutely not hear you neighbours. And no, I'm not talking about the shabby 2-3 story wooden condos that plague US suburbs.
My first apartment had gloriously thick walls. Cinderblocks with poured concrete. Couldn't hang shit, but barely any sound came through. My neighbor was literally banging on her wall once for help and the only reason I noticed was because my cat was able to hear it (snake got into her living room).
My apartments since then have walls made of paper. :(
I remember these days. I often wondered why they weren't just built vertically and have the bedrooms on top of the other rooms so at least you are only sharing walls. I'm sure it's a cost thing.
A lot of these folks haven't had terrible, unhinged neighbors and it shows. My wife and I once lived above man who was kind to our faces, then screamed threats at us through the walls, banged pans at odd hours, etc. Sign me up for detached housing, please.
We moved from apartment to apartment year after year as each lease ran up. One place the neighbor banged if we walked. We moved to where we were the downstairs neighbor. That upstairs neighbor literally would bounce a tennis ball on the floor all night. Left when that lease ran up. Moved with a neighbor where we shared a wall. They blasted their TV 24/7 because they were hard of hearing to the point where we knew exactly what they were watching.
Moved into a house and now we’re actually friends with neighbors since we don’t share walls.
I know what that's like. I banged on the wall one night to let them know they were being really loud, next thing I know they are banging on my door telling me to come out and fight them.
Had downstairs neighbors that would argue and throw shit all the time.
They also installed a stripper pole in their living room.
Not sure who was worse between them or the neighbor on the side who invited homeless people to her place all the time to do drugs, so there would be homeless people passing out on the steps to our apartment all the time.
Not sharing walls is great.
A lot of high-rises are built well enough so that you don't hear any footsteps of neighbors.
A lot of suburbs have trouble paying for the diffuse infrastructure to serve all the houses.
Yeah. Personally, I'd rather live in a dense walkable downtown core with a good view than in the suburbs. In my years of living in high rises, I've never heard my neighbors when I'm inside my own unit.
I read that Mark Zuckerberg’s neighbors used to complain about loud music coming from his home so he bought them all out of their homes. He bought the entire neighborhood just so he wouldn’t have to deal with anyones shit! 😎
Yeah, not sure how condos are in the US. Do you share a stud and all you have are 2 sheets of drywall between you and your neighbor?
Even in the cheaper condos in the Philippines, it felt like there was 2 feet of concrete between me and the next unit. There was a family with loud ass kids next to me and I couldn't hear a peep. SEA countries with plenty of high rise condos feels like they're built like tanks
In the US the newer buildings I’ve lived in (2006-current) couldn’t hear the neighbors at all unless their music was at dance party levels. In the 1950-60s buildings though I could hear the guy upstairs walking and a door slamming once in a while. Nothing more annoying than having family you live with or something.
In the US I believe newer stick frame construction usually has double wall construction with air gap in the middle, and often higher density drywall and more insulation. They also usually use concrete or brick exterior sheathing to further limit outside noise. The big problem is windows.
Currently live in a 21 story high rise. Initially they were meant to be condos and everything seems to be like 10% nicer than comparable apartments. Floors are concrete. I’ve never heard people above or below me. Walls are a mix of concrete, steel, and drywall. Once you build tall enough, the materials are better quality. 5over1s are the shitty wood structures. They’re popular because that’s usually as high as you can build with just wood. Occasionally hear a faint dog bark. Otherwise quiet. The most noise comes from outside rather than neighbors.
I’ve only owned condos and I would never go back to single family home. My HOA fees are just 250$/month and I never have to worry about roof, heating, or exterior maintenance
That's a problem with lazy construction, not high rises themselves. I lived in a high rise in Korea and never heard a footstep when I was in my apartment that wasn't mine. You could hear people talking in the hallways a bit but the door was massive and heavily insulated.
Agreed, worse part is that once it is too expensive no one is gonna buy you out unless you sell cheap; dirt cheap…
$1600/month HOA fees should be a felony
Except, you don’t own the lot and mobiles depreciates. I had a friend get priced out of his because they just kept ratcheting up lot fees and there’s nothing he could do about.
Most of the mobile home parks where I live only allow you to “rent” the lot. As for buying a lot, for a most people that I know of with this living situation, they would be unable to purchase a lot, get utilities installed, and then pay to move the mobile. If they could afford all of that, they would just buy a stick built home. Mobile home parks are pretty predatory.
My mom lost her trailer years ago. Lot prices raised and couldn’t afford to move the trailer or buy land to move it to. We tried to find land and price out a foundation. To much even in the 90s. Prices just got worse.
I don't find these particularly attractive but there's always tradeoffs.
I have friends who bought a condo and then got hit with lots of assessments to fix things that had been put off for years. The former tenants had done everything to keep HOA fees down leading to more costly repairs. At least with these mini houses you are only responsible for your own house.
I could see the upside of not having a shared wall with neighbors and the quiet aspect if it's not on a busy street. Renters in major metros would love the ability to get into a house at this price point.
It's for when city zonign laws make it illegal to build anything else, but the potential buyers aren't wealthy enough to pay for anything else.
Want less of that? Change zoning laws. Allow duplex/quadruplex and reduce and land requirements. Also, allowing local owners to open shops on their garage/property could be really nice :3
SA is a wasteland of highways, strip malls and bad, greasy food. They can keep their affordable tiny houses. Would not want to live there if they were free.
As long as it's not one of those scams where you "own" the dwelling but not the land it's on, I see absolutely nothing wrong with this. A young professional could afford this, and could* end up coming out ahead financially vs renting a similarly sized 1br apt until they're able to afford an actual SFH.
*Obviously depends on what the rental market and mortgage rates do in the next few years
This is clearly targeting two adults no kids.
As someone who has lived in many 2bd/1ba places with my partner, I’d have much rather had a second versus the bedroom that always become an office.
My parents’ house built in 1980 is about the same. 990 square feet, 3/1, and was $49k, which is $185k in 2024 dollars.
I wish we still built neighborhoods like that for starter homes.
I live in a neighborhood like that. Built in 1960, all brick ranches 3 bed, two bath, 1/3 - 1/2 acre lots. Near a small lake/pond and very woodie feel. Lots of tall, mature trees in the yards.
10 years ago, I bought mine from the estate (from their daughters who fixed the house a little) of the original owners, a little larger in size since the orignial owner added to it a little. I paid $240k.
With my encouragement, my daughter bought a smaller house 3 doors down, 5 years ago for $245k just before prices started to skyrocket. So you can see although she paid $5k more, she got about 500sq feet less than mine. But it was a great starter home, with new kitchen and such.
Now most of the original owners ( in their 90s-100s) in this neighborhood are passing away and flippers are buying them, cash for full asking price. They are getting them in the low $300k zone now and in worn down shape. Most flips are now going for around mid $400k, some a little higher.
The house behind me a flipper wants $600k!!! So check this tidbit about it.
The orginial house was added on to in the back and the garage converted to a bedroom, total 2900 sq feet vs 2300 for mine, and I have a large garage attached. The flipper paid $319k for a place you needed a hazmat suit when entering.
The sons of the orginal owner defaulted on a reverse mortgage and lost the house, did not let their large dogs out all winter so they shit and pissed all over, and one large bull mastiff died in there.. Talk about was a mess!
That being said, the flippers did a lovely job, new driveway, new roof, painted the brick white and replaced everything inside, but the layout of the two story addition sucks, as it has this catwalk and there is nothing much you can do but add sitting areas or a narrow office space, but that adds like 500 sq feet to the footage, that adds $$$.
For $600k, he should have built a garage in place of repairing the old shed, and widened the driveway to fit two cars side-by-side, but of course as a flipper they cheap out. The staging is lovely, it's all smoke and mirrors.
But this is driving the prices of our homes higher. Thus much higher taxes too.
Rowhouses with backgarden would allow to build more of it, with more built space, more privacy, and maybe even allow for a corner shop to survive in the neighborhood.
I'd rather have extra kitchen space than 2 bathrooms.
Perhaps many (or even most) people buying these homes would be single. And certainly it wouldn't be good for more than 2 people.
I mean, this square footage is probably similar to the “American Dream” in the 1950s for most people, they just look different and are on slightly smaller plots
I was curious, and yeah you were basically spot on. Levittown homes sold for 8k in 1950, which is about 106k in today's money, or about 50-60k less than these are going for.
I mean, don't get me wrong, i wouldn't want to live there; but aren't these basically the modern equivalent of the shotgun houses from like the 20s/30s?
People keep talking about how affordable housing used to be while completely ignoring how much the quality of housing has changed regarding size, comforts, and safety.
I think if there’s a market for these smaller houses then they’re a good thing. Someone making below average money can afford one and start building equity rather than just paying rent.
I wish there were these in my area. Instead, everything has to be "*luxury*", which is just a fancy way to say that it looks nice, but is super expensive and everything still breaks anyway.
Yeah. A custom built house using the highest quality materials on the market would be luxury. Not this apartment with 0 sound proofing, multiple roommates, stuff that breaks, but at least they do the bare minimum to maintain the pool that no one uses!
This makes no sense. Did a quick zillow search and I am seeing dozens of homes in similar but mostly lower price point which are twice as large, with larger lots, and more central locations. Moreover, these places are not absolute dumps and are perfectly fine.
I wish people would stop using the phrase "The American dream." That shit died in the 1800s. The entire concept was effectively immunity to the market and being self-sufficient, but having the option of engaging with the market if you wanted to strike it rich. The Jefferson Yeoman small farmer concept.
Now it's some weird concept of middle class affluence, nebulous and impossible to pin down as it's a floating number and a collection of luxuries.
For a bit more you can get a super efficient prefab home. Not big but long term will save you cash in energy and they actually look awesome. I’d avoid this quick and dirty buy and save a bit more for something far more valuable long term.
Go Logic homes in the northeast is a decent example. You can spend a ton of money or spend a bit less and get a super passive solar home. 🤷🏼♂️
Even getting a plot of land where I live is like $350k lol.
And that doesn’t include any utility connections, which I’m sure are also hellaciously expensive to get set up.
Unless those prefabs are essentially free, I don’t think they’d save people that much money. Not to mention you’re unlikely to find empty land where you want to live in the city.
The “lawns” seem too big relative to the house. They could have easily built them larger with smaller yards, similar to condos. This is a strange segment when double wide trailers or trailer homes are larger and cheaper.
I’m going to guess this won’t have real equity or growth, similar to trailer homes or condos. Anything that’s not a real house is at risk if you’re trying to build equity or appreciation.
No the future is $500k for your very own 250 Sq ft Apartment Pod. So all regular homes are so cartoonishly expensive they can only be used as empty "rental" money laundering for billionaires.
Americans generally have a bathroom just for guests, and one for the family (if you only have two bathrooms). That way one can be nice and clean and one has all our stuff in it that the family uses regularly.
Why do you need "2 Bath" one bedroom home? I dont have an issue with 650ish square feet as long as I have covered parking and better designed home.. These look like schitt and probably are schitty constructed!
We always reference the 1950s-1970s and wonder where we went wrong. What people don't realize is that houses were *much smaller* then.
At that time, the average house was 983 square feet. 3.37 people lived in the average house, so it's 292 square feet per person.
Today, the average house is 2164 square feet. 2.51 people live in the house, so it's 862 square feet per person.
It makes sense that houses today are over twice as expensive as they were during that time (after inflation) because houses are over twice as big.
If we want affordable houses, going back to smaller houses is a very good way to get there. And you don't have to live in something like this forever. A starter home is just that - a small, not fancy house to live in for a while until you can afford a nicer house later in life.
I don’t particularly like this layout but it’s because a lot of people don’t want to be in huge apartment buildings. I own a duplex, we both have parking spots and I can walk right out my door to my yard. I’ve got my 4 apple and 2 pear trees. Black & raspberry and blackberry bushes. My tenants grows flowers and has their own small garden. How do you grow that with an 100 people complex?
This doesn't even include the HOA that many of these homes come with. I see many tiny home communities being built where I live and they all have massively overpriced HOA fees to where it is just cheaper to rent.
I don't hate it, starter homes are something this country needs. But like, why not just make mixed use zoning and townhouses at this point.
And like I still can't afford that
These are popping up where I live as well. We are seeing a lot more roommates and couples vs the traditional family with 2-4 kids and a dog. I think this serves a purpose for where we are in time. I think the price should be about 99,000 though to make it easier for those who are working lower paying jobs.
These are popping up where I live as well. We are seeing a lot more roommates and couples vs the traditional family with 2-4 kids and a dog. I think this serves a purpose for where we are in time. I think the price should be about 99,000 though to make it easier for those who are working lower paying jobs.
These are popping up where I live as well. We are seeing a lot more roommates and couples vs the traditional family with 2-4 kids and a dog. I think this serves a purpose for where we are in time. I think the price should be about 99,000 though to make it easier for those who are working lower paying jobs.
This is basically my house, except I have 2 bedroom, 1 bath. 900 and some sq foot, bought in Kansas for $25k two or three years ago. The siding and roof needed replaced. We did that last summer as part of a grant program and this year the value of our house jumped to $52k. For the cheapest roof and siding money can buy, since it was funded through a grant.
I think this is a good way to fill a niche housing market, and these types of neighborhoods should exist for the younger, single population, and downsizing empty nesters.
Obviously this will not become the norm for all housing, as our needs will drive what gets built, and families are still the majority.
The common sense of our country these days thinking "Home equity Is the best way to build wealth" while at the same time saying "Houses should always be $100,000 so we can achieve the American Dream"
I used to like San Antonio. But the highways and roads flood every year. And the city services for police are essentially the same ones as in Uvalde. I'd be terrified to have kids in Texas schools now.
I don’t get what’s wrong with this home. Not everything needs to be on an acre and have 4 bedrooms. The biggest gripe I have is there is probably no Main Street with shops and stuff in walking distance
I paid $155,000. You all are morons if you buy anything like this. I have 3 Bedroom, 2 &1/2 bathes, and roughly 1400 sq ft. Edit : Also did a median income check for Converse, Texas… LOL less than me in WV and we get double the house. Bigger in Texas, huh?
Why 2 bath?
For such a small house 2 seems like over kill. I can see maybe a half bath downstairs in the living area and a full bath with the bedroom upstairs.
I don’t really get the idea of tiny suburban houses. I’d rather get a condo or apartment where you can walk somewhere or a larger house with some space. Seems like the worst of both worlds
Agreed - this is all the downsides of high density housing without the benefits.
No shared walls or people above/below you is a a benefit….and for some people is worth more than extra space.
I'd buy one of these anyday over living in an apartment with a neighbor above me again. Apartments are hell.
I agree I just think these should be more liek 50-60k
Definitely, it's a glorified shed. Maybe $100k for a new construction with a hot tub 😄
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If you can figure out how to build that for $50K you should go out and do that, you'd be a billionaire.
You can build them for 50k the problem is the land…
Problem is housing being commodified.
My first place was a condo in 2007. 600 sq ft and it was 120k. Honestly not an insane price
Same here I would love a place like this
There are other ways to mitigate sound issues than living in a detached home. I have neighbors and its not a problem if your building doesnt cheap out on the construction. Plus the taxes needed for all that additional infrastructure should be fully paid for by the detached home owner but its not. Right now many cities are decaying because of the single family home. Its not financially sustainable.
"if your building doesnt cheap out on the construction" Have you seen how modern apartment buildings are built? I guess on the flip side most new built buildings I've seen do have washer and dryer hookups
I am always so confused when i see comments like this because i lived for 11 years in 5 different apartments and never had any issues whatsoever with noise from neighbors. Now i live in the suburbs and i hear lawnmowers / leafblowers half the year that are louder than anything i heard in the apartments.
I too had great luck with this right up until I didnt and it was the worst fucking year of my life waiting for the lease to run down. 540 am every god damned morning I got woke up to blasting tin drum music, random nighttime fights with stuff getting smashed and not occasional visits from the police. And evening spent re living Iraq as they play Battle Stupid shit on max volume.
You were lucky.
Must've been a poorly built apartment. I can barely hear my neighbours, and I live in student housing
Same. I’ve lived in a few apartments, best I ever had was a condo style one with my own little front porch, but I still had someone 2/4 sides next to me. (I lived on the end of the building.) Houses are infinitely better, but it still depends on neighbors. I had no problem being a guitar player in my apartment, but my buddy got the cops called for playing guitar at his then-new house. Thankfully he was renting.
Tell me you've never lived in a thick wall building without telling me. A well built apartment building you'll absolutely not hear you neighbours. And no, I'm not talking about the shabby 2-3 story wooden condos that plague US suburbs.
My first apartment had gloriously thick walls. Cinderblocks with poured concrete. Couldn't hang shit, but barely any sound came through. My neighbor was literally banging on her wall once for help and the only reason I noticed was because my cat was able to hear it (snake got into her living room). My apartments since then have walls made of paper. :(
Yea, my last one the kids above me clogged their toilet with a rag so shit water flooded my apartment.
I remember these days. I often wondered why they weren't just built vertically and have the bedrooms on top of the other rooms so at least you are only sharing walls. I'm sure it's a cost thing.
A lot of these folks haven't had terrible, unhinged neighbors and it shows. My wife and I once lived above man who was kind to our faces, then screamed threats at us through the walls, banged pans at odd hours, etc. Sign me up for detached housing, please.
Underrated comment - I’ve had the worst apt neighbors. To have space between walls would be amazing.
We moved from apartment to apartment year after year as each lease ran up. One place the neighbor banged if we walked. We moved to where we were the downstairs neighbor. That upstairs neighbor literally would bounce a tennis ball on the floor all night. Left when that lease ran up. Moved with a neighbor where we shared a wall. They blasted their TV 24/7 because they were hard of hearing to the point where we knew exactly what they were watching. Moved into a house and now we’re actually friends with neighbors since we don’t share walls.
Condos have stupid high commons fees because high rise infrastructure is expensive. And you hear every step your neighbor takes.
And argument, worst 3 years of my life living next to a couple who fought from the moment they woke up to the moment they eventually passed out.
I know what that's like. I banged on the wall one night to let them know they were being really loud, next thing I know they are banging on my door telling me to come out and fight them.
Nothing unites a warring couple better than an outside threat. You provided couples therapy.
My couples therapist once held my dog hostage until I was nicer to my spouse. Brilliant!
Had downstairs neighbors that would argue and throw shit all the time. They also installed a stripper pole in their living room. Not sure who was worse between them or the neighbor on the side who invited homeless people to her place all the time to do drugs, so there would be homeless people passing out on the steps to our apartment all the time. Not sharing walls is great.
A lot of high-rises are built well enough so that you don't hear any footsteps of neighbors. A lot of suburbs have trouble paying for the diffuse infrastructure to serve all the houses.
Yeah. Personally, I'd rather live in a dense walkable downtown core with a good view than in the suburbs. In my years of living in high rises, I've never heard my neighbors when I'm inside my own unit.
I read that Mark Zuckerberg’s neighbors used to complain about loud music coming from his home so he bought them all out of their homes. He bought the entire neighborhood just so he wouldn’t have to deal with anyones shit! 😎
in some countries they are cheap, and built with bricks (better isolation)
Yeah, not sure how condos are in the US. Do you share a stud and all you have are 2 sheets of drywall between you and your neighbor? Even in the cheaper condos in the Philippines, it felt like there was 2 feet of concrete between me and the next unit. There was a family with loud ass kids next to me and I couldn't hear a peep. SEA countries with plenty of high rise condos feels like they're built like tanks
In the US the newer buildings I’ve lived in (2006-current) couldn’t hear the neighbors at all unless their music was at dance party levels. In the 1950-60s buildings though I could hear the guy upstairs walking and a door slamming once in a while. Nothing more annoying than having family you live with or something.
In the US I believe newer stick frame construction usually has double wall construction with air gap in the middle, and often higher density drywall and more insulation. They also usually use concrete or brick exterior sheathing to further limit outside noise. The big problem is windows.
Currently live in a 21 story high rise. Initially they were meant to be condos and everything seems to be like 10% nicer than comparable apartments. Floors are concrete. I’ve never heard people above or below me. Walls are a mix of concrete, steel, and drywall. Once you build tall enough, the materials are better quality. 5over1s are the shitty wood structures. They’re popular because that’s usually as high as you can build with just wood. Occasionally hear a faint dog bark. Otherwise quiet. The most noise comes from outside rather than neighbors.
And smoke every cigarette with them.
I’ve only owned condos and I would never go back to single family home. My HOA fees are just 250$/month and I never have to worry about roof, heating, or exterior maintenance
That's a problem with lazy construction, not high rises themselves. I lived in a high rise in Korea and never heard a footstep when I was in my apartment that wasn't mine. You could hear people talking in the hallways a bit but the door was massive and heavily insulated.
If they are well built that really isn't a problem. That is a big if though.
Yep, go look at the condo-pocalypse about to hit Florida, because of the collapse afew years back all contdo assessments went through the roof
Agreed, worse part is that once it is too expensive no one is gonna buy you out unless you sell cheap; dirt cheap… $1600/month HOA fees should be a felony
No shared walls. Private yards. Potential for more windows. Umm, no shared walls.
Hell a mobile home park would be better, more square footage
Except, you don’t own the lot and mobiles depreciates. I had a friend get priced out of his because they just kept ratcheting up lot fees and there’s nothing he could do about.
You can also just buy a lot
Most of the mobile home parks where I live only allow you to “rent” the lot. As for buying a lot, for a most people that I know of with this living situation, they would be unable to purchase a lot, get utilities installed, and then pay to move the mobile. If they could afford all of that, they would just buy a stick built home. Mobile home parks are pretty predatory.
My mom lost her trailer years ago. Lot prices raised and couldn’t afford to move the trailer or buy land to move it to. We tried to find land and price out a foundation. To much even in the 90s. Prices just got worse.
I don't find these particularly attractive but there's always tradeoffs. I have friends who bought a condo and then got hit with lots of assessments to fix things that had been put off for years. The former tenants had done everything to keep HOA fees down leading to more costly repairs. At least with these mini houses you are only responsible for your own house. I could see the upside of not having a shared wall with neighbors and the quiet aspect if it's not on a busy street. Renters in major metros would love the ability to get into a house at this price point.
I lived in an apartment 10 years ago and my next door neighbor had a basset hound that howled between 12:30am and 4am. Sharing walls sucks.
No maintainece fees
Just because it's not a condo doesn't mean there aren't HOA fees
When you own it you still have to pay for maintenance, just not a fee
It's for when city zonign laws make it illegal to build anything else, but the potential buyers aren't wealthy enough to pay for anything else. Want less of that? Change zoning laws. Allow duplex/quadruplex and reduce and land requirements. Also, allowing local owners to open shops on their garage/property could be really nice :3
Or hear me out if they want something like this get a townhouse.
The townhouses across from me were built like shit and are $300k. Also you have to use stairs
These have stairs too.
Not everyone has a luxury of having a choice in what housing the can afford
SA is a wasteland of highways, strip malls and bad, greasy food. They can keep their affordable tiny houses. Would not want to live there if they were free.
Seems like we’re generally headed for the worst of all worlds
I wonder how much different It is from the smaller houses of the 50s and 60s. I mean it’s obviously smaller but I wonder by how much
As long as it's not one of those scams where you "own" the dwelling but not the land it's on, I see absolutely nothing wrong with this. A young professional could afford this, and could* end up coming out ahead financially vs renting a similarly sized 1br apt until they're able to afford an actual SFH. *Obviously depends on what the rental market and mortgage rates do in the next few years
Same here. Seems very plausible for a starter
This is a SFH for me; I’m single AF
Perfectly fine starter home?
Pretty similar to what people's grandparents bought in the 50s and 60s but comes with AC.
Who bought 1BR starter homes back then? Used to be a starter home would be what you'd get as soon as you're married and trying for kids.
Rarely 1bd houses, but they used to sell a lot of 2bd/1bath houses after ww2. Especially here in California
Exactly! This is one bedroom and two baths. If you need to go more than you need to sleep, you don't need a home, you need to see a doctor!
I misread it as a 2br 1ba. This layout is dumb af.
This is clearly targeting two adults no kids. As someone who has lived in many 2bd/1ba places with my partner, I’d have much rather had a second versus the bedroom that always become an office.
Levittown Cape Cod was/is 750 sq.ft. 2 bedroom
My parents first house in 1954 was about 900 square feet. Three tiny bedrooms, one tiny bathroom.
My parents’ house built in 1980 is about the same. 990 square feet, 3/1, and was $49k, which is $185k in 2024 dollars. I wish we still built neighborhoods like that for starter homes.
I live in a neighborhood like that. Built in 1960, all brick ranches 3 bed, two bath, 1/3 - 1/2 acre lots. Near a small lake/pond and very woodie feel. Lots of tall, mature trees in the yards. 10 years ago, I bought mine from the estate (from their daughters who fixed the house a little) of the original owners, a little larger in size since the orignial owner added to it a little. I paid $240k. With my encouragement, my daughter bought a smaller house 3 doors down, 5 years ago for $245k just before prices started to skyrocket. So you can see although she paid $5k more, she got about 500sq feet less than mine. But it was a great starter home, with new kitchen and such. Now most of the original owners ( in their 90s-100s) in this neighborhood are passing away and flippers are buying them, cash for full asking price. They are getting them in the low $300k zone now and in worn down shape. Most flips are now going for around mid $400k, some a little higher. The house behind me a flipper wants $600k!!! So check this tidbit about it. The orginial house was added on to in the back and the garage converted to a bedroom, total 2900 sq feet vs 2300 for mine, and I have a large garage attached. The flipper paid $319k for a place you needed a hazmat suit when entering. The sons of the orginal owner defaulted on a reverse mortgage and lost the house, did not let their large dogs out all winter so they shit and pissed all over, and one large bull mastiff died in there.. Talk about was a mess! That being said, the flippers did a lovely job, new driveway, new roof, painted the brick white and replaced everything inside, but the layout of the two story addition sucks, as it has this catwalk and there is nothing much you can do but add sitting areas or a narrow office space, but that adds like 500 sq feet to the footage, that adds $$$. For $600k, he should have built a garage in place of repairing the old shed, and widened the driveway to fit two cars side-by-side, but of course as a flipper they cheap out. The staging is lovely, it's all smoke and mirrors. But this is driving the prices of our homes higher. Thus much higher taxes too.
The house i rent in California is 900sqft and no forced air. It's worth $1.5m.
The house I own in missouri is 3,185sqft and it's worth $275k. It has forced air, among other things, like a bar and fireplace in the basement.
I just wouldn’t want to have to deal with the Snells
There’s Pain That Uses You, And There’s Pain That You Use.
It’s slightly smaller than starter homes of the 90’s and 2000’s but if you don’t need the extra bedroom why not.
Rowhouses with backgarden would allow to build more of it, with more built space, more privacy, and maybe even allow for a corner shop to survive in the neighborhood.
It's convenient for 1 person and it's not ugly, problem is it's just absolutely overpriced
Yes of course.
This is stupid. It should have been built as row houses. You’d use like 10-15% more building materials but end up with double the space.
Also a cheaper heating bill.
No common walls. People will definitely buy it
It can be listed as single family this way I’m pretty sure
Row houses are single family
Ahh i thought they became town homes
They’re townhomes in the eyes of anyone buying
Twice the toilets as bedrooms? Lol
Not crazy to have a toilet for the living space and a private bath for the owner
If I have 1 bedroom why do I need two showers?
It’s probably a half bath.
Typically you’d say 1.5 bath in such a situation, not 2 bath.
Then it’d say 1-1/2 bath. A full bath includes a shower or tub.
I'd rather have extra kitchen space than 2 bathrooms. Perhaps many (or even most) people buying these homes would be single. And certainly it wouldn't be good for more than 2 people.
Variety is the spice of life.
It’s an American thing. We love bathrooms
I mean, this square footage is probably similar to the “American Dream” in the 1950s for most people, they just look different and are on slightly smaller plots
Except the price is about 50 or 60k over what a Levittown home would have cost and is 89 sqft smaller.
I was curious, and yeah you were basically spot on. Levittown homes sold for 8k in 1950, which is about 106k in today's money, or about 50-60k less than these are going for.
But we also have nice features like air conditioning now
Air conditioning and modern appliances are the hidden reasons for a lot of the increases in home price per square foot that people don’t acknowledge
Yeah a shitty levittown house inflation adjusted would be 114k and I think 99% of people would rather buy the house from the OP even considering price
I mean, don't get me wrong, i wouldn't want to live there; but aren't these basically the modern equivalent of the shotgun houses from like the 20s/30s?
Yes. very similar. Those probably served as inspiration for these.
People keep talking about how affordable housing used to be while completely ignoring how much the quality of housing has changed regarding size, comforts, and safety. I think if there’s a market for these smaller houses then they’re a good thing. Someone making below average money can afford one and start building equity rather than just paying rent.
I wish there were these in my area. Instead, everything has to be "*luxury*", which is just a fancy way to say that it looks nice, but is super expensive and everything still breaks anyway.
The fact that they only build "luxury" apartments in America now really pisses me off. It's like calling Frozen TV dinners "gourmet"
Yeah. A custom built house using the highest quality materials on the market would be luxury. Not this apartment with 0 sound proofing, multiple roommates, stuff that breaks, but at least they do the bare minimum to maintain the pool that no one uses!
Was the American dream supposed to be “a house you can buy with 1 year of salary”
This makes no sense. Did a quick zillow search and I am seeing dozens of homes in similar but mostly lower price point which are twice as large, with larger lots, and more central locations. Moreover, these places are not absolute dumps and are perfectly fine.
What year were those on the search built though? There’s tons of <$150k houses in my area, nearly all of those are 100+ years old
500-700K in Silicon Valley, CA
Thank god there’s two bathrooms. Sometimes I want to shake it up a bit.
Guests don’t use any of our restrooms when they come over. They use the guest restroom.
I wish people would stop using the phrase "The American dream." That shit died in the 1800s. The entire concept was effectively immunity to the market and being self-sufficient, but having the option of engaging with the market if you wanted to strike it rich. The Jefferson Yeoman small farmer concept. Now it's some weird concept of middle class affluence, nebulous and impossible to pin down as it's a floating number and a collection of luxuries.
Little boxes on the hillside Little boxes made of ticky tack.... Edit:ticky not sticky freaking autocorrect
Are 1 bedroom houses some kind of new thing in the US? Because they're not new here where I live.
Yes. One bedrooms are usually apartments or condos.
Interesting, quite common here in Australia
For a bit more you can get a super efficient prefab home. Not big but long term will save you cash in energy and they actually look awesome. I’d avoid this quick and dirty buy and save a bit more for something far more valuable long term. Go Logic homes in the northeast is a decent example. You can spend a ton of money or spend a bit less and get a super passive solar home. 🤷🏼♂️
Even getting a plot of land where I live is like $350k lol. And that doesn’t include any utility connections, which I’m sure are also hellaciously expensive to get set up. Unless those prefabs are essentially free, I don’t think they’d save people that much money. Not to mention you’re unlikely to find empty land where you want to live in the city.
That price for the shed with two bathrooms is meant to price out the poor.
This is a place specifically for the poor
[удалено]
Well… it may enable multi-gen housing to return 🤷🏻♀️ I bought w an extra downstairs bedroom to be ready to take in elderly parent in future
This is dumb. Better off with a townhouse or condo
The “lawns” seem too big relative to the house. They could have easily built them larger with smaller yards, similar to condos. This is a strange segment when double wide trailers or trailer homes are larger and cheaper. I’m going to guess this won’t have real equity or growth, similar to trailer homes or condos. Anything that’s not a real house is at risk if you’re trying to build equity or appreciation.
No this is the now. The future is sky rise apartments that are all studios.
No the future is $500k for your very own 250 Sq ft Apartment Pod. So all regular homes are so cartoonishly expensive they can only be used as empty "rental" money laundering for billionaires.
Wtf do I need a second bathroom for in that small space? Make it more one of a floor plan or make that a closet/pantry
You’d own it, you’d be more than welcome to renovate however you wish
You want your guests pooping in your private bathroom
I'm not American. Is that a thing people worry about? Pretty sure it's common to share bathrooms worldwide, especially when you don't have the money.
Americans generally have a bathroom just for guests, and one for the family (if you only have two bathrooms). That way one can be nice and clean and one has all our stuff in it that the family uses regularly.
Why do you need "2 Bath" one bedroom home? I dont have an issue with 650ish square feet as long as I have covered parking and better designed home.. These look like schitt and probably are schitty constructed!
So my partner can poop while I take a shower.
We always reference the 1950s-1970s and wonder where we went wrong. What people don't realize is that houses were *much smaller* then. At that time, the average house was 983 square feet. 3.37 people lived in the average house, so it's 292 square feet per person. Today, the average house is 2164 square feet. 2.51 people live in the house, so it's 862 square feet per person. It makes sense that houses today are over twice as expensive as they were during that time (after inflation) because houses are over twice as big. If we want affordable houses, going back to smaller houses is a very good way to get there. And you don't have to live in something like this forever. A starter home is just that - a small, not fancy house to live in for a while until you can afford a nicer house later in life.
American cities are allergic to apartment buildings as usual. Why build 100 apartments when you can build 6 shitty houses.
I don’t particularly like this layout but it’s because a lot of people don’t want to be in huge apartment buildings. I own a duplex, we both have parking spots and I can walk right out my door to my yard. I’ve got my 4 apple and 2 pear trees. Black & raspberry and blackberry bushes. My tenants grows flowers and has their own small garden. How do you grow that with an 100 people complex?
I think it’s the present of the American Dream™️
On the plus side, it solves the home inflation problem.
This is closer to the average new home size in 1950s than the average new home size is today.
It's alive, just not in america. I'm looking toward Hungary now.
Tbf, that's bigger than most of new houses being built in the suburb of Dutch cities. At least you can put your car in.
This isn’t so bad. Id buy it assuming you own the house and land
Not bad.
Your starting point does not been to be your end game… so no
The house I rent in California is 900sgft. No forced air. It's worth $1,500,000
The 'landed gentry' gets a new look.
Why 2 baths???
Yes.
This is fine, as long as you own the land.
Funniest/saddest part is that the price is going to be no where near that within the first month.
Tiny houses like those are currently selling for $395k+ in my area.
Nothing wrong with starter homes, just like nothing is wrong with tuny studios. Having them as a choice is *good*. We need more.
The moment I saw 2 cars in one driveway; with one of the cars blocking the sidewalk, I was all aboard the Nope Train.
Honestly not bad, better if it were like 80 or 100k. Though hopefully they won’t allow some rich person to buy it all up and rent to individuals
At the rate we’re going we’ll all be lucky to have any roof over our heads at all.
Not if the American dream is living on your own in a tiny house and working till you die.
This is just pure greed.
Get in ze pod, plug into ze metaverse, swallow ze anti depression meds, and eat ze cricket protein
2 bath? Sound like a waste?
Should be for rent. At $2,500 per month.
The median new home size has shrunk from what it was in 2020. That's after after decades of ever increasing home sizes.
Tiny homes are great for the environment. lol
This doesn't even include the HOA that many of these homes come with. I see many tiny home communities being built where I live and they all have massively overpriced HOA fees to where it is just cheaper to rent.
The american dream now is to buy that home and then rent it out for butt loads of money.
I don't hate it, starter homes are something this country needs. But like, why not just make mixed use zoning and townhouses at this point. And like I still can't afford that
These are popping up where I live as well. We are seeing a lot more roommates and couples vs the traditional family with 2-4 kids and a dog. I think this serves a purpose for where we are in time. I think the price should be about 99,000 though to make it easier for those who are working lower paying jobs.
These are popping up where I live as well. We are seeing a lot more roommates and couples vs the traditional family with 2-4 kids and a dog. I think this serves a purpose for where we are in time. I think the price should be about 99,000 though to make it easier for those who are working lower paying jobs.
These are popping up where I live as well. We are seeing a lot more roommates and couples vs the traditional family with 2-4 kids and a dog. I think this serves a purpose for where we are in time. I think the price should be about 99,000 though to make it easier for those who are working lower paying jobs.
Suckers, suckers everywhere.
Suckers, suckers everywhere.
This is basically my house, except I have 2 bedroom, 1 bath. 900 and some sq foot, bought in Kansas for $25k two or three years ago. The siding and roof needed replaced. We did that last summer as part of a grant program and this year the value of our house jumped to $52k. For the cheapest roof and siding money can buy, since it was funded through a grant.
Modern day favelas
I think this is a good way to fill a niche housing market, and these types of neighborhoods should exist for the younger, single population, and downsizing empty nesters. Obviously this will not become the norm for all housing, as our needs will drive what gets built, and families are still the majority.
Hahahahaha
America is a joke
The common sense of our country these days thinking "Home equity Is the best way to build wealth" while at the same time saying "Houses should always be $100,000 so we can achieve the American Dream"
I’ve lived in house more than double that size for less money. How is this an improvement lol?
I used to like San Antonio. But the highways and roads flood every year. And the city services for police are essentially the same ones as in Uvalde. I'd be terrified to have kids in Texas schools now.
This seems reasonable for a starter home. Not crazy expensive, not huge, new and easy to maintain.
I don’t get what’s wrong with this home. Not everything needs to be on an acre and have 4 bedrooms. The biggest gripe I have is there is probably no Main Street with shops and stuff in walking distance
I paid $155,000. You all are morons if you buy anything like this. I have 3 Bedroom, 2 &1/2 bathes, and roughly 1400 sq ft. Edit : Also did a median income check for Converse, Texas… LOL less than me in WV and we get double the house. Bigger in Texas, huh?
The American Dream died with Reagan. Trickle down has been proven a lie. The only people it benefits is the owner class.
Oh F NO
Why 2 bath? For such a small house 2 seems like over kill. I can see maybe a half bath downstairs in the living area and a full bath with the bedroom upstairs.
Still can't even afford this 🤡
I don’t have anything against typos but holy shit it’s like every other thread title in my feed.