Can't Buy a Home? Tiny Homes Are The Answer

Can't Buy a Home? Tiny Homes Are The Answer

The U.S. is years into an economic boom, but one place that the bull market hasn't been felt for most Americans is housing.

According to a recent report, the average American family cannot afford to buy a home in 71% percent of the country or 344 of 486 counties. While this number has dropped from 75% a year earlier, the results are still not promising. 

Some of the culprits for this situation include ballooning home prices vis a vis wage growth. According to a report by Attom Data Solutions, home prices. rose 9% year-over-year in the last three months of 2019.

This makes the typical home a "financial stretch for average wage earners," Todd Teta, chief product officer with Attom, said in the report. In order to cross the current national median home price of $257,000, typical American homebuyers need a gross income of $67,647. However, the average annual wage in the U.S. was $58,214.

How can average Americans afford their first home when the math suggests that it simply isn't possible for nearly three-quarters of Americans?

One solution is solar tiny homes.

Overview of Solar Tiny Homes

An off-grid tiny home brings together two lifestyle choices that are practically soul mates. The tiny-home movement advocates living simply in small houses, generally less than 400 square feet. It encourages frugality, shared community experiences, and rejecting the worst of consumerism. This philosophy goes great with off-grid living since these houses have low energy demands and many of them come with roof-mounted solar panels pre-installed. An off-grid tiny home is likely the easiest entry point into off-grid living.

There are many factors to consider when making such a move. How do you handle practical utility issues like plumbing, electricity, sewage, and water? What are the challenges that come with living in an off-grid tiny house? How handy do you have to be to overcome the challenges that will inevitably come? What do you do about appliances that require electricity but you can't live without? 

The good news is that you do not have to be a complete hermit to live in an off-grid tiny house, nor do you have to adopt an Amish lifestyle and completely forsake electricity. New solar-powered devices are coming to market that makes living off the grid easier than ever. 

According to a profile from Sharable, off-grid tiny houses are a good way to reduce your ecological footprint, save money, spend practically zero dollars on utilities, and lead an overall less stressful life. They spoke with small house dweller Merete Mueller about this lifestyle.

“One benefit to tiny house living,” says Mueller, “is that it frees up the money, time and energy that would otherwise be spent on maintaining a house and rent or a mortgage, to be used on other things, like working on creative projects, starting a business, spending time with friends and family, or on other hobbies that bring a lot of satisfaction to one’s life.”
She points out that with tiny house, off-the-grid living, the drawbacks can be the same as the benefits.
“One obvious challenge is a minimal amount of space inside,” she says, “But one benefit related to that is being forced to spend more time outside, and being forced to simplify possessions and think about which things matter most.”
Emptying the composting toilet, hauling water and the other “challenges” that come with the tiny, off-the-grid living were, for Mueller, part of the allure. “We wanted to know and understand,” she says, “exactly how much water we were consuming.”
As you can see, there are many benefits to living in an off-grid tiny house. And if you know anything about GoSun, you know that we make some of the best solar-powered appliances for off-grid living that can cook your food, provide refrigeration, and even charge your phone.
Click here to learn more. 

 

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