Roody

A major housing developer is putting together a project to build 29 "micro-homes" on just one-third acre in Portalnd. The developmant is being pitched as "carfree housing."

https://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/...ee-micro-homes

sharrn

It's entirely possible with it being Portland. Their public transit's pretty good unless it snows. Good luck then. Although I'm not sure I'd drop $120k for essentially a studio apartment.

gerv 

Sounds like a great way to beat the high cost of housing too.

Personally, not sure if I'd like these, but at my age downsizing would be great. I'd also like to live in a community where I don't have to bike 5 miles to go to just about every social or work event. Losing about 80% of the lawn would be a bonus too.

countersTrike

"ranging from 364 to 687 square feet" Geez! MANSIONS! Due to "Red-Tag" (unsafe building) I was forced out to an eficiency apartment- 300' : do Portlandians know what 'small' is?

Dahon.Steve

About 10 years ago, I was going to buy a 1 bedroom co-op for about 80K. That buidling did have parking but this is actually a house! If these homes are detached, it would be worth the money. However, if you're all living on top of each other than it's nothing more than a condo.

I think these are going to sell out fast. There a plenty of young people paying rent when they can buy a home for 120K. I estimate the mortgage on a 120K home would be less than 1,000.00 dollars a month. Not bad.

Dahon.Steve

Oh.. And who wouldn't want to live a car free life anyway! ;-)

CarFreeFam4

I'd do it if my kids were grown. The first place we lived after we got married was just over 300 sq ft. The only drawback was a half-size oven. Our place now is right about 750 sq ft, perfectly comfortable for the four of us.

120K for anything in Portland, no matter how small, is a good deal. The cost of housing there is insane. I'll settle for living car-free about 50 miles to the north of Portland.

tsl

Note the generous two-bike rack for guest parking.

And there's almost as much space devoted to trash storage as there is to bike storage.

It shows where bikes rates in the developer's mind--one step above trash, but useful for marketing.

folder fanatic

I already live in a tiny almost carfree (my sister prefers to drive) home. This present one at 2 bedroom/1 bath is about 675 square feet. Before that I lived in an apartment at about the same size and bedroom/bath offering. When I was growing up, the substandard condition house was a far more cramped 1 bedroom/1 bath crammed with various freeloading adult friends and relatives of my parents-plus my brother, sister, and myself. I know how to make it work anywhere, not just Portland OR-don't have an open house for "visitors" and park on the street.

Malloric

A few blocks away.
https://www.redfin.com/OR/Portland/22.../home/26587868

Size and price just isn't in line with the area, especially for the smaller which have shared walls and/or upstairs neighbors.

Pearl condo (keep in mind the dues are certainly higher, however)
https://www.redfin.com/OR/Portland/41.../home/26372135

wahoonc

I currently live in a 950sf house previous one was 640sf. I probably would buy one if I were in the market. My biggest problem is that I like to collect/accumulate bicycles and would need an additional 300SF space for them

Aaron

wahoonc

Another thought..I am glad to see someone like DB Horton getting into this. They build these massive neighborhoods in the middle of nowhere and then wait for the infrastructure and retail to catch up. We have a DB Horton neighborhood going up behind us, the prices are starting at $140,000 for a 1900sf house on an 1/8th acre (approximately) lot. It will be another 4-5 years before the roads will be upgraded to handle the added volume.

A buddy of mine looked at building a similar pocket neighborhood in an older part of town (nearest large town) and was soundly voted down by the planning and zoning board. The area was mixed use, some commercial, a single mid rise apartment building, single family ranging from 1,500sf to 3,000sf+. His plan wasn't as dense as the Portland plan. The property ended up with six 3200 sf houses on it that sold for around $300k each. He was figuring 15-18 >1000sf houses for ~$90k each with a community center and off street parking. Based on some of the comments during the public part of the meeting all anyone was concerned with was "protecting" their property values and keeping the "wrong" kind of people out.

Aaron

Caretaker

I'd like if I may give a non-American view on this.

I've lived with my wife and one child for the past 25 years in our 1050sf mid-terraced house. Not large by Irish standards but a lot of people have raised more kids in a lot less space. These houses were built in 1905 and have a lot of decorative features modern houses lack.

For me living in a house of character close (walking/cycling distance) to a city centre is more important than living in some boring suburb with more space.

Would I live in one of these 'micro' houses? probably not in the smaller ones but certainly in one of the larger ones if the location was right.

Robert Foster

I don't have a problem with the size as much as the cost. I am not sure I see the advantage over a manufactured home and they can be had for considerably less. I also don’t see this as being all that different from the old California bungalow apartment concept. When I was growing up there were plenty of these in LA and Orange County. So I am not sure I would be interested in paying that kind of money for a small home that has no more guarantee that it would be car free than any other home. But it really all comes down to the cost being too high for west coast real-estate.

Just my opinion but I don't see a big advantage here.

countersTrike

LOL - my poor keyboard! Links from the Portland houses linked to Tokyo buildings and other folding design furniture used in small homes. Thanks for the videos and links.

travelmama

I think it is a great project but the price point for such square footage is too high for the average folk unless water is to be recycled and solar panels installed. Also, I wonder how they will be constructed (metal, wood, composite or unused shipping containers for framing), one or two story and will they offer an area for laundry. Anyone can live in a small space, including myself but it is a matter of downsizing. Currently I live alone in a 1400+ sf home while my father lives out back in the granny house that is less than 380 sf. He is self contained with kitchen, fire place, bathroom, dining area, office and sleep space. He is very happy there and wishes he lived that was for years prior. As much as I want to live in such space, it would be difficult for me because I have a lot of bikes and fitness equipment that I keep indoors.

dcrowell

Meh.

I live in a 900sq ft shotgun house in Louisville. I'm renting, but market value is probably about $120,000. I have a basement and attic for storage. It's a walkable, bikeable neighborhood.

I also own a 1200sq ft home about 20 miles away. I moved out, but can't afford to fix it up enough to rent or sell it. So I get to pay for two homes.

I could live in 600sq ft... if I divorced my wife. She has a lot of stuff.

gerv 

That's probably a little small for most North American homes. I live in a 2100 sq ft home (counting the basement and not the garage) which at one time housed 5 people (now down to 3). This is probably a little smaller than most North American suburban houses. However, I find that we actually don't use all of the space very efficiently. Plus if you live in a lively community, you spend less time indoors and more time elsewhere.

So it's more a cultural thing more than anything else. You certainly could live as a single person in a 300-400 sq ft home and it would probably be much more comfortably than a home 3 times the size that you couldn't afford.

Robert Foster

All true except looking at real estate even Portland has suffered a big down turn. And if you were looking for affordable homes I noticed at least 25 pages of bigger homes with more space at much lower prices. So if you couldn't afford one of those homes in the 60 to 100k bracket you sure wouldn't get much bang for your buck in a 120K mini home. And many of those homes don't need a HOA. That isn't even considering the mobile home market in Portland. You could save 50 to 60K and have as much and more room with or without a HOA. We could buy a lot of bicycles with 50 or 60k and a lot of groceries. Much more affordable. IMHO

Just an example: https://realestate.oodle.com/portland-or/mobile-homes/

Lamplight

My only concern would be having enough room for about three bicycles indoors, and having room to work on them. Other than that, I could live in a small room if need be. However, at this point in my life I'd rather rent than own. I currently own a 1000 square foot house and I'm wanting something smaller, more efficient, and with less hassle than home ownership.

wahoonc

Home ownership is not for everybody...and I currently own more than one, thankfully all paid for so I can wait out the downturn. All new residential construction is struggling to sell right now due to the glut on the market and there is no way they can even come close to competing on a per sf price. We have a fair bit of new construction going on, but that is due to living near a very large military base that is getting a huge influx of people (60,000+) due to the BRAC.

Aaron

Lamplight

Luckily my house is paid for, and I got it extremely cheap, though it had to be completely remodeled. I'll make a profit unless I have to practically give it away. Overall, owning this house has been good for me, despite the stress. It's made me realize I want to live a much, much simpler life. As soon as the house sells, my brother (who lives with me) and I will be leaving TN for Washington state, and we're hoping to find a very small, simple apartment to rent. It's funny, most people I know consider my 1000 square foot house to be tiny, but to me it's just a bunch of extra space I have to clean!

gerv 

Hope your move works out well for you. Sounds like you have been considering it a while.

Lamplight

Thanks, and I have been considering it for a while. Several years, in fact.