Tiny House Reality Check! Watch This Before Building or Buying One

We’re talking about 5 really things you consider before you decide to start a project.

1) Finances
Tiny houses can be a more affordable housing option than a full-sized house, but there’s more to think about than just the price tag of the actual house.

For example, how much will you have to pay to buy or rent land to put it on? Will you need a loan to buy or build your tiny house?
Will you be building the tiny house yourself or buying from a ?

Make a long term budget for your tiny house , and compare it to a long term budget for your current living situation.

2) Location
We would definitely suggest doing researching and securing a space to put your tiny house before you start building.

If tiny houses are legal where you live, then you should probably have a much easier time finding a place to put your it.

In places where the rules are less clear, you should probably think about having multiple options for locations planned in case things don’t work out at one of the locations.

3) Insurance
Find out if you can get house insurance before you build or buy in case there are specific requirements to qualify your for a policy.

Maybe your insurance company will only insure a house that was built by a professional, or a house that has some kind of RV certification. Make sure to this in advance, and find a company (or several) that are willing to insure your tiny house because you don’t want to be stuck with a brand new tiny house that you can’t insure.

4) Climate
Climate can have a huge impact on how you build a tiny house, and how enjoyable it is to live in one.

In warmer climates, tiny houses can overheat pretty easily. How will you keep it cool? In a colder climate, you may spend a lot more of your time indoors. Will it be enough space?

5) Inputs and Outputs
When we live in an apartment or in a house, we don’t often think about where our water and power comes from, or where our waste goes. In a tiny house, you’ll need to plan how you’re going to manage these inputs and outputs.

We hope you found these prompts helpful in your tiny house decision-making process 🙂

Thanks for watching!

Mat & Danielle






Thank you to our subtitle and closed captions contributors!





Editing Credits:
Mat and Danielle of Exploring Alternatives

Filming Credits:
Mat of Exploring Alternatives


  1. Opinions on container homes on purchased land? Seriously considering investing in land to potentially build on. I’m only 20 but I wanna move forward with a sustainable lifestyle and permaculture farming. Your vids are awesome!

  2. This whole “tiny house” movement is just to indulge prospective buyers with all of the comforts of a full size house with all the amenities stuffed into a small square space storage locker , with windows, and still have to find some place to nudge your box of stuff onto some accommodating property (even imposing on friends and /or family) – Financing – insurance – all the stuff that is a contradiction to living “small” – what a joke !

  3. Great information. Thank you for sharing the pros and cons for tiny houses. I love how your channel has grown over the past couple of years. Your content is pure, honest and different. Thanks again. Looking forward to your future videos

  4. Great video! Can you please make more videos on alternative housing people actually live in full time rather then air bnbs. How they live sustainable and alternatively. 🙂

  5. Your points were muted nicely. Local governments tend to want a large hook up fee, sometimes into the TENS OF THOUSANDS, for water and sewer. Eventually environmental for es will require every unit to hook up. Same goes for electric though not as costly.

    Consider a travel trailer or van or motor home also.

  6. Another suggestion on owning a tiny house,is what if i want to move it around to different parts of the country.You have to think how big of a truck do i need.Or do i pay someone to move it for me.Great Video as all ways.?✌

  7. Thanks for another great informative video.
    It might be interesting to research how small a traditional home is allowed to be built in your municipality. You might be able to get down to almost tiny house square footage and cost savings, but with all the advantages of a traditional home and property.
    Good Vibrations

  8. I have lived in small hotel room size apartments for about 14 years and at first I thought it was ok but having oxygen problems in one for sure but I no longer can live in those small things! There should be laws that protect people from living in a space smaller than 500 sq feet! It’s not very healthy to live in small apartments! It now costs $700 a month to live in a hotel room minimum! It’s ridiculous how times have changed! They’re now making 350 sq ft 2 bedroom apartments! It’s a deadly sin of pride to live like that! Minimum house size should be 1200 sq ft with plants inside! If you live in a tiny place get a 300 watt ozone generator!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.