Hi my name is Hans and I’m going Tiny.
I thought I had finally made it when I bought my 4,950 sf 3-story, 3-car garage, 7-bed/6-bath house with pool, spa and manicured lawn in a well-to-do neighborhood a few years back…
But it didn’t take long with all that extra, unnecessary space to clean, fix, maintain and pay for that I realized I wasn’t living the American Dream – I was living the American nightmare!
So I down-sized to a smaller, more manageable 1,600 sf 3 bed/2 bath house for a few years until then again I realized I was only really using the kitchen, 1 bathroom, the master bedroom and my office and spending the rest of the time outdoors or traveling. So I sold that house recently too to make way for something even better…
I’m now building a 40ft-long Gooseneck Tiny House on Wheels (THOW) for my girlfriend and I and our 2 dogs. I like to travel and to road trip around the country as most of my family is in California where I grew up, I live and work from Alabama, love to ski and visit friends in Colorado, and I love to relax at the beaches on the Gulf Coast (Alabama/Florida coast).
That’s a lot of time spent in hotels or couch-surfing with friends/family, neither of which is ideal when you have a dog and are running several businesses (online). So having a tiny house works great for that aspect, but what really drives me and motivates me is FREEDOM.
And what better expression of Freedom is there than a tiny house?
Being able to live wherever and whenever you want, able to move when you feel like it with no restrictions or concerns about the local economy, the macro economy, deterioration of the neighborhood, being stuck unable to sell a house and stuck having to make mortgage payments or having to come up with thousands or tens of thousands of dollars to sell a house that’s gone underwater (due to the neighborhood, economy, financial markets, etc). With a tiny house, you’re free of all that.
You also don’t have to worry about real estate taxes (which can be very pricey in certain parts of the country), restrictive building codes, maintaining and cleaning a larger house than you need (just to store useless stuff in most cases), excessive utility bills (you can easily go off-grid in a tiny house in fact and virtually eliminate your utility bills), etc.
Also, I’ve been a real estate investor since 2004 and have dealt with my share of banks and mortgage companies. To be honest, this is what finally put me over the edge – that and the realization that living in a Tiny House isn’t giving up anything, but rather gaining so much more (like a quality of life and lifestyle unlike any other). Having sold my house last summer and eliminating the bank from the back of my mind and my checkbook each month has been an incredible feeling.
I’m all about real estate investing for creating cash flow a.k.a. residual income. But the house I was living in was not an asset (as Robert Kiyosaki from Rich Dad, Poor Dad is famous for stating)… not for me anyway. For me it was liability, only taking money (as well as time and energy) from me; for the bank it was an asset, putting the money from my mortgage payments into their pockets.
Now, as I continue building my tiny house, I don’t have a personal residence that I have to write a monthly mortgage check for, which positively impacts my disposable income, allowing me to live MORE, travel MORE, enjoy MORE, and have MORE fun! I can’t wait until my tiny house is complete!
My 32-foot Gooseneck Tiny House build details
I’ll be posting new updates on my build with blog posts detailing my progress on my 40 foot tiny house (32 foot gooseneck trailer with a 8.5 foot deck over the neck + loft, ~380sf of living space and a 2.5 foot deck off the back).
Enjoy the latest videos below or check out these blog posts with more pictures and details! Check back often and on the facebook page here for the latest updates!
More videos and pics with much more detail on the process via detailed blog posts coming soon! Subscribe here to get the latest updates and blog posts as they are published!
What happened with your tiny house? Did you ever finish it? If so, we would love to see it here and on your youtube!