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Tiny house vs Regular House – Is It Worth The Switch in 2024?

Looking for more answers on how Tiny house vs Regular Houses compares in 2024‘s market then we take a look at both sides.

Housing is the largest slice of an average adult’s salary not only in America but every part of the world.

As a matter of fact, rent and other housing expenses represent one-third of the typical household spending.

This clearly shows that the only way to cut your costs along is to build your own house or reduce the amount of money you spend on housing.

If you are currently thinking about buying a house, you’ve definitely thought about building one.

Building a house means that you can get all the musts, layouts, floor plans, and everything else you need to build a customized living area.

To build a large house in the US according to the HomeAdvisor can cost anywhere from $150,000 to $450,000.

The cost is likely to vary depending on a couple of factors such as the location, materials used, and square footage.

Building a tiny house on the other hand is very likely to cost anywhere from $8,000 to $150,000.

This is one of the most appealing reasons why many people are going for Tiny Houses.

But which is better?

Building a tiny house or Building a large house?

In this brief, we are going to compare Tiny Houses with regular houses Head to Head and help you determine which of the two is better for your living needs.

tiny house vs full sized house

Tiny Houses vs Regular Homes

What is a Regular House?

When people search for types of houses, they are actually looking for different architectural styles while others are looking for different sizes and types of residential buildings.

In this regard, a regular Home is a typically big house that most Americans and people around the world think of as their homes.

In normal instances, a regular house on average can take up to 2, 467 square feet of space on the floor.

The average single-family house in the US according to the latest report by Statista is 2,467 square feet in 2015.

This was a drop from 2,301 square feet in 2019.

What this means is that more people are considering small and tiny living as a way of minimizing the expenses.

Pros and cons of living in a large house

Pros

  • You have more space for your guests
  • You can house multiple generations under one roof
  • Large houses are durable
  • You can easily get a mortgage
  • You have additional space for a home business
  • Space can be used for diverse purposes
  • The resale value is always high
  • The house might be worth more because of the size.

Cons

  • High maintenance costs
  • More energy consumption
  • Lots of time cleaning and Organising
  • Costly to repair and replace

Tiny vs Regular Homes

What is a tiny house?

There are varying definitions of tiny houses.

As a matter of fact, most of them vary depending on what you call tiny.

However, all houses and structures below 400 square feet on the floor are referred to as Tiny.

The idea of tiny houses has grown in popularity over time in the US and many other parts of the country.

You also have to note that there’s no official definition of a tiny house.

However, many jurisdictions are getting attracted to the tiny living and tiny house movement and for that reason, they are considering different definitions and at the same time setting laws and regulations to govern the same.

The tiny House Movement

The tiny house movement is an architectural and building movement that advocates living in Tiny houses.

The movement comes into existence in the 1970s but it’s until 1980 when the movement was nationally recognized.

The main agenda of the movement was to advocate for a simpler life and living in smaller spaces.

People from all areas have determined that Large Homes and more specifically large living are expensive and extravagant.

They have all claimed that large living is unnecessary and detrimental to their happiness.

These are the group of people that returned to form the movement and encourage DIY’ers to consider Tiny Houses for their living.

The movement is incredibly interesting and gaining a lot of popularity lately.

Why are more people going with Tiny Houses?

There are countless reasons why people in the US, UK, Australia, and several other parts of the world are going tiny.

We have been lately talking about millions of people looking to transition to a tiny life.

Different people are motivated for wanting change by different things as explained below.

Numerous financial Benefits

There are numerous financial benefits of considering tiny houses.

The most obvious benefits are savings.

As a matter of fact, there is a lot of money that you can save by easily considering tiny houses and small house plans.

The tiny houses are lower in cost and are also easier and affordable to maintain.

Immediately after building tiny houses, the savings will not stop.

They are smaller than regular houses meaning that most of the amenities and the maintenance costs are less.

But still, there are no savings to some bills such as the Cable TV and Garbage Pickup.

Though, you can save some gas and electricity.

Additional savings include the lowered insurance premiums and reduced property taxes mainly because the houses are not permanent and hence they are not considered an improvement to the land.

This is the main reason why most people think that Tiny Houses don’t add any value to the land.

It is also very cheap to rent a plot of land with a tiny house than the one with a permanent large house.

Simplification

With tiny houses, everything around you is simplified.

There are many techniques that you can adopt to simplify your stuff.

As a matter of fact, you will be forced to sell some of the products and items in your house.

Life in a tiny house will also be very simple because you will only have space for the necessary products.

Environmental Benefits

With a tiny home, you are likely to use fewer utilities which will not only save you a lot of money but also serve as a benefit to the environment.

Some tiny homeowners go as far as using no utilities by just being completely off-grid.

Others opt for sustainable activities such as the use of Solar and recycling water.

Pros and cons of living in a tiny house

Pros

  • There’s less space which automatically means less cleaning
  • The maintenance costs are minimal
  • The cost of building a tiny house is very small
  • There are very eco-friendly
  • A tiny house saves a lot of money
  • You save on Property Taxes
  • No Mortgages
  • Lower energy Use
  • Freedom of Movement
  • There’s Harmony with Nature
  • You live a simple life

Cons

  • There’s less living space
  • There’s less storage space
  • There’s a limited entertaining capacity
  • The zoning rules vary The financing is difficult

Cost

At first glance, tiny houses are much cheaper than regular houses.

But before you jump into making the decision, we have to take time and look deeper into the costs associated with tiny living and traditional house living.

Firstly, the cost of building a tiny house is more per square foot but less overall.

This is mainly because the tiny houses are smaller.

But still, you should know that the cheapest square foot in any home whether traditional or Tiny is the space.

Moving on, the most expensive square foot in a home is the kitchen and the Bathroom mainly because they have appliances installed.

You also need to do the plumbing and install fridges, a cooking stove, and all the other needed appliances.

Putting the amount of material needed to build a tiny house and the amount of labor and maintenance required, you will notice that the cost for tiny houses is cheap overall.

Moving on, the cost of a tiny house doesn’t include land and the hookup to water and electricity.

This will be the case if you are considering a tiny house on wheels.

The only thing you are expected to do in this case is to lease a spot in an RV park or even stay in the backyard of someone’s land.

In case of any issues, you will only be required to tow your house to another spot.

Users will also be expected to determine whether they want the RV to be permanently hooked to a Water and electricity supply or not.

It can also be better for people that have bought the land but don’t know what to do with the land yet.

Generally, buying a traditional home that is already hooked to all the utilities is relatively expensive.

But you have to factor the overall cost of running an RV into the total cost.

Tiny House vs and Regular House: Financing

Tiny house and regular houses are not financed the same way.

As a matter of fact, tiny house financing is for a shorter period compared to traditional house financing.

In most instances, the tiny houses are approved by RVIA and they are very likely to be financed like RVs.

This means that financing can be through your bank or even through national rending institutions.

One of the best ways of financing RVs is through the LightStream who announced their RV loans in Dec 2018.

According to the information on the website, you can get loans for up to 84 months or simply 7 years.

On the other hand, Traditional mortgages are about 15-30 years.

The main reason why Tiny Houses are financed for a shorter period is mainly because of their smaller price points and smaller financing time.

It’s equally important to note that the RV loans are for the Tiny Houses only and not for the land.

It shows that if you are buying land to put the house down, it will either be financed in full or financed separately.

costs between Tiny house vs Regular Homes

Utility Bills

The Utility bills for the tiny house are lower than the utility bills for the traditional houses.

Tiny houses usually have a smaller place to cool, heat, and light meaning that you are going to save significantly on utilities at the end of the day.

Since in most instances the tiny houses are on wheels, you might have to consider a solar heater and a solar panel for lighting.

If you live in places with extreme weather changes especially during the winter, the costs of heating a large house will be relatively high.

If the design of the tiny house is big enough, it would make sense to just purchase a traditional house.

Additionally, for people that are not planning to move the tiny houses, they will have to consider purchasing land and putting the tiny or small house on a permanent foundation which can be very costly.

Before making up your mind, take time to compare all the overall prices associated with tiny houses and regular houses.

Living space

A tiny house will always not provide the much-needed space for a small family leave alone an extended family.

The house equally lacks the space for a fully functional kitchen and a Bathroom.

In most instances, the tiny house owners have to cope without a bathtub and a fully functional kitchen with all the appliances.

But some of the users are considering small Houses as an alternative to tiny houses.

Small Houses have a relatively larger space that can actually accommodate more than two bathrooms each with a functional shower, a tiny toilet, and space for a Bathtub.

In the case of a tiny house, you have to sacrifice other spaces to get a larger and functional kitchen and a bathroom with a bathtub.

While the tiny home makes be a good and comfortable home for a single person or a new couple, it can get very crowded with a family of more than two people.

Regular Homes on the other side have enough space for a dry bathroom and all the other bathrooms.

Space can be enough to include a bathtub and anything else needed along the way.

The house can as well have space for more than three spacious bedrooms and a large living area.

The space in the kitchen is mainly large enough to hold more than two cookers, a dishwasher, and a dryer.

Storage space

Getting to a tiny house means getting rid of most of your stuff and belongings.

You will be forced to get rid of all the unnecessary junk mainly because you are limited by the available space.

If you have been watching the Episodes of the tiny House Nation, you definitely have seen many people giving out most of their belongings mainly because there’s limited storage space for that.

Space might not be enough for home brewing equipment, GYM equipment, and a lot of shoe collections.

A regular House has more than enough space for this kind of storage.

As a matter of fact, every room in a regular house will automatically have storage spaces that can take a lot of stuff.

This is actually one of the primary disadvantages of owning a tiny house.

Entertainment Capacity

It’s actually not possible to hold a Thanksgiving Dinner or a Christmas party at an RV or a tiny house.

In most instances, you will be forced to invite less than three people to avoid the hustle.

You might also not have enough space in a tiny house to invite your in-laws for the initiation ceremony for your children.

However, it’s very easy to make up for this space by easily leaving more outdoor spaces.

You can choose to leave a deck for picnics and a hot tub.

You will also come across some users with more than one tiny house in the same compound.

Some will have a 1 bedroom tiny house for the guests or consider building small Houses with more than one bedroom for the same.

Zoning Rules

Most jurisdictions make it very hard to build a small or a tiny house even though they don’t require a lot of space and land.

Some zoning laws usually include the minimum requirements for a dwelling.

In some jurisdictions, you cannot build a structure of less than 200-square feet for a living.

To bypass some of these requirements, you will have to buy or build a full-sized house or even tent it out.

Some people even think of bypassing the laws by easily renting a regular house and pack the tiny houses and RVs in the backyard.

The Tiny houses in this case can work either as outbuildings or vehicles.

Financing

If you are one of the many Americans that cannot buy land or even build a tiny house, you must already be thinking about house financing.

This is where the biggest difference between the tiny houses and the regular houses comes through.

Getting a loan to build a tiny house is very difficult mainly because they are not permanent and many buyers claim that they are high-risk investments.

Banks and other financing companies don’t consider tiny houses as enough value for good collateral.

Moving on, the value for Tiny Houses and RVs depreciates with time which is another reason why it’s relatively harder to get financed.

In some instances, the tiny houses are financed through personal loans.

Many companies give personal loans such as SoFi.

Since tiny houses are very cheap to build, some people can finance them by borrowing money from friends and family.

If you are clever enough, you can always use a home equity line of credit from Figure.com.

Regular house owners can easily get financed for the house because the lenders consider this as a great value for the money.

However, you should note that not all mortgage products are created equal.

The best thing about it is that some lenders can ask for as low as 20% down payment while others can come as low as 3%.

Is a tiny house or a normal house worth it?

There are many considerations in this regard and for that reason, you are the only person that can clearly discern the personal benefits of a tiny house to those of a normal house.

You are expected to make the decision depending on your personal needs, the ability and willingness to pay for the costs, and most importantly the number of people that you expect to live in the house.

Tiny vs Regular Homes guide

FAQs

What are the differences between a tiny house and a normal house?

There are many differences between a regular house and a tiny house.

The main difference is the space and the number of rooms.

A tiny house might also have wheels, financing it is difficult but the cost of establishing a tiny house is very minimal.

Are tiny homes worth it?

Tiny Homes are cost-effective and at the same time require little attention from the user.

This is actually the biggest difference between a tiny house and a Normal house.

Space is smaller and for that reason, less electricity is needed to cooling, heating, and lighting the space.

There are lower property taxes and fewer maintenance costs.

However, tiny houses have less storage area and less space.

Getting financed for a tiny house is also very difficult.

What sq. footage is considered a tiny house?

A tiny house should have at most 400 square feet.

Small houses can take almost 1,000 square feet.

This is actually the biggest difference between the two terms.

Most people usually confuse them.

Conclusion

This brief tries as much as possible to explain every piece of information you need to make a sound decision between a normal house and a tiny house.

Since all of them have their unique pros and cons, you are the only person that can make the right decision based on the information shared.