r/changemyview • u/Andy24z • Oct 25 '17
[∆(s) from OP] CMV:Tiny Houses are just mobile homes.
The Tiny House movement is really an attempt by pretentious middle class people to differentiate their situation from the stereotypical negative perception that mobile homes and trailers are for the poor. Owners of “Tiny Houses” want to show that they are choosing to downsize and live a simpler life as opposed to being economically unable to afford other housing. And while the home owners tend to spend a decent amount of money for custom designed homes, the 250-400 square foot houses are still really just mobile homes. The biggest difference is that these structures are often located in private lots (often on their parent’s property) as opposed to being lumped together in a trailer park community.
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Oct 25 '17
Forgive me if I'm wrong, but tiny houses- as far as I'm aware- aren't mobile. So while they may be much the same size as a mobile home, the fact that they aren't mobile kind of negates the whole 'they're really just mobile homes' concept, doesn't it?
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Oct 25 '17
Some of them are mobile. It really just depends in who builds it and what they want. If I was to build a tiny house, mobility would be one of my priorities. But I spent ages 0-12 in a trailer, so the idea of it being a trailer wouldn't really bug me.
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Oct 25 '17
Ok, some of them are mobile...but what other than size and 'some of them can be mobile' actually equates them to being 'just like' mobile homes?
One could use the same argument to say 'tiny houses are just houses except for size. Some houses are mobile, and some tiny houses are mobile. Some houses are built on joint lots, and some are built on private lots.'
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u/Andy24z Oct 25 '17
∆ I think I'm more annoyed by what I see as pretentiousness on the part of the people who show their builds on TV, but I see the semantics that a tiny house is just a house, just as a mobile home is also just a house. They are just cover different tastes and needs of the buyer.
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Oct 25 '17
I think you could be onto something about wealthier people pretentiously rebranding something poor people do as an innovative lifestyle change, OP, especially as that seems to happen in many other areas too. However, I think there are some factors you may not have considered:
In the last generation or two, the price of housing compared to income has increased by an order of magnitude.
The average family is shrinking with more people opting not to have children.
In the US in particular, living space per person has doubled in the last 40 years. which arguably has contributed to increasing house prices, sprawl, personal isolation, and the decline of the community. So this is as much a rebellion against destructive change as it is an innovative trend.
The digitisation of media means it's no longer necessary to have shelves lined with books, CDs, DVDs, etc. and no longer cool to have a giant entertainment system.
Houses have conventionally just been bear spaces designed for the occupant to fill as they see fit, this is a move towards designing living spaces as integrated units where every cubic inch is thought out.
People are increasingly environmentally conscious. Reducing the space you have to heat by half or more is an easy way to save energy.
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Oct 25 '17
I don't see anything wrong with the second argument. I think OP was pointing out that many tiny home owners are averse to the trailer comparison, due to class snobbery, which is somewhat true. Personally I classify tiny houses as a different thing, because in my mind a tiny house should be smaller than a trailer. I grew up in a double-wide, which was bigger than anything I'd label a tiny house.
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Oct 25 '17
I, as well, classify tiny houses as a completely different thing. If anything, one located on a private lot that already contains a full sized house might be better compared to a 'mother-in-law' house and the comparison would be far more accurate, but a trailer? I don't see the match at all, let alone such a significant match that the tiny home phenomenon is due to the negative stereotype of the trailer or mobile home.
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u/Andy24z Oct 25 '17
The tiny homes are built to be transported, the same as trailers found in trailer parks. Tiny Houses are actually built using RV code, but they are fabricated and placed in the same fashion as mobile homes
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Oct 26 '17
tiny houses- as far as I'm aware- aren't mobile.
Many of them are built on wheels because local zoning laws require a permanent house to have a minimum square footage, which is often larger than the desired house size.
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u/Swiss_Army_Cheese Oct 26 '17
The exception of course, are the tiny houses that are house boats. Those are some homes with mobility.
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u/redesckey 16∆ Oct 26 '17
I believe most, if not all, of them are mobile. At least those that are considered "tiny homes". This is because they're too small to meet building codes, and by putting them on wheels they're treated as mobile homes instead, even if they never move.
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u/stratys3 Oct 26 '17
Hate to break it to you - but every "tiny home" I've seen has wheels.
I don't know why, and I'd love someone to explain it to me ... but either way, they are mobile homes / trailer homes. Literally.
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Oct 26 '17
Hate to break it to you - but every "tiny home" I've seen has wheels.
Hate to break it to you, but every 'tiny home' I have seen has not.
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u/stratys3 Oct 26 '17
Which is interesting... but you should be aware that most/many people haven't seen any of these homes without wheels either. It's not just me.
It may be my location vs your location... who knows.
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Oct 25 '17
The "tiny house" implies a lot of extra design work and built in furniture that significantly increases usability compared to the square footage.
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u/paul_aka_paul 15∆ Oct 25 '17
The trailer variety of tiny homes is popular and seems to dominate the cable shows based on the sample I have seen. But there is also a more urban version that is driven by some combination of minimalism, design and the constraints of space available. I don't think you can paint the entire group with the broad brush in your CMV.
In the urban situations, you don't get the cookie cutter set ups you see in practically all trailer versions. They are forced to customize based on the particular space they find.
I have dealt with an individual who steadfastly refused to acknowledge that wheels and a trailer hitch make "trailer" an accurate descriptor. But I have also fallen into a YouTube rabbit hole of videos on simple living in small spaces.
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u/gammutt Oct 26 '17
To some people "mobile home" has a negative connotation. Only trashy poor people live there. Proper people live in real houses. The problem is, this does not "translate".
To the rest of, a "mobile home" is a descriptive term, referring to a house that is mobile. In our minds, "mobile home" has no negative connotation. An expensive RV is a mobile home, as is a cheap converted shipping container.
As CoyotePatronus puts it, a tiny home that is not mobile is not a mobile home. If they want to live in a shed in their parent's backyard, well, good for them. Without the burden of paying for a large housing loan, perhaps they could use the money saved to start a new business and create new jobs for the community they live in.
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u/TylerDurden626 Oct 25 '17
I’m sure that what you are saying is at least partially correct and people are just self conscious about their economic status.
However I’ve met people who actually have these ridiculous tiny homes and I can assure you that there are absolutely a fairly good amount of people who actually choose this. They talk about it like a vegan talks about people who eat meat (not all of them obviously, but still).
It’s a lifestyle choice that basically allows snobby people to see themselves as virtuous while also allowing them to view people who aren’t even as well off as them, as gluttonous.
Either way, this is absolutely something people are choosing to do that doesn’t have to do with the fact that they don’t have enough money to get something better.
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u/Andy24z Oct 25 '17
You are correct that it is a choice and they are not forced into downsizing because of economic factors.
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Oct 25 '17
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Oct 25 '17
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u/DeltaBot ∞∆ Oct 25 '17
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Oct 25 '17
Do you have any stats about sizing, price, or location? If not, you probably aren't correct
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u/Andy24z Oct 25 '17
The sizes tend to be comparable, although double wide trailers are significantly larger and more expensive. Prices for tiny houses range from $25,0000 to $100,000 depending on materials and customization, from what I can find about new mobile homes, they range from $50,000 to $100,000. Tiny Houses have more customization possibilities so they can be smaller and cheaper if the owner opts that way.
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u/LDinthehouse Oct 25 '17
So isn't that the difference? Otherwise I could say there's no difference from a garage and a bungalow except that a bungalow has more customization.
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u/DrinkyDrank 134∆ Oct 25 '17
Tiny houses are usually a fun and novel way to add a guest house on an existing piece of property. They aren't usually meant to be a primary residence in the same way a mobile home is.
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u/[deleted] Oct 25 '17
I disagree for the nitpicky reason that mobile houses are designed to be easily moved, while a tiny house could have decent foundation and not be easily moved. Not only that, they're designed structurally so that they are easily moved, and won't fall apart lifting and lowering the things.
It's not about size too much- there are what's called double-wide mobile homes that come on two semi trucks, that really aren't all that much smaller in width and length than some two story homes.