With the cost of houses and land rising quicker than wages for a lot of people, getting on the property ladder is arguably the hardest it’s been for the past 100 years or so, because of this first time buyers are avoiding looking at expensive traditional home and looking into the option of smaller houses.
The tiny house movement has been growing for the past few years, as buying a small but affordable house appears to be a more attractive idea for young people than paying rent to a landlord for somewhere to live.
While there are some drawbacks to living in a small home, like space being at a premium, there are a multitude of positives associated with buying a small home, so let’s look at a few of the big benefits of tiny house living!
Affordability
The biggest driver behind first time buyers opting for smaller homes is simple, a small 1 bedroom house costs substantially less money than a bigger 2 or 3 bedroom home. With house prices at an all time high small homes are a much more attractive entry point to the housing market and much less of a risk for the buyer.
With the lower cost of smaller houses, paying off your mortgage is also substantially easier to do and can be done over a shorter timescale than a larger mortgage, meaning that small home owners will 100% own their home faster than others, with a shorter term mortgage buyers are also protected from long term instability in housing markets, which is an added benefit.
Decorating Is Easier
Decorating any home is a time and money intensive project to undertake, but in a small home the cost and time needed to decorate your home to a high standard is a lot lower. The primary reason for this is than in a small house you simply have less space that needs to be decorated and all of your purchases will be smaller than when compared to a regular house.
When you have a small home, it’s also a lot easier to find decorative items and furnishings than it is in a large home. In large homes everything needs to be large, but household items like blinds for example usually have standard sizes, so a small home owner can simply buy blinds off the shelf, but an owner of a large home would need bespoke large blinds made, which will cost a lot more than a standard sized blind.
Less Upkeep
Upkeep is a major part of owning any home, you have plumbing and electrics to keep up to code, rooms to keep tidy, floors to clean and the list goes on. Really owning a house is a lot of work, keeping everything in good condition.
So it’s a no brainer that owning a smaller home, means less work for the homeowner. On all fronts in a small house there is a lot less work to be done than in a medium or big house. So for busy people who have a lot on their plate both in work and their personal life, the appeal of less house work is a big pull for first time buyers.