Hey guys,
I'm 28 and recently achieved FI. I have almost never been out of my home state (Indiana) and would like to spend the next few years traveling and looking for inspiration with as little overhead as possible. Last month, I went on a "scouting mission" to some areas I thought I might like to live. I stopped in Boulder, CO and my jaw hit the floor. I have never felt more welcome, or more like I fit in, any place in my entire life. I've basically made it my mission to move there in the next few months. However, I'd still like the option of taking my "house" with me wherever I decide to go.
I've been kicking around the idea of building a tiny house or buying a small RV for a while now, but after looking at Boulder proper housing prices, I really kicked it into high gear. For $600 a month plus utilities, I'd be living in a room in some house. For a 350sqft studio, I'd be paying $900 / mo plus utilities. While I think the price is worth it to get out of Indiana, where I am completely miserable, I'd like to explore other options.
I hear you can buy a tiny house for less than $10k if you construct it yourself. If that's the case, I could spend the next few months building it / buying material for a fun hobby, and skedaddle to Boulder. I have no idea how much a decent, liveable RV costs.
One of my concerns is, where are these things allowed? I don't want to be out in the sticks somewhere, necessarily. I'm single (need a big dating pool) and enjoy being around people, so I don't want to be some off-the-grid hermit type. Some place within a quick drive (or better yet, bike ride) to society would be ideal, but where do people put/park these things? I've heard of tiny house owners parking them in peoples' backyards. I imagine the type of people in Boulder would be open to this arrangement (here...no way), but what do you do? Throw up a craigslist ad saying: let me park my house in your backyard? What about RV's? Do you just sit in parking lots til you're kicked out? Because that sounds awful. I suppose you could go to a state park with RV hookups, but at their rates I think that would be similar to paying rent, and you'd also be out in the boonies!
What is it like living in one of these with a pet? I have a half-Serval half-cat, basically just a very active cat. Does anyone here own a tiny house and keep a pet in it year round? I'm trying to think of ways to "hide" the litterbox, since that would be kind of dumpy looking.
Just looking for some guidance, and this forum is probably the only place where I might find people who have also considered this, aside from the actual Tiny House sites...I'm asking here because alot of the people on those sites seem very enamored with the idea of a tiny house and I don't want a biased opinion...I'm looking at it as a purely financial decision, and would hate it if it forced me into some "nonstandard" lifestyle.