Microhouses coming to Garfield?

[ferraris]

Originally Posted by Bong477

When you break down a mortgage into just the "per month" it makes them sound more attractive than they are because it ignores most of the downside of buying a home. Rent and mortgage are not an apples to apples comparison.

First to get a 100k mortgage to $500/month at 4% rates, you need to put 20k down and ignore taxes. Taxes on a 100k home in the city will be about $150/month. If you don't put 20% down you are paying like $80/month in PMI. You also need credit scores, steady documented income, etc. Then you have the closing costs both on the buying/selling side, etc. And when something breaks, its your problem to fix. And you are far more tied to the place than if you rent. I'm not sure how many people really expect to be living in something roughly the size of a larger hotel room long term.

That's why I'm wondering if they'll have some sort of program to help with financing and/or tax abatements. For example I bought my home through a PHFA program that let me do just 5% down and still not have any PMI. And the URA is known to do tax breaks for new construction, especially in areas like Garfield.

Maintenance is an issue, but hopefully less so on new construction, particularly new construction that costs so much per square foot, which implies qualities. Increased utilities and such are not much of an issue since the homes are so small and will probably be built to be energy efficient.

I'm also not sure what the appeal of a microhouse over an apartment or condo is aside from an arguably cooler name.

You get to own, which has both financial and lifestyle benefits. You get to live in a neighborhood that's mostly single family homes, which may be more appealing to some. You get an outdoor space, which could be particularly appealing to people who want to do urban farming or display sculptures in their yard or things of that nature. And small or not, it's still a standalone structure, so there's fewer neighbor issues than in a condo.

I don't think that microhouses are the next big thing, but considering that Pittsburgh basically has zero of them right now, I think there's probably a market for a few dozen in Garfield.

[BarqCider]

I would say this concept would better serve uptown if they ever decided to redo the area entirely. imagine housing with a new business area around that, in between downtown and Oakland. but that's just my opinion

[gg]

Originally Posted by Bong477

I'm also not sure what the appeal of a microhouse over an apartment or condo is aside from an arguably cooler name.

It is a free standing home with no shared walls. That is the appeal. I don't think it will fly for those prices, but maybe there are people out there with money that don't want a bunch of stuff and want to live a simple life. Keep in mind there are tons of people with money that don't want huge everything. Many wealthy people are flying low and have very little possessions other than a huge bank account.

[eschaton]

AFAIK, the "tiny house" movement has mostly been in rural areas up until now. This is in part because urban zoning usually doesn't allow tiny houses, but also because many of the designs are semi-mobile homes meant to hitch to trailers. Regardless, it's led to a bit of a contradiction in the movement, because it's theoretically about "reducing your footprint," but given said houses have traditionally had to be located in remote rural areas where you need to drive everywhere for amenities, tiny house dwellers typically have greater carbon footprints than someone in a larger house in the city.

In this respect, trying to do the urban microhouse thing makes some sense. Still, there are plenty of portions of Pittsburgh where there's freestanding houses available in the 800 square foot range which almost meet "tiny house" sizes. And in many cases it would be way cheaper to purchase/rehab these than $100,000. Hell, a few years back in Philly a couple built a 1,150 square foot 2 bed/1 bath for $100,000. So this seems to be too high priced to me.

[doo dah]

Interesting twist on tiny houses:
Bamboo micro homes could be slotted inside Hong Kong's old factories

[Moby Hick]

This strikes me as a more reasonable effort at small houses, but I'm not seeing nearly as much detail so I don't know how they'd work in this climate.

20K House Product Line