Tiny homes an option in BOP housing market

The housing market in the Bay of Plenty makes it difficult to rent a house, let alone buy or build one.

But very few know about tiny homes, and how affordable they actually are.

NZ Tiny Homes was established in New Plymouth two years ago by Kylie Thomson and Jamie Cameron, and have an agent set up in Bethlehem who opens her tiny home up to others looking to downsize, make their first home purchase or looking for an investment.

Kylie says they saw a need in the market for affordable housing, but also saw it as an investment opportunity for people who wanted to do Airbnb's.

All of their tiny homes are built in a factory in New Plymouth, with 10 being built at a time.

"The build time frame we've got it down to six weeks now and we've got some really talented New Zealand team of engineers, builders and architects.

"I think that there's an issue with rental accommodation at the moment so it is a very good investment opportunity for people renting them out or Airbnb's. It's also a great opportunity to help out family, children and getting their first home if you have land, and also for granny flats, keeping an elderly mother or father close to home."

At NZ Tiny Homes, Kylie says they don't like to complicate things and have a hidden cost system.

"What we are working towards is a single cost, which is all inclusive which includes delivering and setting it up on their site, levelling it and basically walk and turnkey ready."

Within that all-inclusive cost, the house comes with a front loading washer/dryer, a fridge/freezer, and a smart TV.

With dealings with the council, Kylie says they will also help people out with that as well.

"We've just worked towards our first two homes getting a building certificate code of compliance, which now deems them not so much like caravans but more so they are transportable permanent dwellings.

"So they have the PS1 for the building code and it means that it's easy for them to connect to mains, and basically the process is quite simple with the council with connecting to services and positioning it on a piece of land."

If someone was looking at purchasing a tiny home, Kylie says they would first need somewhere to put it.

"I would then recommend that they do a bit of due diligence by contacting the duty planner at the council because they need to make sure that the land that they're putting it on that there's somewhere actually suitable with flood zones or geo testing and things like that.

Read the full article

here