Family Lives in 320-Square-Foot 'Shotgun Shack'.

[Ponce]

Family Lives in 320-Square-Foot 'Shotgun Shack'.

Having trouble qualifying for a home loan? Then consider what this inventive family of three did and buy yourself a Mississippi-style "shotgun shack."

Sick of working two jobs apiece to pay the mortgage on their 2,000-square-foot home, Debra and her husband Gary decided to give it all up and start over – by purchasing a 320-square-foot shack for $15,000 cash.

The video below, first submitted to the blog faircompanies.com on an open call for videos of tiny homes, shows the couple and their teenage son living mortgage-free in their surprisingly spacious abode.

The home includes a walk-in closet, conventional-sized appliances and even a lofted bedroom for their son that, the family boasts, is big enough to host sleepovers. Watch the video below to see just how far a little ingenuity can take you, even in today's prohibitive mortgage market.

http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2011/06/01/video-family-lives-in-320-square-foot-shotgun-shack/?ncid=webmail

[TheNocturnalEgyptian]

But how much land do they have? The garden/orchard + chicken coop is the only real important part of survival...you can survive in almost any old shack.

[the biss]

... and they may find themselves behind the wheel of a large automobile. And they may ask themselves, "How did we get here?" And they may ask themselves, "MY GOD! What HAVE we done?"

[Shami-Amourae]

George4Title built a 120 sq ft. home for him and his family:

Start @0:57.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qWkaVXuvXw

[Silver Shield]

this is the future America...

A much smaller, slower, sustainable life.

The transition will be hell but get used to it.

[Shami-Amourae]

Personally I'm excited about it. I just want to be one of the first to do it so I'm set before the sheeple are forced to wake up and go batshit insane.

I really want to get one of these:
http://www.concrete-domes.com/model%20572.htm#Model:32530

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSRfYeYQ5hk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCEY9qeIWEI

[jimswift]

The music sucked in that clip. So depressing that it sounds like something bad going on there.

I live as minimalist life as i can, so i dont see anything wrong with whats going on with these people.

That music was like they were framing it as some kind of pity plea.

[solid]

The music sucked in that clip. So depressing that it sounds like something bad going on there.

I live as minimalist life as i can, so i dont see anything wrong with whats going on with these people.

That music was like they were framing it as some kind of pity plea.


I didn't like the music either. It's a good thing to simplify life with no debt, and a small simple home. I really like that home, and would be completely comfortable in it. In fact, it's probably bigger than my place anyway.

It's a good trend reversing back to small homes. Over the years, homes have gotten larger, and the lot sizes smaller. These massive homes stacked right next to each other in housing developments. The key to being happy in a smaller home, is to surround yourself with space outside. People should be outside more anyway, a home is a place to eat meals and sleep, get out of the weather.

I'd like to get one of those homes and put it on 40 acres or so, next to a river.

[Ponce]

Hey Shami? I am with you on that one, not even a 120 miles tornado will do anything to it......being single that would be just right for me.........if I didn't have so much JUNK >:(

[ShortJohnSilver]

Of course, zoning regs in much of the country require a minimum square footage of 900sf for any residence. You cannot get a building permit for anything smaller than that.

[General of Darkness]

DEBIT = SLAVERY.

I chose freedom.

[Shami-Amourae]

I just watched this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hq9xf0OhaVI

The #1 problem with this would be figuring out a loophole in zoning laws, since upfront it's impossible to have a small house like this.

[Ponce]

Of course, zoning regs in much of the country require a minimum square footage of 900sf for any residence. You cannot get a building permit for anything smaller than that.


Like the time in CA where this guy went to jail because he didn't want electricity in him home.......the power company told the city attorney that it was "unsafe" for him NOT to have electricity.

[Book]

The #1 problem with this would be figuring out a loophole in zoning laws, since upfront it's impossible to have a small house like this.



Dome builders in the 1960s seriously regretted their design choice: They leak. Sound bounces all around. Sloping walls etc. Might wanna do some more real-world research...

:)

[solid]

The #1 problem with this would be figuring out a loophole in zoning laws, since upfront it's impossible to have a small house like this.



Dome builders in the 1960s seriously regretted their design choice: They leak. Sound bounces all around. Sloping walls etc. Might wanna do some more real-world research...

:)



You know, I'm glad I'm not a landlubber. You can take all those zoning laws and stuff them up your ass. I have no codes boatwise. I can do and build whatever I want on my boat, nobody can and will say anything. Sure, boat folks may be an "odd" bunch, but at least we are free. Codes and zoning laws are a bunch of BS. Who's to tell us men what and how we can build on our own damn property.

Land of the free...my fucking ass. What a bunch of crap.