{"id":1040,"date":"2017-11-18T09:08:05","date_gmt":"2017-11-18T14:08:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/?p=1040"},"modified":"2018-01-30T13:27:46","modified_gmt":"2018-01-30T18:27:46","slug":"a-dream-life-inside-a-tiny-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/a-dream-life-inside-a-tiny-house\/","title":{"rendered":"A dream life inside a tiny house"},"content":{"rendered":"

[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.0.47″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.0.89″]<\/p>\n

Debbie Stansfield relocated to a\u00a0<\/strong>“tiny house”\u00a0community in Greer four\u00a0weeks ago. She says the purchase of the 400-square foot\u00a0wood-frame\u00a0<\/strong>home\u00a0changed her life.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere I can still dig in the dirt and play with my flowers, but I don\u2019t have any lawn to maintain,” Stansfield, 64, said of her home at\u00a0Lake Walk Tiny Home Community<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0“I don\u2019t have two bathrooms to clean. I don\u2019t have a big 1,800-square foot house to keep up and maintain. I have this small space here and it\u2019s just enough space for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stansfield is part of a small but growing population of people who are downsizing and simplifying by dramatically reducing the size of their homes. Inspired in part by the HGTV show “Tiny Houses, Big Living,” Stansfield found a dream home a fraction\u00a0of the size of her former home.<\/p>\n

The television show has raised the profile of tiny homes. But Lesia Kudelka, a spokesman for the S.C. Department of Labor Licensing and Regulation, said it is difficult to say how many\u00a0South Carolinians have bought into the radical downsizing because tiny houses are not regulated. She said they are not classified as mobile homes.<\/p>\n

For Stansfield, her\u00a0tiny house not only takes less work to upkeep, but it\u2019s energy efficient as well.<\/p>\n

Clayton Tiny Homes manufactured her $75,000 house. The homes are built in Alabama and shipped to the buyer’s\u00a0<\/strong>destination.\u00a0<\/strong>Stanfield’s home includes all the essentials a regular-size house would have, such as a bedroom, a bathroom, and full-size appliances.<\/p>\n

She pays $450 to lease the property and access utilities in the community of homes that range in size from 250 to 450 square feet. A spacious deck attached to the house provides her more space to relax.\u00a0<\/strong>The deck overlooks multiple picnic tables, hammocks, swing sets for the children and a fire pit, where residents can enjoy each other’s company. There are currently seven tiny homes in the Lake Walk community which has room for 50 of the small houses.<\/p>\n

While she is near retirement, Stansfield sees tiny homes as\u00a0a good investment for young people starting out on their careers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe tiny house is the perfect situation as far as I\u2019m concerned because you have your home. If your job transfers you to another city, your home can go with you,” Stansfield said.<\/p>\n

The low house upkeep\u00a0provides her with more\u00a0free time. \u201cI have a daughter that\u2019s a\u00a0missionary in Haiti and I do things for the Haitian children over there. That gives me more time to do more for them,” she said.<\/p>\n

According to South Carolina zoning laws, residents need to get approval by a locality\u00a0before they can move their tiny homes onto a new property.<\/p>\n

Columbia realtor Adrian La Fosse said while there is a trend of tiny houses in the Upstate, he\u00a0doesn’t believe Columbia will see them in the near future unless changes are made to local zoning laws.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe local governments won\u2019t actually address doing any changes to zoning until we start getting people who, as citizens, actually demand it,” La Fosse said.<\/p>\n

As popularity grows, Debbie hopes the tiny house will increase over the years. To view tiny houses for sale around the country, go to\u00a0\u00a0tinyhouselistings.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.0.47″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.0.89″] Debbie Stansfield relocated to a\u00a0“tiny house”\u00a0community in Greer four\u00a0weeks ago. She says the purchase of the 400-square foot\u00a0wood-frame\u00a0home\u00a0changed her life. \u201cHere I can still dig in the dirt and play with my flowers, but I don\u2019t have any lawn to maintain,” Stansfield, 64, said of her […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":573,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1040"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1040"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1040\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2452,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1040\/revisions\/2452"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}