Category: Planning

This weekend we looked at houses for rent near our land and didn’t find anything that would work for us. Peter said he just didn’t feel right renting someone else’s house when what we really want is to get to our land. So we then drove out to rural MD and looked at a tiny house on wheels.

The tiny house was awesome. It was a deep green stain on the exterior, had very large windows and a completely open floor plan. I loved that the kitchen was a galley the width of the trailer and the bath and bed were at the opposite side of the long end, leaving a large open space in the center.

We really think this tiny house could be an awesome place to live until our big house is built. Though we really love the asethetic of this particular house, I’m hesitating with it because it’s not off-grid ready and I don’t know how we would get it set up for off-grid given our distance and lack of know-how, not to mention our time constraints with Peter working full time and me having two little ones to take care of full time.

I’m beginning to feel like I have turned over just about every stone trying to find something that is move-in ready and ready now. I have started to think it is time to cut our losses and order something that will be ready in a few months. We could still get there in early spring and start working on some projects and be there while the big house is under construction.

It’s looking like spring is going to be the time {thyme}.

It’s been just over a month since we purchased our land. During the last month, we have visited a couple of times to walk the property and to start getting to know it better. Since we live five hours away, we have been exploring ways we could spend more time on the land and stay longer than a few hours at a time. We  looked at everything from cabins to tiny houses. I was hopeful that we could get something ready in the last few months of 2016 before the really cold weather comes.

Unfortunately we have not been able to find anything we could build on our land that will be ready for us to live in this year. I contacted builders for cabins, tiny house trailers and I looked for a used tiny house and couldn’t find anything local. So then we started looking at RVs. There sure are plenty of options for RVs – so many that I became overwhelmed by the choices (and some of the price tags!). Little Peter is fascinated with RVs and really wants to live in one. I’m less enthused. I prefer the aesthetic of a tiny house and I’m concerned about heat and water since we would be totally off-grid.

This week I had the idea to look for a rental apartment or house in the area. I think it will be easier with the kids and all the muddy laundry they make at this time of year and it will be more economical than an RV. We won’t quite be on our land, but if we can be within a short distance we can definitely spend more time on the land than if we stay in NY.

As excited as I am to get to WV, there is part of me that is overwhelmed and wants to just hunker down for the winter in NY and wait till spring to make any changes.

Let’s see how the rentals look.