Inside Upstate NY's COOLEST Tiny Home Community

This beautiful small community of houses located in northern New York was once a barren overgrown piece of land It is hard to believe that this unique European-style hill village was transformed by the vision of a single man A person can become a date officer Today people have moved to the oasis on the hills of Lake Senika I like the affordable prices People come from big cities across the country looking for a different way of life I really love it here I heard that the same contractor who created this colorful little community of houses transformed another undeveloped piece of land into something so amazing I thought I needed to confirm it with my own eyes Let's take a closer look Hello I'm glad to meet you again in blue I wanted winter to come and it has come It really snowed early This is great Yes it's really amazing The question is about the three houses visible over there The yellow house the first of the three So I will start from the top building We continued our work towards the building That was exactly nine years ago Please look at the view of this place It's really wonderful amazing This road is lined with breweries distilleries and wineries I have always wanted to design and build a small hillside village in the European style When we arrived at the houses I looked for a steeply sloped piece of land from which I could see the houses in front of me This place welcomes pets I see Oh really I want to be able to look around the houses above and below The sky gives a somewhat chaotic feeling but that's the charm of a European- style hilly village I thought there couldn't be a more beautiful view than this From here you can see the entire lake and the trees on the other side Small colorful cottages are scattered throughout the scenery It's a really beautiful place to live The site is 200 feet about 60 meters below the lake and is located another 400 meters down the hill There is a septic tank below and heavy wood is planted beneath it Next Where should I go I have read all your comments Please feel free to comment with your recommendations It's clearly evident that the entire community was planned and executed with the precision of experts But Bruno also sometimes makes mistakes Because he didn't tilt the roof towards his chest he couldn't see the view Oh Bruno just stop already You would know that Yeah I know It was a complete failure Since we could open it up We made something like a small village square I wanted a flat place where people could gather The children brought a kickball or something There was only one small spot where the ball would roll down the hill and not fall into the lake it's warm and we will be warm I call this a cottage Everyone really loves small houses Not 1000 square feet but this is about 700 square feet The kitchen dining area small dining area bedroom at the back of the living room and bathroom are on the first floor There is another bedroom and an attic on the second floor On the second floor Let's go up and take a look at the attic Oh this is spacious It's spacious Ah there's a French door that offers a view of the lake I love this place This There is also another small bedroom It 's great This house has three bedrooms and one thing I focus on is using real materials This is a wall made of clay It was actually a layer of joint compound and sand applied on top of a drywall This is a cost-effective and durable pine trim as you may know The floor is made of pine boards We use the same material for the trim as we do for the bed That's why we use relatively inexpensive materials but we use them effectively We also accept imperfections In other words I'm buying rough-sawn pine boards that are one foot wide but vary in length The one side is rough the other side is smooth Therefore we use the smooth side facing outward indoors They use the rough side facing outwards for decoration outdoors because this material absorbs dye very well Living in a small community of houses in northern New York during winter is definitely cold It's really cold Because it's a steep slope it should be slippery in the winter Therefore we must sprinkle plenty of salt on the narrow path that comes down clear the snow and remain vigilant at all times In short the secret is to place the houses close together By doing so the houses become better They never become worse I love the look of this cottage- style castle It's very cute Do you want to know more Yes I do Oh I just couldn't remember the code Look this is Airby & Bie Here is Airby & Bie It's beautiful Oh the view outside the window There is a small bedroom here Private bathroom Every village needs a tower It's a wonderful place to drink wine and read books There is another bedroom It's a great Airbnb Have you started recently No I started several years ago I don't like Airbnb and BeBusiness This is just a single Airbnb and Be It's not something I like The sense of community that comes with living here is one of the things I like about living in northern New York If you would like to learn more about the local events each month and how to participate please sign up for my email newsletter from the link below Now let's go back to the video After the tour we asked in detail how they came up with and designed and built such a unique community Did you buy this land as an undeveloped property Yes that's right Actually I redid it in Brooktonale I decided I wanted to build a small European-style hillside village based on my experience of building a voice villa cottage If someone is trying to buy undeveloped land for such purposes what should they be careful about I was specifically looking for land without zoning It's relatively rare but not uncommon in northern New York it's not something I've never heard of and I found this land that has been on the market for quite some time I think it was probably 2014 When I bought it 12 or 13 years ago it was about $15 000 per acre The land I bought was more than 16 acres So I bought it and then went to work There are purification regulations water regulations and stormwater regulations As you may know the actual construction probably began in August or September 2016 Then on November 10th the first three foundations were created The foundation of the maintenance garage was found in the garage In June people started moving in it took about nine months which seems early We were working hard In the winter in northern New York honestly what's it like here Do you especially feel the lake effect on the lake Does it get cold here It really does get cold here The coldest temperature I personally experienced was when I was riding my truck it was 22 degrees below zero That day when I pulled the door handle it broke off the truck It was that cold One secret is to keep things closed So I came up with a question to ask myself Would I be able to increase the rent by a dollar if I made it larger made it more expensive or added another two feet to the cabinet In most cases the answer is no Adding a bathroom or another bedroom can change the situation The Pico Cottage is the smallest cottage I'm building here basically about 700 square feet with one bedroom and a large loft on the second floor The rent for the cottage is $16.95 per month plus additional heating costs The high heating costs including electricity and gas are probably around $120 to $130 per year on average It's very affordable as the smallest house I see And the rent will go up from there I have a cottage that I call a classic cottage about 1000 square feet with a rent of around 1995 dollars and some rooms are a bit more expensive Then there's another property that I call El Granada which is a bit larger It is about 1200 square feet or about 120 square meters in size There are two bedrooms and a yard and the second floor has a bathroom and a dormer window The price starts at 23.95 dollars and keeps increasing from there Do you think there is still opportunity and demand for these tiny house communities If so where would you focus What advice would you give to someone who wants to do the same as you I don't think there are many people in the country doing the same thing The demand is very high People really like living here This concept should work anywhere in the country The biggest challenge is acquiring land at a price economically reasonable Let's ask the people who live here how they feel about living here despite the cold He might be a bit biased because he doesn't want to take Bruno's words at face value Hello This place is very nice How long have you been living here It's been about a year Oh that's good Are you planning to stay here for a while Yes I hope so What do you like most about living here The scenery I spend at least two times a week staring blankly out the window and going to my husband's place When I say I'm living here he says "I see " We live in these small houses we call pods Our neighbors are really great people We are planning various community activities such as potluck parties and Halloween parties for us who have moved from the city We are not isolated When I told my family I was moving they said "Huh Move to a place where there's nothing " No there's a community here and it's quiet and peaceful He answered that although there is a rural atmosphere there are plenty of things to do But I get the feeling that many people here use cars for commuting It takes me an hour and ten minutes to commute That's amazing Well that's your own choice I work at the Aurora located on the eastern side of the old school which is directly east I don't mind it Shawn is working from home so he's not working But since we have a puppy it's okay So he's okay Maru nice to meet you Peppe you are the cutest ever I didn't want to say goodbye to Peppe but I had time to talk to other residents Another couple has moved in from the city We moved here from New York I was going to Cornell University but I liked this area so I came back here How long have you been married Ah yeah maybe around 35 years old He doesn't like to count numbers so he wants us to pretend we just met That's fun Did you have to make a lot of things smaller when you moved Yeah yeah it was really hard Maru but that was good Getting rid of things is a good thing You might not realize it just by looking at their artistic home They are definitely creative types I still work part-time for them Because I'm doing theater I'm still on stage now So you're watching a student from the high school drama club I'm a drama teacher at Isaka High School and also a writer I specialize in books but no one reads them What's the best thing about living here so far Probably because it's near the lake It's really great that you can see the lake How about you What do you like most about living here Yeah that's right It's unique Different from others aesthetically beautiful Seeing the apartment makes me smile No matter how much I pay everything is ordinary Since it seems like a storm is coming it's about time to leave here I never thought this would happen but I think this community is more beautiful than the cottage I saw this summer The view of the lake is beautiful even in winter This community has a warm and friendly atmosphere Lives alone in a large house in the neighborhood It feels like a much better choice to live a life that doesn't interfere with others Not knowing anything about the neighbors That's why this is a great place Once again the blue one more More