Affordable Tiny House Retirement in an "Agri-Hood"

Tiny homes are ideal for retirement. You have less to take care of, less to clean. When I was a kid I always told myself I would have it made if I could live in a cabin, retire in a cabin. I like the cabin core look and so this came pretty close. I just happened upon tiny timbers when they were just about to open and I was just drawn by the agri-hood concept. So this is one of the biggest bedrooms I've seen in a tiny home. You may not believe this because know you've heard a lot of price ranges. I paid... Hi my name is Brian and this is my dog Stella and we're here to show you our tiny home today. I retired from Pinellas County Schools in Florida after about 24 years of teaching. I wanted something a little more permanent but with the option of moving and I also wanted to be closer to nature. I just happened upon tiny timbers when they were just about to open and I was just drawn by the agri-hood concept. This is what I really came for was being in this wooded area where we can grow our own food and where I have easy access to hiking trails just running around the woods with my dog Stella. I like the cabin core look and so I found a lot of builders who have the kind of models that I found appealing. I saw there were rave reviews for this is an Amish Mennonite family business Hilltop Structures in Cumberland Furnace, Tennessee and I was really impressed with the layout and the quality of the build and I decided to go with them and I don't regret it. They met every special request I made and they were very reasonably priced. You may not believe this because I know you've heard a lot of price ranges. I paid $68,000. What it did cost me was the transportation. It cost me $9,200 to move it to Wisconsin. I'm still coming out ahead in terms of the quality of the build for the for the price. I just love it. I love the fact that there's not a whole lot to clean or upkeep and yet it's large enough it has the feel of a real home to me. Stella, she has a boyfriend here across the way, Ollie. She's happy. She's a happy camper here so it's for her that I stay here. Welcome to Tiny Timbers Agri-Hood in St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin. Here's my tiny home which was built in Tennessee and made the trip up here two years ago. It's 13 foot high by 12 foot wide by 38 feet long. I came here mostly because of the Agri-Hood concept for the neighborhood and as you can see my my lot is almost full with raised beds and we also have a big community garden that we work in. When you move here there are some community standards and they expect you to cover the hitch in front and to put skirting around the bottom and I built a deck and they also provide a shed which they allow you to upgrade if you want to make it a living space or maybe for an art studio they allow you to do that. When I moved in two years ago this was just bare bones and I finished it off with the idea of creating an online classroom for myself. I'm a retired teacher. It's also where I put my my big tv. Winters can get a little long here in Wisconsin and it's nice to have the additional space to escape to when you're snowed in for several days at a time. So I built storage here. I added storage where I keep paints and stuff which need to be heated. Just bought some comfortable furniture for my neighbors to join me watch videos or movies together. One of the benefits of living in the community is having this beautiful garden to work in. You're provided with one raised bed and the rest is shared community space. We're kind of proud of this because the first two years we were battling a lot of weeds and this is the first year it's actually looking like a garden finally. We have some other amenities in the community. We have a pavilion which residents can sign out for family functions. We have get-togethers in the community. We have friends giving every November that we get together. We also have a greenhouse which we're trying to make functional in the wintertime. Hopefully we can grow some vegetables in the winter too. Okay we're going to begin with my porch which I've found indispensable in north woods where we have a lot of mosquitoes. So it's not big but it's big enough for morning coffee and a nice book. This is where we we start our day. So this is my tiny home. First center we are now in the living room slash kitchen. When I had my tiny home built I wanted a full-size kitchen which I have. Since we're growing our own food here I like to cook as a hobby. As you can see we got a full-size sofa in here. I did have to add a wood stove since the mini split really didn't cut it when we had minus 20 degree temps in winter. A suggestion would be if you're looking at tiny home living maybe try one out. I stayed at a Coney Bell in North Carolina before I even went about purchasing my home and I stayed in an eight and a half foot which is standard width and it would be fine for a short-term stay but I decided that I couldn't live in that full time. So the wider width gives you more options for moving things around and I've noticed that they've gotten bigger over the years over time. People aren't using them to travel so much and they tend to stay in place more often these days. And so we have some here in our community. We have some more modern tiny homes and some I chose this because when I was a kid I always told myself I would have it made if I could live in a cabin, retire in a cabin. And so this came pretty close. It's just really cozy. I have to live in a space before I can make it mine and I think that's true for most people. And so you have to figure out how you're going to live in that space. I need a workspace and so I built a flip-up desk. There was a carpenter who sold live edge walnut which I really liked. And then I have an ottoman which doubles as a work seat but also for extra seating when guests come over. The one thing I do like about tiny living is all the examples of creativity I've seen online. And so like this I just bought a cabinet from Ikea. These are actually coat hangers that I made into handles and then some legs I picked up at the big box hardware store. It's extra pantry space too. This space I found to be a little awkward and I've seen similar models that have a little wider hallway and they're used for hunting cabins and they'll have like bunk beds in this space. This design allowed me to bring my books. I didn't have to get rid of too many of my books. That made me happy. Right off the hallway is the bathroom which I think is ample size. I find it to be ample size and it's I kind of have an homage to Florida thing going on in here. All my Florida souvenirs over the years. We have plumbing here. We have septic and city water that we get from the city of St. Croix. I went with a regular flush toilet which I prefer. This is the bedroom and when I was looking at designs many of them had lofts and I was thinking ahead a little bit. I also like the the advantage of having higher ceilings. So this is one of the biggest bedrooms I've seen in a tiny home. I have plenty of storage in here and so there's uh in this one I have washer dryer and printer and my wi-fi router fits in there and then in the middle I have I even have a closet a hanging closet. This was originally going to be a swinging door but we made it a barn door and then we had the middle one as a pocket door and that worked out really well. We'll go outside. One of the reasons I love this community so much was I want to spend my retirement closer in nature and I have one of the many trails in the community and in the area. I have access to it right off my back door. Tiny homes are ideal for retirement. You have less to take care of, less to clean. If you have a fair amount of interest in the prospect of tiny living, go for it. You know there's plenty of resources and my suggestion is to you know take one out for a test run. You know spend a long weekend in a tiny home in an Airbnb and see what it's like. Do your research before you make a move and enjoy the ride. If you like this week's episode please make sure to like, share, and subscribe and check back soon because we have new unique home tours publishing all the time. And if you'd like to join our team and get access to members only content and unique perks make sure you click on the join button below.