4 Hot Ideas for Living Smaller...Apartment Rental or Tiny House!

I opened my eyes this morning and turned to my husband asking "Do you think we should sell our condo in Oregon when we get home?" What brought that on? I mean the poor man looked at me like I had two heads.

We live in park model here in Arizona for 6 months. Beginning in October is it our home. It is 12' wide and about 35' long. When the weather gets very hot in the spring we return to our condo in Oregon where we have around 1400 square feet of space, lots of stairs, 2.5 bathroom, 2 bedrooms, den, large kitchen, diningroom and living room.

So when I woke up this morning I was thinking about cleaning my park model...not with enthusiasm but I was thinking about it. Then the image of my condo popped into my mind. Holy moly...the last thing I want to do is clean that baby when I get home. So it followed that I would think we could sell the beautiful condo and maybe move into something that does not require a physical fitness routine before a Summer season of cleaning and maintaining.

Downsizing is sounding really really good to me!

Once I was awake it occurred to me that we had better have a good idea where we will land before we jump. The old "out of the fry pan into the fire" would not be a good idea. Over the past few years, options for downsizing have increased and seniors are being very creative.

Brie Hoffman wrote a hub today called Affordable Apartments. She had found one for a 77 year old friend through Hud. The senior citizen low income housing was not only inexpensive but it was a very social place for a woman that was living alone. I thought Brie had some very good information for seniors facing this problem. I suggest you read her hub.

Because I had moving to a smaller space on my mind, I was very interested in what she had to say. I would not qualify for the housing she was talking about but there are other options that fulfill the same needs.

1. Social connection with others
2. Ease of access and living
3. Communal use of some spaces
4. Allow pets
5. Spaces to go outdoors

One of the choices out there today is cohousing. The movement has been around for several years and growing in momentum. The Cohousing Association had this to say:

Cohousing communities are old-fashioned neighborhoods created with a little ingenuity. They bring together the value of private homes with the benefits of more sustainable living. That means common facilities and good connections with neighbors. All in all, they stand as innovative answers to today's environmental and social problems.

Thirty-six states have cohousing development listed. In Oregon there are 10 communities and Arizona has 5 listed. Three of those are here in Tucson.

I looked at the Milagro Cohousing information listed in the Cohousing directory. In the material on their web page they sound like a group of people I would like to share my life with. While each owner has a home of their own, they are required to help in maintenance and one meal a week is shared with the community.

In the Portland, Oregon metro area cohousing Columbia Ecovillage caught my eye. This community of people includes all ages groups. Oregon happens to be one of those states that has embraces green living so the values of the community reflect that mind set.

The tiny house movement has been around for 100s of years. In countries like Thailand a tiny house is very common. My grandparents built a precut house from Sears Roebuck when my grandmother threatened to leave and not take the 4 children with her. They were living in a tent house. That house and many like it still stand today.

Amazon has some wonderful books showing how a small house can look. In the world of urban planning it is very important to keep laws in mind. Design is very important and these Amazon books will give you the information you might need to make a wise decision.

Blogs like This Small House and The Tiny House Blog are devoted to promoting and photographing examples of this lifestyle. By definition a small house can be under 90 square feet and over 600 square feet. The pictures of the Victorian example does not even show a kitchen...maybe they eat out all the time. This tiny house is located in the Catskills. It is beautiful no matter how small.

Blue prints for these houses are on a website for a company called Tumbleweed Tiny House Company. Some of their models can even be pulled by a car. They are very small "park models" style houses. I don't know if RV Resorts would allow them but they are really, really cute and homey looking. In the video above you can get a look at the interior.

For a vacation home or even a mother-in-law cottage in a back yard these would be perfect. I think they are just cute as a bug! I would not want the very small models but the larger styles would work for us in every way.

I would not want to live in with my children...it is a family notion that two generations should not live under the same roof. But in our neighborhood we have apartments attached to many of the cottages. These little spaces allow parents to live close by and still have all the independence they want. I have a neighbor that lives in a very small condo close to her daughter.

Multigenerational living can be lots of fun...just not too close. Older people find comfort in being near to their families. In many cases it becomes a necessity.

If we were to live in one of these apartments close to a child, we would pay rent and help them with their expenses. We do have a son that owns a condo in town that he only uses about 6 weeks a year. We could possibly rent from him when he and his wife are not using the condo. That might be a win win for both of us.

Loft living would be wonderful. We have "kitchen lofts" in our neighborhood in Hillsboro, Oregon. All age groups are welcome. These small spaces are inside a secure door and have a keypad for entry. An elevator will take you up to the upper levels. The developers put this living spaces over a gourmet grocery. Restaurants are within a block and mass transit is a short walk away. The Max Rail line will take you to the downtown of Hillsboro where you can get off at medical centers, a grocery store and the city center. We can also go to downtown Portland and it's trendy neighborhood using this same light rail system.

Loft living attracts young people so it is not generally a place for 55+ people only. I like that a lot. In downtown Portland, lofts are near art galleries and trendy shopping. If we could find something like that with an elevator it would be a dream come true.

We will not decide on a solution for us until our condo will sell. Living where we do has spoiled us both. It has been a perfect match for our lifestyle. I suspect that when we do move to something that will serve us in the years to come, it will be in that same neighborhood.

The developers of the area must have had that sort of thing in mind. It is very like the "retirement homes" in that as we age we can move to a place that makes living easier for us. I like that a lot. We would not give up friendship, connections or conveniences we have become accustomed to.