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How would you go about building unique tiny houses for the least amount of money possible?
Would you buy an existing building? Buy it turnkey from Amazon? What if it was a giant potato?
Today’s guest is the inspiring Kristie Wolfe. You might remember her name when we chatted briefly about her with Whitney Hansen. Kristie has an incredible story of overcoming the odds of childhood poverty into building her own tiny house empire on a shoe string budget!
We also chat about…
- Growing up poor
- How to find land for super cheap
- What determination looks like
- How to build an off-grid tiny house
- The power of openess
- loads more!
She was an absolute delight to speak with! Enjoy this chat with Kristie, and please subscribe to us in iTunes if you enjoyed it!
Show Links:
Kristie’s hobbit house (so amazing!)
Her instagram (great for behind the scenes on her builds)
Her YouTube Channel
Her Blog
Clearbanc
AirDNA
Idaho Potato Truck
Key Takeaways from our chat with Kristie Wolfe
1- Live cheap, buy cheap, build cheap
Life is simple and easy when you have less stuff cluttering your life up. It’s also easier to resist temptation when you have no room to put anything! As Gwen can attest, moving into a small place is way harder to do with lots of stuff.
Land is usually cheap for a reason. Can you get there? Water? Waste? Does any of it need cleared off? Kristie shares the properties she looks for when buying cheap land!
Find friends who will help you build, watch a ton of YouTube and DIY, and figure out what is a need vs a want when you’re building your property. Best case scenario? Someone gives you free stuff!
2- Get Creative with Financing
You don’t need a ton of money to get started. Look for alternate ways of funding, especially if you’re doing unique builds like Kristie. She got some of her land owner financed. If you can’t do that, look for other ways. Kristie mentioned getting funding from Clearbanc, which is a company that takes your projected income from sites like AirBnb and lends you money.
There are tons of creative ways to get financing. You are limited only by your creativity!
3-J gets REALLY, REALLY INTERESTED in off-grid living
All the dirty details. All of them. 💩 Learn more than you ever thought you would about getting basic utilities off the grid! Do you know what a leech field is?
Prepare yourself to find out!
4- Everything is figure-out-able
If you don’t know the answer, that’s ok. Try to figure it out. Keep trying if it doesn’t work the first time. Look it up on YouTube. Google for answers in a forum. Ask someone if they know, or they know someone who knows.
Questions? Like or dislike? Leave us a comment!
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Physician on FIRE says
That was a really fun one. I love the “everything is figure-outable” attitude, and I also love the offbeat AirBNB rentals.
I found the treehouse on AirBNB and sure as $h!t, it’s one I looked at online just a couple weeks ago. I wasn’t sure how comfy our family of four would be there, and we ended up getting a yurt nearby for a couple nights instead, but I was reminded how small the world is.
Cheers!
-PoF
firedrillpodcast@gmail.com says
That’s funny! For others reading, THIS is the treehouse: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/2615058
Kristine @ Frugasaurus says
Oh my gosh, you guys. This one was so good!
We have a rather narrow geographic location that we want to find land in, so it’s more of a waiting game than anything, but the idea of tiny houses appealed to me as soon as I saw it. Talk about househacking in a big way!
One day, maybe. Just gotta find that perfect spot of land!
MySmartMoneyBlog says
That’s my dream! I’ve been thinking about buying some land in NC and building tiny homes on it. Congrats on finding a way to make it work.
Marvin says
What a great podcast and such a fantastic idea for Airbnb
I have a question for Kristie.
How do you manage the properties when they are so spread out across the country. Do you hire a management company? Do you just tell on the cleaners to prep the property for the next renter? Management seems pretty hands off. Or at least appears so.
Thanks!!
Fabulous job Kristie and kudos Fire Drill
Ruth says
Yeah, I was also wondering how she handles washing the bedding in between guests. There’s no room for a washer dryer!
I have 17 acres of land that would be perfect for this! It abuts a reservoir so I need to find out about zoning laws