Frequently Asked Questions
In 2011, Ed was introduced to the concept of tiny houses. Having recently developed an active retirement community in nearby Rome, GA, he saw value in creating a rustic downsized community for pre-retirement and vacationing. Below are some frequently asked questions we and others in the tiny house industry have addressed since the concept was reintroduced in 1999. After reviewing these FAQs, please fill out the Contact Us form and give us a little more detail about your plans for tiny living. We look forward to meeting to you!
Design
The age range of our communities is all over the map. We have couples in their 50s with teenage kids. Pre-retirees have adult children who might bring babies for visits.
However, leased lot communities is not Accessible. We use river rock and gravel for roads and pathways so neither strollers nor wheelchairs are currently possible. If you want to include Accessible features, we can work with you regarding lot location, as well as materials used for your own driveway, walkways, and entry.
All plans can be customized to an extent, within the legal parameters of delivery and zoning. It is best to tour several different designs and pick the attributes you like best. Then pick the floorplan that is closest to that and make your changes.
You have 13′ vertical height to work with and you can forego the loft, and consider a Murphy bed, convertible furniture, or additional square footage.
The loft is a good sleeping area for anyone who would normally sleep on your sofa — overnight guest, children, etc. Lofts as the only sleeping area may not be realistic for someone over 50 if crawling is required. Likewise, items stored in the loft may also require crawling to retrieve them so consider the design and depth of your loft.
A tiny house is a residential structure that is typically sized under 600 square feet. There are 2 accepted designations:
1) THOW (Tiny House On Wheels) which can fit on a trailer have max dimensions of 8 feet 6 inches wide, 13 feet 6 inches tall, and 40 feet long providing a total maximum of about 340 square feet. With proper vehicle, you could tow this size tiny house yourself.
2) Park Model RV (PMRV) which is 396-399 square feet and feels a bit like a bright 1 bedroom apartment. These can be up to 14 feet wide but require permitting and tractor-trailor truck for moving.
Do this exercise when considering a tiny home: Determine where you spend the most time in your current residence. Measure the exact space that time occupies. For most people, it’s a bathroom with shower/tub, bed, sofa with table and chair, kitchen table, kitchen appliance area, and maybe a porch. These spaces are easily accommodated in a 400 sqft tiny house. You can then adjust space requirement up or down based on your personal preference, and whether you intend to live in the space full time or keep it as a home base for outdoor activities
Typical RVs aren’t built to be used every day like a house. Since they’re expected to be moved frequently, the materials used in the construction are lighter weight and often less durable. RV’s can start to look pretty worn after a much shorter time than you would expect with a house. They also aren’t built to be maintained like a house. When was the last time you heard of someone putting a fresh coat of paint on their RV or putting a new Roof on after 25 years. Tiny houses are built just like a conventional house with all the same, or better, materials.
Building
Our park models are blocked, leveled and tie-down per the local wind code.
Modular homes are built to whatever wind code is specified by the engineer for the area.
Our park models are heavier than typical RV’s (25K to 30K lbs) so they stand up to the wind very well.
As a home, your tiny house is as susceptible to theft as any other. But if you’re concerned about someone driving it away, you can take precautions by removing required parts of the trailer for transport once you’ve sited your home.
Our professional builders estimate 4-8 weeks depending on demand.
You can work with any builder as long as your design is approved for our community. Keep in mind that if you purchase a tiny house through us, we will help you manage that relationship if there are any issues, and may even be able to handle small repairs locally. If you work with an unaffiliated builder, we are not part of that relationship and you will need to work with them for any and all repairs or maintenance on your house.
River Ridge Escapes does not build tiny houses. We represent many tiny home builders across the country.
Location
The age range of our communities is all over the map. We have couples in their 50s with teenage kids. Pre-retirees have adult children who might bring babies for visits.
However, leased lot communities is not Accessible. We use river rock and gravel for roads and pathways so neither strollers nor wheelchairs are currently possible. If you want to include Accessible features, we can work with you regarding lot location, as well as materials used for your own driveway, walkways, and entry.
Here is a sample of total costs:
House: $115,000
Tax (7%): $8050
Site Prep: $4000 (for unsited homes)
3 month lot lease deposit: $1485
Year 1 Lot Lease (5% discount for prepay): $5445
Tag and title for trailer: Based off of the value of the home + milage rat + %
Total Move In: $134,000
Annual Cost Estimate:
Year 1 Lot Lease (5% discount for prepay): $5445
Tag and title for trailer: Based off of the value of the home + milage rat + %
Utilities per month: $60-$150 /month
We allow up to 2 domestic pets per household.
Pets are not allowed in the rental cabins or common area buildings due to visitors who may have allergies.
BEFORE you purchase a house, you need to confirm you will have a place to put it. You can’t just park it in your driveway or on a piece of property you own without first clarifying the zoning laws for the property it is on.
This is not about aesthetics or mobile homes, it’s about property values and taxes so don’t assume this is unnecessary in rural areas.
- What are your minimum regulations for full time residence?
- What is minimum Square Footage?
- What is minimum wall length?
- What is maximum residence per year?
- Is a foundation required?
- Do you allow sustainability options like solar power or composting toilets?
- What is the annual tax calculation?
- Do you accept RVIA or ANSI 119.5 building standards?
You may call us once you have this information and we can give you some ideas if there are any conflicts.
You can build your house on the lot you’ve designated and paid for if you have access to electricity and maybe water, depending on your construction needs.
PMRV (Park Model RV): These can be 14′ wide and 40′ long but require a tractor-trailer truck and special Wide Load permitting for routes and roads. PMRVs are designed to stay in one place for longer amounts of time, but be moved if needed to a new location.”
You want to secure the location before you order the house since most builders will not deliver to a unsecured location. THOWs generally cannot be parked in your driveway like a motor home. The property must be zoned for the size tiny house you have.
You can start by checking your State regulations here http://www.rvia.org/UniPop.cfm?v=2&OID=3531&CC=7616
Then call the County Zoning Agent for your target location to be sure of your particular property. See FAQ: What do I ask my County Zoning Agent?
If wanting to put a tiny house in our leased lot communities, we do require the home to be purchased from us. However, if you are buying a lot in our “purchase lot communities” you can buy from us, bring you own (must be approved by developer first), or stick build a home under 1200sqft.
Yes, we have many tiny home communities that offer lots for lease in a private & gated community with amenities or we also have communities with lots for purchase. In any of our communities, the lots size is no smaller than half an acre.
Often tiny house communities are RV parks that have been rezoned for tiny houses. When choosing your community, consider the layout: How big are the lots? Are there trees between for privacy? Is there private and public outdoor space? What are the rules on noise, pets, etc.?
We had many waterfront properties, but currently they are all sold. Water front property is a hard gem to find atop Lookout Mountain, but we are always searching and looking for more.
Closest larger towns with hospitals are Fort Payne, AL, 20 minutes away, and Rome, GA, 40 minutes away.
Nearest ambulance service is in Menlo, 4 miles away.
Harbin Clinic satellite office is in Summerville, 15 minutes away.
All of our tiny home communities are located on our near Lookout Mountain. Nearby townships include Menlo, Cloudland, Summerville and Mentone, AL. Closest larger towns are Fort Payne, AL, and Rome, GA.
We strongly recommend that you not only tour them, but spend some time in one to determine just how tiny you can comfortably go before you throw out all your stuff! You can find many tiny homes that are available to rent through AirBnB under the visit tab on our website.
We also have tiny homes at our dealership that are available to tour Mon-Fri 10:00am-5:00pm EST. We are located at 8021 HWY 48, Menlo, GA 30731.
When purchasing a lot, you would be responsible for your own site prep. Site prep includes installing septic, water, and electrical; driveway and walkways, tree removal, grading, and landscaping etc.
If you are wanting to lease a lot, we charge the customer a 1 time site prep fee of $4000. This covers the delivery, hooking up of the utilities to the house, underpinning and building steps to the house. River Ridge Escapes covers all of the other site preparation needed prior to having the house delivered. In addition to RRE covering the site prep & installation of all utilities, included in your monthly lot lease is: water, septic, garbage service landscape maintenance, property tax for you lot and access/upkeep of the amenities within the community.
So purchasing or leasing is a personal preference in what you are looking for and what your needs are.
Utilities
If you want to have a traditional washer/dryer, oven, and tank based water heater you’re going to need 220. If your tiny house is designed without those, you may get away with just 110 only throughout the house. Electricity is available to be ran to all of our lots, but solar may be difficult due to the wooded and shaded locations of our communities. It may not be enough direct sunlight to energize the solar panels.
At each of our Escape properties, we hook it up to a regular septic system and have regular flush toilets and running water. Or you can set it up just like an RV with holding tanks. Finally, you could consider composting toilets if that is allowable in your county or area.
Cost
Here is a sample of total costs:
House: $115,000
Tax (7%): $8050
Site Prep: $4000 (for unsited homes)
3 month lot lease deposit: $1485
Year 1 Lot Lease (5% discount for prepay): $5445
Tag and title for trailer: Based off of the value of the home + milage rat + %
Total Move In: $134,000
Annual Cost Estimate:
Year 1 Lot Lease (5% discount for prepay): $5445
Tag and title for trailer: Based off of the value of the home + milage rat + %
Utilities per month: $60-$150 /month
Miniaturization costs money. It is more difficult to design and engineer spaces in a nonstandard way than in a standard way. If most houses have a 12 x 12′ livingroom area and a 5 x 6′ kitchen, then it’s easy to just find a design someone else has already used.
Better resources (premium wood, odd-size windows, etc.) cost more, even when you’re using less of the resource. Example: 7 teak wood steps cost more per step, but don’t cost as much as an entire floor.
Tiny Houses range from $35-100,000, depending on design, materials used, and builder. Due to financing limitations (see Financing filter), you should expect to pay for the house outright upon delivery. However, keep in mind the following initial expenses: tag and title, land/lease, site prep and utilities installation, delivery if more than 50 miles, storage unit (It is very difficult and not entirely necessary to downsize completely in one go).
Financing
We do not handle, financing in house, however, there are resources listed under the financing page on our website.
Not traditionally but it is possible. If you get an RV certification for your tiny home it’s easier to get financing as long as your credit is good. Our current bank provides terms starting at 7% with a 20% downpayment.
Better options include saving up the cash; using your credit card transfer balance option which can be as low as 2% for the first 18 months; collateralizing land, residence or stock; or the sale of your larger residence in favor of an apartment + tiny house.
Moving
To move a PMRV, you need a commercial tractor-trailer and permits. Delivery is based on the location. If you can provide us an address, we can get an estimated cost.
