Right Size!

Life and the sexy cubicle.

Several years ago I started thinking about owning my own home. While I do love the small 1 bedroom apartment I live in. The thought of having something that I own and can someday occupy with a couple of tiny agreeneden.com’s was definitely in the future planning.

The problem was two fold.

First was cost. Despite making a good income I rarely have the income that I want to travel and otherwise enjoy venturing out and about. Offsets in tax credits don’t make up for the loss of 3 weeks vacation I take per year either. This in many aspects is a result of the nearly endless taxes on property, school bonds and association fees. Coupled with utility bills approaching 10 times my current costs.

The second was reason. I have plenty of space at home now with it furnished sparsely but with everything I need. And I could theoretically auto pay all of my utilities and rent and come and go as travel and money dictates.

This balanced out against being able to throw wild all nighters and have a garage large enough to perform engine swaps on my rice burners.

Actually there is a third and ultimately bigger issue that stopped me.

I don’t want to blend in. Despite living for twenty five years in one I’m not suburbia. I’d easily trade 3600 square feet of mini mansion at the end of cul de sac for 1200 square feet with a view. So property value is my vice.

Ok that and endless toiling on a half done vision until the value has grown enough that I can upgrade to bigger and better.

Overly complex yes, but I don’t like to settle.

It was about this time that I came across the Farnsworth house designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Built in 1951 for actress Edie Farnsworth on the banks of the Fox River Delta floodplain. And though I prefer Philip Johnson’s earth bound Glass House recreation. There are many features that appeal to me.

The first and most obvious is the view. If your gonna have just any house granite countertops and stainless steel appliances are all the rage and can be bragged about to death amongst many a cocktail party goers.

But there is a basic preposition is that you never own your home your just renting it.

And if you consider how many people you know that actually pay off there home and live there happily ever after you might also agree.

But a home with a view is not something that can easily be replaced. So an all glass façade was a great start.

Another was the steel frame from which the house was constructed. In a area rife with wildfires earthquakes and termites. Having a steel frame puts the mind at ease.

And with the strength and ease of assembling (aka less build time) and useable square footage increase. This becomes even more desirable.

While the term right size gets thrown around a lot. Prefab homes such as these beautiful models from LV homes and Wee House are both visually appealing and usable. For prices far below typical tract home pricing.

Although there are some caveats to designs like this such as the poor of large glass windows and the accompanying increased energy bills.

This can be far offset by other innovations in glass, lighting and even land maintenance innovations though.

Plus the almighty “I live in that one house” factor.

So whether your in market for your first or fifteenth home take a think about the 4 months of paper work phone calls and stress your about to embark on and ask yourself. Is that worth it for this house?

Or does a stunning, modern. Easy to maintain, easy to afford. Generates no excess material waste in its construction. And is ultimately the sources of your most green choices appeal to you?