Tiny Homes

West Omaha, Sarpy and Nebraska metro counties.

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TJ Omaha
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Tiny Homes

Post by TJ Omaha »

I apologize if this has been asked before. I tried multiple searches of the forum to see if this has been discussed. I'm fairly new to this too so go easy on me!

Has anyone in Omaha ever tried a tiny home community? Are they illegal or are there square ft restrictions for building small homes? I'd be looking at 450-700 sqft. homes on a very small lot. Any insight on this would be appreciated.

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TJ Omaha
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Re: Tiny Homes

Post by TJ Omaha »

I should clarify, these will not be trailers. I would be looking to build homes with concrete footings. Permanent structures, not the single axle or double axle homes that seem to be the trend for the DIY folks.

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Brad
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Re: Tiny Homes

Post by Brad »

Nothing from the current tiny home movement, but over by 69th and Seward street, there are a whole bunch of 700-800 SQ FT homes, no basements, built on 1/8 acre lots. "Tiny Homes" from the 1950's post world war II era.
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Busguy2010
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Re: Tiny Homes

Post by Busguy2010 »

Brad wrote:Nothing from the current tiny home movement, but over by 69th and Seward street, there are a whole bunch of 700-800 SQ FT homes, no basements, built on 1/8 acre lots. "Tiny Homes" from the 1950's post world war II era.
If i'm not mistaken, many of those were built after the tornado in 1975. You can find a lot of these small houses along the path of that tornado. Pretty much all the way down the east side of 72nd, some around Westgate, and then many more in the neighborhood northwest of 84th and I-80. They're all pretty small houses, relatively speaking.
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Re: Tiny Homes

Post by Erik »

Designing the future hood
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Coyote
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Re: Tiny Homes

Post by Coyote »

Tiny Homes is just gaining momentum. Actually a Tiny Homes neighborhood somewhere in Omaha would be awesome. Herb Freeman's (Where did you go Herb?) TND on State St. had a few designed in.
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Busguy2010
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Re: Tiny Homes

Post by Busguy2010 »

Coyote wrote:Tiny Homes is just gaining momentum. Actually a Tiny Homes neighborhood somewhere in Omaha would be awesome. Herb Freeman's (Where did you go Herb?) TND on State St. had a few designed in.
I'd like to see some tiny homes on some of the vacant lots in North Omaha. Presumably, smaller = cheaper. I'd hate to see luxury tiny homes in neighborhoods that don't really necessitate them.

Another thing I'd love to see is neighborhoods built in historic architecture and layout. The Stapleton neighborhood in Denver is exactly what I'd love to see. It's a shame all of the growth we've seen this century has been sickeningly suburban. Imagine how much more land we'd have left if the suburbs were designed like this.
cdub
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Re: Tiny Homes

Post by cdub »

There is no code prohibition, especially if there are foundations. There are no minimum size requirements on homes as that would violate federal housing law. The biggest hurdle I could see would be from neighbors, who in Omaha, almost always hate anything new or different from a SFR home. So location would be important.
TJ Omaha
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Re: Tiny Homes

Post by TJ Omaha »

Thanks for all the replies. Certainly not looking to develop the "future hood" of Omaha! The goal would be quality homes, just not McMansions of West Omaha that seem to be the norm or the "starter homes" that cost two times more than any young starter can dream of owning. Just the necessities, simple, quality, affordable, not in a poor area without close jobs, schools and entertainment, energy efficient. From what I know of millennials, this is what is wanted and needed, not the celebrity homes of yesteryear.

Any additional feedback would be great.
TJ Omaha
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Re: Tiny Homes

Post by TJ Omaha »

Busguy2010 wrote:
Coyote wrote:Tiny Homes is just gaining momentum. Actually a Tiny Homes neighborhood somewhere in Omaha would be awesome. Herb Freeman's (Where did you go Herb?) TND on State St. had a few designed in.
I'd like to see some tiny homes on some of the vacant lots in North Omaha. Presumably, smaller = cheaper. I'd hate to see luxury tiny homes in neighborhoods that don't really necessitate them.

Another thing I'd love to see is neighborhoods built in historic architecture and layout. The Stapleton neighborhood in Denver is exactly what I'd love to see. It's a shame all of the growth we've seen this century has been sickeningly suburban. Imagine how much more land we'd have left if the suburbs were designed like this.
The homes in Stapleton are a good example, although the goal would be to make them smaller than those so they are not $500,000!
I would still be looking to have the homes LOOK normal and not tiny. Using traditional home designs such as Cape Cod, Colonial or Cottage style exteriors. I wouldn't want it to look like low income cookie cutter homes, townhouses or row houses. It needs to still have that feel of quality home ownership without the absurd cost or unnecessary space. A single 25 year old doesn't need a 3 bed, 2 bath with a finished basement and a pool or a quarter acre lot that they have to spend a Saturday maintaining each week.
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Re: Tiny Homes

Post by Spork »

TJ Omaha wrote:
Busguy2010 wrote:
Coyote wrote:Tiny Homes is just gaining momentum. Actually a Tiny Homes neighborhood somewhere in Omaha would be awesome. Herb Freeman's (Where did you go Herb?) TND on State St. had a few designed in.
I'd like to see some tiny homes on some of the vacant lots in North Omaha. Presumably, smaller = cheaper. I'd hate to see luxury tiny homes in neighborhoods that don't really necessitate them.

Another thing I'd love to see is neighborhoods built in historic architecture and layout. The Stapleton neighborhood in Denver is exactly what I'd love to see. It's a shame all of the growth we've seen this century has been sickeningly suburban. Imagine how much more land we'd have left if the suburbs were designed like this.
The homes in Stapleton are a good example, although the goal would be to make them smaller than those so they are not $500,000!
I would still be looking to have the homes LOOK normal and not tiny. Using traditional home designs such as Cape Cod, Colonial or Cottage style exteriors. I wouldn't want it to look like low income cookie cutter homes, townhouses or row houses. It needs to still have that feel of quality home ownership without the absurd cost or unnecessary space. A single 25 year old doesn't need a 3 bed, 2 bath with a finished basement and a pool or a quarter acre lot that they have to spend a Saturday maintaining each week.
I completely agree with your vision and have thought about this alot. There is a huge gap in this area of the market. If you want a smallish home for less than 200k you get to pick between a typical suburban cookie cutter or a very dated home in a less than desireable area. Any new construction with character will easily run you over 300k. The new development near boystown will attempt this but I have a feeling their craftsman and cottage style houses with alleys will still run close to 300k. Someone mentioned the development down in lincoln called "Fallbrook" and while the style is a refreshment from typical new construction, the homes are still large and expensive.
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Re: Tiny Homes

Post by Stargazer »

Stapleton is of course a new urbanist development. Omaha is way behind on the new urbanist movement... even Lincoln has Village Gardens.

Of course, this is entirely different from tiny homes, although such a setting would probably improve their appeal.
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jlincoln
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Re: Tiny Homes

Post by jlincoln »

Lincoln also has the urbanist development, Fallbrook. You can walk to school, YMCA, grocery, medical, etc. The development is 10 minutes from downtown/UNL and close to the I-80 interchange. Once they start adding afordable homes (-$300K) the area will explode. In my opinion, the only way the urbanist design works, is to have housing for families, singles and retired, available at a middle-class price. So far 500K+ homes dominate in Fallbrook. Not everyone needs or wants a huge home with a big yard to mow, etc. Some of us, are trying to shrink the house, not build bigger.
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