Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Hobo for a House

My last post was titled "The Final Push", but let me tell you, I've had to do quite a bit since then, and there's no sign of it letting up anytime soon!

To start, I moved out of my rental house June 1st and temporarily "moved into" my tiny house.  I was still busy with construction of course, but on top of that I was preparing for my California trip in eight days, so it was really just a spot to lay down for a few hours each night.


"How was California?" you ask?  AWESOME!!!  I had a great time, trekking 250 miles through the desert, and 225 miles into the Sierras, for a total of almost 500 miles in 24 days.  In the process, I got to do most of the John Muir Trail (considered one of the most scenic trails in America), and hike to the top of Mt. Whitney, the tallest mountain in the continental U.S.!  Plus, I saw tons of states I had never been to before by traveling Greyhound from one side of the country to the other and back.  All in all, it was a great trip, and very inexpensive.

If they can build a stone shelter at 14,000 ft, anybody can build a tiny house!



Now, remember that I had said I had moved out of my rental before leaving for this trip.  That means that I no longer had an address, or anywhere to legally call "home".  In effect, I was back to hoboing.  During my trip, I decided that, unless something else came up, I was going to get serious about buying a place to park my house so I could move in.  When I got off the trail July 5th and made it into Reno, I called up a lady I knew who works as a Realtor on the side and gave her the details of what I was looking for.  While waiting in the park for my next bus to take me back East, I saw an elderly lady talking to some homeless people and giving them candy.  A couple minutes later, she walked over to me and started sharing her faith testimony.  We talked for a while about Jesus and faith, and she told me that "Everything's going to be alright" and then invited me to a dinner in the park later that evening.  I realized that she thought I was homeless and thought about correcting her until I realized that wait, I am homeless!  So what did I do instead?  I enjoyed a delicious chicken and rice dinner by the river :)

Back in Virginia, I found that not having anywhere to go after work most days greatly increased the amount of time I have to work on the house.  Since I've been back, I've painted walls Vanilla Ice Cream white (can you tell what I've been thinking about?), polyurethaned the window interiors, installed trim around the windows, started on baseboard and chair rail, finished polyurethaning the floors, clad the cabinets with wormy maple, and, one of my favorites- installed the kitchen sink and faucet!


The color I chose for the trim is "Whipple Blue".  I was looking for something that would add some lively color to the rooms; sorry I don't have any good pictures of it, but let me know what you think of the color scheme!

My realtor has yet to provide me with any prospective buys (in fact I haven't heard from her in weeks), so I'm mostly shopping by myself right now, but hopefully I'll find something before too long.  For now, I guess its rather fitting that a hobo wouldn't actually live in his own house, right?     



6 comments:

  1. the colors are good for the kitchen, bright enough to keep it light! Maybe a nice bright/lime green for the living area...?

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  2. Hey Kevin, I was browsing craigslist real estate for delmarva and see a year-round Chincoteague "campground" where you can buy a small lot (40 x 90) for ~$7500. Reading the association documents seem to allow a tiny house IF you don't occupy the "roof," or ask for an exception. Fees are $700/year, water $145/yr and taxes $45/year. Might be worth checking it out. http://trailsendassoc.com/

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    1. Awesome! That would be a great set up- utilities and everything already there. I did finally find a lot near that city that I'm in the process of purchasing...the attorneys are having some trouble tracking down all of the seller's heirs though. I'll keep you posted on how it goes!

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    2. Near what city did you find a lot? Seems from what I am reading on the 'net that alot of people are plunging into building tiny houses and not considering that finding a lot that allows them could be a BIG problem.

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    3. Richmond, VA. Parking/zoning is definitely a HUGE issue, but I think its still workable. I think the camp ground situation you mentioned is one of the best options available currently. Unfortunately, all of the campgrounds/rv parks close enough to my work charge way more for way less...I wouldn't necessarily recommend against building before finding parking though- actually having a house is some serious motivation to figure out a way to move into it!

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