Tiny homes offer large living in Montgomery County

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Texas -- Montgomery County resident Bruce May was looking to downsize his life in a big way, and the result ended up being something tiny.

"I wanted to at least think about retiring; figure out how I could reduce my costs to the maximum," May said. "I was looking at things like condos. The smallest house I could find was expensive. I had friends living in RV's, which has actually become quite a common solution. Nice RV's run from $80,000 to $100,000, but the biggest ones are maybe 400-square feet. There are other issues with them as well – they don't weather well, you have to keep the tires inflated, etc."

May came across the Texas Tiny Home Solutions Model Home Center in Montgomery and "immediately fell in love."

Texas Tiny Home Solutions' houses range from 400 to 1,000-square feet in size, and $60,000 to $120,000 in price.

But May still had one major concern.

"I thought I had to have land to put it on," May said. "A lot of people think that, and that can be an expensive deterrent."

That's when he learned about WatersEdge.

"You don't buy the land; it's a long-term lease," May said. "They've basically converted an RV park into a tiny-home community with resort-living features. As far as the money, it's literally the cheapest way you can live," May said. "It becomes a reasonable way to retire."

That doesn't mean Millennials aren't paying attention.

"When the housing crisis hit, they couldn't afford to buy homes. Their parents had perhaps lost houses," said May, who is now the marketing consultant for Texas Tiny Home Solutions. "It was a disaster from their point of view. So the basic attitude was, I'll just rent."

Even those who could get into a mortgage found they had to put the maximum down payment they could afford into a house, or max out the mortgage, leaving them house poor.

"Tiny houses became the perfect solution," May said. "It's affordable for them and didn't tie up all their money, leaving them money for entertainment, travel and other things. Experiences can be more important than possessions. It just all came together."

May said Texas Tiny Home Solutions Owner Bill Mitchell got into the business before the tiny-home concept really took off.

"He'd been building apartments and condos, which is a very expensive proposition because you have to build the entire thing before you can sell the first unit," May said. "But with tiny homes, he could sell them as be built them. Then he got the idea to convert an RV park, which was pure genius."

Mitchell bought what used to be called Bishop's Landing on Lake Conroe. May said there are approximately 40 units on the now-named WatersEdge, of which about half are sold. May said WatersEdge will fully build out in the next few years. He said Mitchell is planning on taking the tiny home concept throughout Texas and perhaps nationwide.

"It's more than just a fad," May said. "It's a trend."

Texas Tiny Home Solutions Fast Facts:




Offer a variety of homes by a variety of builders




More than 200 lots currently available in WatersEdge




Move-in ready and design your own




For more information: http://texastinyhomesolutions.com/


Read Bruce May's blog about life in a tiny home here: https://www.woodlandsonline.com/blps/blog.cfm?weblog=1089

Photos