Small is the New Black – Small Houses are Hot

Netflix subscribers will tell you that Orange is the New Black, but in real estate, Small is the new black. Tiny, even. Tiny Houses are all the rage – not just here in Vermont but all across the country.

• A Tiny House Hotel just opened in Portland
• Mother Nature Network just published “Seven tiny homes that celebrate simple living…these tiny houses will demolish your desire for a mansion.”
• The Sierra Club just re-posted an article about Nano-Houses “advanced, ingenious, and responsible homes—each with fewer than 650 square feet of living space.”

Closer to home, the U.S. Department of Energy recently announced that Middlebury College and Norwich University of Northfield have been selected to compete in the contest known as Solar Decathlon 2013 (an international green home design competition). Middlebury College placed in the Decathlon with their tiny footprint green home design a few years ago. Norwich University will give them a run for their money this year with its less than 1,000 square foot home.

The national average square footage for a single family home is 2400 square feet. The national average population per household these days is right around 2.55. That means almost 1000 square feet of living space for each of us! Some people think this is too many.

Though “Tiny” or “Nano” have not yet made it to the MLS descriptions of most Vermont properties, here are a couple gems in the Middlebury area that are right around 1900 square feet (click the image for full property details):

This New Haven equestrian property features a Cape style 3-bedroom with den, living room, studio/office and attached garage (with Efficiency VT energy plan) on an 82-acre site that includes 15 acres of pasture, 6 acres of hay meadow and miles of trails through the woods.	This Middlebury small home on Weybridge Street is a 4-bedroom, 2-bath home on a 4.2 acre lot. Frontage on Otter Creek, great views, adjacent to Otter View Park.