Tiny Homes for Sale on Amazon While Seattle Eases Restrictions on ADUs
In the digital age where Amazon rules, you can buy just about anything from the online retail giant. With its two-day shipping for Prime members and even one-hour shipping for Prime Now, you can satisfy your needs easily with a click of a button. But did you know you can buy a house? That’s right, you can purchase a tiny house for less than $20,000 and have it shipped to you for free.
Amazon’s most popular tiny home, the Allwood Solvalla Garden House went viral back in May and sold out fast. This do-it-yourself, bare bones tiny home is 172 square feet and can be built in about eight hours by two people. Despite not having any electricity, plumbing, or even a foundation, buyer flocked to the site to buy one for about $7,000.
For tiny homes closer to the $20,000 range, you can buy a tiny home kit with a loft upstairs and about 250 square feet of space on the main level. Some parts of the kit can be customizable. For example, you can order a ladder or stairs to access the loft. Due to the made to order customization, each unit sold takes 60-90 days for delivery. Once received, it is recommended that two adults can put it together and it would take about two days.
As previously mentioned in an earlier blog, the Seattle City Council has been working on fine tuning the legislation for accessory dwelling units, or ADUs, for a vote in late June. As luck would have it, the City approved the legislation to ease requirements on these backyard cottages. These changes include allowing two ADUs on one lot and removing the parking requirement. The biggest change? The new legislation will allow the maximum ADU size to 1,000 square feet from 800 square feet.
Another amendment to the current legislation would be on the floor area ratio (FAR) limit in single family zoned lots to 0.5. FAR represents the limit on how much square footage is allowed on a home compared to its lot size. For example, the square footage of a home can only encompass half of the whole lot if the home is a single-story home. If the home is two stories, the footprint can only be a quarter of the lot with the same square footage.
Proponents of the legislation view the changes assist with the growing population of Seattle and affordability. In referencing Portland, Seattle Councilmembers have learned that those who own ADUs have longtime residences in their unit. Knowing this in Portland will hopefully help curb the concerns of homeowners using the ADUs for short term rentals. However, the city will keep a close eye on ADU usage and will most likely impose restrictions on short term rentals, like AirBnB.
If passed by the Mayor, the changes will be in effect within a month with the changes in FAR to take effect in 6 months’ time. Time to start creating a wish list on Amazon!