attic in luxy tiny home with a twin bed
Leah Berenson
Leah Berenson
March 4, 2024 ·  4 min read

She Pays $0 to Live in a ‘Luxury Tiny Home’ She Built for $35k in Her Backyard—Take a Look

Tiny homes were designed to help people cut the clutter and live simplistically, but they also might be a way to help cut monthly expenses too! 26-year-old Precious Price bought a home in Atlanta, Georgia, and lives in a luxury tiny home in the backyard.

Investing in the Future

Price made a wise investment and bought a 3-bedroom house intending to rent out the spare rooms on Airbnb. She traveled for work and so was rarely home anyway. The new house was 1,400 sq ft. and spacious enough to accommodate two guest rooms. Meanwhile, Price still had her own room when she wasn’t traveling for work. A luxury tiny home hadn’t even crossed her mind because everything seemed to go according to plan.

Image Credit: Jeffrey Beard | CNBC Make It

Luxury Tiny Home Solves Pandemic Concerns

However, the Pandemic hit just a year later and she realized it wouldn’t be as easy as she originally had anticipated. People weren’t supposed to be traveling. Moreover, they certainly weren’t supposed to be rooming with strangers if they did have or choose to travel. Price encountered another change to her routine when she was no longer traveling for work. She said, “My work travels also stopped, so I was living alone in a house that felt too big.”

Image Credit: Jeffrey Beard | CNBC Make It

In May of that year, she was looking out into her backyard when she got an idea. The idea to build a tiny luxury home seemed to be a great idea. She could live on her own property without impeding on Airbnb guests. Furthermore, she could now rent out the whole house rather than just the rooms. By October 2020, Price had hired a local contracting company to lay the concrete foundation. She purchased a shed, and submitted her plans for electrical, building, and plumbing. Her plans were approved, and she was well on her way to living in her luxury tiny home.

Building and Monthly Expenses

Building expenses totaled around $35,000, most of which Price put on credit cards and used nearly $9,000 in stocks. Fortunately, the luxury tiny home resident had a neighbor willing to lend her a hand in the meantime. Price rented a room from her neighbor and rented out the rest of her house in the meantime.

The tiny luxury home was built, and she could start listing her full home on Airbnb. Price offered the option to rent the home for $1,300 a month, or nightly rates, ranging from $89-$129 a night. Furthermore, she was bringing in enough to cover monthly expenses for both houses, essentially allowing her to live rent-free in her luxury tiny home in her own backyard.

Image Credit: Jeffrey Beard | CNBC Make It

Monthly expenses for both homes were around $1580. Although that’s more than the months she rents the whole main house out for a whole month, but the months that she can rent the rooms by the night, she more than makes up the difference. Her property taxes are around $1200 a month. Meanwhile, monthly expenses like internet, electricity and water range from 480-$200 a month.

Decorating the Luxury Tiny Home

Price shares her decorating techniques to maximize the homey feel without overwhelming the luxury tiny home space. She painted the walls a light “coastal” blue. She also added a ladder for easy access to her bed, creating more “living room” space. Somehow the luxury tiny home also has a full bathroom, a kitchen, and a nook for eating. She explains that she could fit a full-sized fridge in the kitchen with an oversized sink, which often comes as a surprise to her guests.

Precious Price in her tiny home
Image Credit: Jeffrey Beard | CNBC Make It

Price also says that her shed had lots of windows which made the space feel larger and more open. She also has a fun wardrobe swap with her friends every few weeks. That way, she can still keep her favorite outfits, even though she now has less space. She also created a fire pit area off to the side of the luxury tiny home and intends to host her friends when the weather gets warmer.

Helping Her Community

Price, inspired to do her part to help with the housing crisis, believes that she’s opened herself up to income and real estate options. As a result, both helping her and “creating sustainable sharing economy for land.” Last year, she even gave a TED Talk explaining some strategies she believes might help rethink housing as a nation.

She realized that she could do so much good for others with her investment. As a result, she now rents the house out long-term to students or low-income families. Her future plans for the property include adding a guest suite in order to further help create more livable space on the same property.

Tiny homes, and luxury tiny homes, can come in a variety of colors and shapes, but they allow one to live simplistically and more cheaply than a traditional home. The idea has caught on, and there are now around 10,000 people living in tiny homes in the US.

Sources

  1. This 26-year-old pays $0 to live in a ‘luxury tiny home’ she built for $35,000 in her backyard-take a look inside.” CNBC. Precious Price. February 25, 2023.
  2. “Why the tiny house is perfect for now” BBC Designed. January 3, 2022.