Tiny Homes: Recent housing trend is coming to Las Vegas in a big way

LAS VEGAS (KSNV) — The demand for living smaller has grown bigger! According to a recent poll from the National Association of Home Builders, more than half of adult Americans surveyed would consider living in a home less than 600 square feet.

The business of building tiny homes is also booming in southern Nevada. These little living places have been a hot commodity for people who want to use tiny homes for camping, Airbnb, music festivals or creating a living space for a family!

News 3 checked out some of the places you can live in Las Vegas with a tiny home and why there’s demand for these smaller communities to grow.

Reina Hohener lives at Fergusons Downtown, a tiny home community in Downtown Las Vegas. “I love living in a tiny house. It makes me feel like I am taking up a smaller green footprint,” said Hohener.

In a lot filled with Airstreams and Tumbleweeds, Reina showed us how less is more with tiny pullout tables and hideaway storage spaces. She says these little homes hold everything that is needed. “We always have AC, a cute little bathroom, shower.”

The community is complete with a llama named Marley, friendly pups that roam around and 36 other residents ranging from three months to over 50 years in age.

Anthony Knight with Platinum Real Estate Professionals says tiny homes are trending. “We’re seeing so many young professionals move in here and the demand is so high here there’s literally a waiting list,” says Knight. As far as the demographics go, there’s been an increase in interest for these smaller homes for people over the age of 50 years and millennials. “We’ve seen a 63 percent growth in the millennial population in interest of tiny homes over the last few years,” said Knight.

Some of the popular locations in Las Vegas for tiny home communities are Fergusons Downtown, the Veterans Village in Downtown Las Vegas and in a few mobile home parks in Henderson.

Demand for building these mini-homes is also big locally and nationwide. “We went from doing one container in about a two month period to now I’d say about three a month,” says Tony Lopez, President of Alternative Living Spaces. His company converts containers into almost anything a client wants.

Tony works as a tiny home contractor and is in the business with Chris Buonaiuto and his wife Christine who own The Container Guys. The trio has collaborated on several tiny home projects.

“Chris’ strength is very much the design side of things,” says Lopez. News 3 got a chance to see the variety of spaces built for people. We toured a finished tiny home that will soon be used as a green room for outdoor concerts to a glamping unit, which is an upscale way of camping.

Many of these living spaces will become livable homes, some with rooftop decks, casitas and gyms. It’s all about transforming a big vision into tiny reality.

The cost of tiny homes is budget friendly compared to regular home prices. These little homes in Las Vegas are on the market for $6,500 to $85,000 depending on the square footage and amenities. The home sizes generally range from 160 square feet to 320 square feet.

Alternative living specialists say it’s the mobile lifestyle that sells with the freedom to pick up, move and embrace new experiences.

Henderson mom Jilan Wise lived in a 200-square-foot home with her husband, two kids and two dogs as a social experiment to see if they could do it. She said after the difficult part of downsizing, living with less in a smaller space worked out well. “We have our bare necessities in here, we can live in here – we did just shy of two years, and it worked, and it was fine. We saved a bunch of money,” says Wise.

Jilan’s passion of tiny home living became more than just a new way of life. She and her husband now build these tiny homes for people with a cottage-like unique style that’s popular from the East Coast to the West Coast. Their company, Far Out Tiny Homes, has also grown popular for creating mobile businesses for clients. Operation Tiny Homes is also a national non-profit organization Jilan works with, which helps buyers purchase these smaller houses. For more information go here.

Jilan says she loves that more people are becoming interested in living smaller and within their means. However, in Clark County, at least one zoning and building regulation stands in the way. "It is unfortunate that here in Clark County you can’t just buy a parcel of land and put your tiny home on it,” says Wise.

While there is no total home size requirement for Clark County, there are building codes for the size of habitable rooms which is about 70-square feet. Cities within Clark County may also have a different set of rules. The exception is at some mobile home parks that allow tiny homes and permitted tiny home communities. Real estate experts say you can also add an accessory structure to an existing family residential property.

Back at Fergusons Downtown, Reina expects more converts. “Not only do you get the experience living in a tiny home, which is so different and so fun, but you also build up on it, and it can be a big community of tiny homes, or you can just be out in the middle of the woods. Whatever you’re looking for, it’s moveable, it’s doable and it's totally approachable.”

Experts say tiny home growth is expected to increase around seven percent for the next three years. You can even buy these homes on Amazon!