Hire us to speak at your Tiny House Events! In 2007 Matt and I started on a path that would lead us to building a tiny, off the grid house, in the mountains of North Carolina. We would love to share our knowledge and experience with your event. Our speaking fee is based on location and extent of the talk. Please contact us through
the Facebook page or directly at lmlavoie [at] gmail [dot] com to find out more information. We check Facebook messages frequently. We will gladly tailor the presentation to the specific audience and message depending on the scope of the event.
Praise from Dan Louche of Tiny Home Builders:
Our Policy on Tours.
Since I have been blogging about our tiny house adventures for years now I am frequently asked if we allow people to come see our tiny house.
While I would love to be in a position to answer this question with a Yes, there are circumstances which require me to refuse most requests.
Our tiny house is off the beaten path in a rural area of Western North Carolina. We have a few neighbors who moved to this area to be away from the constant stimulation of the city. Ultimately the reason we chose to build our house where we did was to have our own privacy as well. We like that the tiny house is tucked away in the woods away from major traffic. In fact, it is tucked so far in the woods there isn't even a road to get to it. We don't publicize the exact location of the tiny house because we want to keep our privacy and we respect the privacy of our neighbors.
Instead, I blog about our life and our projects. I don't mind being public, I just would prefer that my house itself stay private.
That being said, while we aren't generally willing to allow tours of our tiny house we are available for conversations. If anyone finds themselves in the Asheville area and would like to talk with us about our tiny house we would be open to setting up a meeting.
Praise from Dan Louche of Tiny Home Builders:
Laura presented at our Tiny House workshop and did an awesome job! She has a great story to tell and really inspired many of our participants. Her presentation was clear and informative. I can’t recommend her enough.Previous Speaking Engagements
Thanks Laura
- April 22, 2013: University of South Carolina Upstate Earth Day Presentation
- April 26 and 27, 2013: RelaxShacks.com Tiny House Building Workshop
- May 25 and 26, 2013: Tiny Home Builders Workshop, Alpharetta GA
- July 10, 2013: Asheville Green Drinks Tiny House Presentation
- October 26 and 27, 2013: Tiny Home Builders Workshop, Flat Rock NC
- April 5 and 6, 2014: Tiny House Conference, Charlotte NC
- April 26, 2014: Libertarian Party of Minnesota Convention: Building Your Way to Freedom
- May 24, 2014: Tiny Home Builders Workshop, Cumming GA
- July 13, 2014: Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, Franklin NC: Live Deliberately, The Philosophy of Tiny Homes
- September 6 and 7, 2014: Raleigh Home Show, Raleigh NC
- January 29, 2015: Small is Beautiful, Asheville NC
- April 10, 2015: Science Cafe at Schiele Museum of Natural History
- April 18 and 19, 2015: Tiny House Conference, Portland OR
- September 19, 2015: Asheville Housing Fair
- October 9 and 10, 2015: The NotMom Summit, Cleveland OH (Laura Only)
- April 2 and 3, 2016: Tiny House Conference, Asheville NC
- September 10 and 11, 2016: Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens Tiny House Rally, Belmont NC
Our Policy on Tours.
Since I have been blogging about our tiny house adventures for years now I am frequently asked if we allow people to come see our tiny house.
While I would love to be in a position to answer this question with a Yes, there are circumstances which require me to refuse most requests.
Our tiny house is off the beaten path in a rural area of Western North Carolina. We have a few neighbors who moved to this area to be away from the constant stimulation of the city. Ultimately the reason we chose to build our house where we did was to have our own privacy as well. We like that the tiny house is tucked away in the woods away from major traffic. In fact, it is tucked so far in the woods there isn't even a road to get to it. We don't publicize the exact location of the tiny house because we want to keep our privacy and we respect the privacy of our neighbors.
Instead, I blog about our life and our projects. I don't mind being public, I just would prefer that my house itself stay private.
That being said, while we aren't generally willing to allow tours of our tiny house we are available for conversations. If anyone finds themselves in the Asheville area and would like to talk with us about our tiny house we would be open to setting up a meeting.
I want so bad to live in a tiny home and grow 90% of my own food on the land. I am so overwhelmed by the laws and codes. I am currently living in Northern Virginia. Honestly, if I could live within 30 miles of a city/university, I would live there my whole life (or at least keep it as a vacation home!). The problem is I have no money in the bank to go towards this. I thought I would be able to use a VA loan, but I can't find a lender who is willing to do a loan for land. So even if I bought a Tumbleweed house already made, I need a bank who will give me a mortgage on land. I know one question you have is where do I want to live. Outside of cities like San Diego, Nashville, Austin, Washington DC, Columbus, etc.....I'm having a hard time saving money for something that I don't even understand if it is possible.
ReplyDeleteThanks for reaching out. I would love to talk with you more about your situation. If you would like to contact me directly you can reach me at lmlavoie (at) gmail (dot) com.
DeleteIn the meantime, you may want to check Ryan Mitchell's ebook "Cracking the Code" which you can find at his website http://www.thetinylife.com
Best of luck.
I have a house in Alllison Park, PA (sw PA) w a huge parklike priate yard. I am willing to provide free parking in exchange for help maintaining the yard. It has a large garden area and I have lots of gardening equipment (tiller, shredder etc) I am retired and live here w my 18 yo daughter and son in law, but still have trouble keeping up with the maintenance. I am minutes from a major hospital , LaRoche College and half hour from U of Pgh and Carnegie Mellon . Maybe something like this would work for you while you save for a permanent spot.
DeleteHi, How about UVA, lots of inexpensive good land within 30 miles of C'ville-Will
DeleteHow about UVA-lots of good inexpensive land within 30 miles of C'ville-Will
DeleteTo anonymous:
ReplyDeleteI'm from San Diego and am interested in your thoughts on being able to afford land that lends itself to living in a tiny house. What areas do you know of? From glancing through the zoning code, minimum square footage looks to be 3000sf? I'm looking to purchase a tiny house but am having difficulty with finding a decent location to park the house--a location maybe twenty minutes from the city center--without having to pay as much as i would if i were to just rent a 1bed/1bath apartment....
We have "family"property that we all want to keep as a place for us to come home to occasionally. But I would love to have some tiny houses around also. I just don't know where to start with the codes and regulations.
ReplyDeleteTo backtrack a little, our land is roughly 10 acres surrounded by lakes and there is a pond on the property. There is a house but we haven't added on to the house in the 55 years it has been here so our property taxes are grandfathered in and not bad at this time. I/we are scared this will change if we put tiny houses on it or even a tree house.
Do you know how or where to start? I do not want the county to take any kind of interest with us either.
Thanks,
Bobbi
Hello,
ReplyDeleteCan you talk a little about the area where you live, how do you like Ashville (is that the nearest town)? Did you buy or do you lease the land? How did you find it? Would you be willing to share the cost of the land or the lease price? How are the RE taxes there? Thank you in advance for any info you'd be willing to provide, and I know these are private things so if you prefer not to, I understand. : )
Hi Liz. Feel free to message us through our Facebook page and we can discuss the specifics. Thanks!
DeleteMy husband and I bought a 5 acre wooded property just east of Asheville in Fairview. We presently live in rural NY state 45 miles south of Rochester. I have lived my whole life in NY except for 3 years of medical residency in NJ but the taxes are ridiculous, our county has one of the highest property tax rates in the US plus my husband, a NJ native is sick of the winters. Our oldest child is married, she and her husband with their 1 year old son (our first grandchild) live in Jacksonville Florida, so we will be much closer when we move. We are trying to build a home with as many off the grid possibilities as we can, but we are running into problems finding contractors who know much about them without it being ridiculously expensive. We built our present home 16 years ago and use an Earth Energy system for heating/cooling/hot water that has been extremely energy efficent as well as cost effective but can't find anyone locally who can put it in without it costing a fortune. I am disabled and cannot do any of the building, plus due to needs for wheelchair turning radius and such can't go extremely small on the home, though we are downsizing and planning for a single story. It sounds like you did everything yourself, any networking ideas for help finding area contractors who are capable of building green homes? We are very excited about moving to the Asheville area, we are on the side of a mountain but still less than 30 minutes from downtown Asheville. Love your blog!
ReplyDeleteHi Maryalma. Feel free to reach out to us directly. The easiest way is through our facebook page. Thanks!
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