READING 3 Tiny Houses

TINY HOUSES

A 238-square-foot tiny home, Pasadena, Maryland, USA

Read the following article. Pay special attention to the words in bold. 3.5

Do you have a dream to own a house? Does the house of your dreams have many rooms? The typical new American home is about 2,600 square feet. A big house is expensive. Americans spend one-third to one-half of their salaries on housing costs. Most homeowners have a mortgage1 . They make a down payment2 and then pay the mortgage—plus interest—over a long period of time. Besides the cost of the house plus interest, there is insurance, property tax, repairs, and improvements. Over 30 years, a $300,000 house can cost over 1 million dollars!

Not everyone wants to own a big house. Some people want to own a small house. In fact, some people want to own a very tiny house. Who wants to live in a tiny house? More and more people do. Most tiny-house owners have middle incomes.

Tiny houses come in all shapes and sizes, but they are usually between 100 and 400 square feet. Why do people want a very small house? The owners of tiny houses want a simple life. Some tiny houses cost only about $20,000. Many tiny-house owners do not have a mortgage. Without a mortgage, they can save more of their paycheck.

There are several websites with pictures of tiny houses. Look at the pictures. Is this lifestyle for you?

1 mortgage: a long-term loan from a bank for buying property 2 down payment: the first payment at the time of buying something (usually 10–20 percent of the cost)