Tiny Houses in Tiny Towns, Gossip Kills.

Why is this movement so hard?  Can we even call it a movement?

We found the whole thing really interesting when we started out because there was no movement to our moving.  We wanted something very simple and were very clear about that when we got started.  The main thing was that we were not interested in the thing itself as a business.  See, it was never our intent to be a great big thing.

The reason that we would call it a movement is because there are so many people interested in it.  Still, we had to ask ourselves how many people were actively interested and how many were Pinterested (a word that we came up with).  When we say that people are "Pinterested" we mean that to them it is something that looks cool and that they are willing to participate in on line.

I am not trying to be mean when I bring up people like this.  There are a lot of people who are interested in a lot of things and who only engage on line.  The problem is that projects like ours take place in the real world and thus there are stakes to being involved in a project like ours.  This was another reason that I said what I said about money (see previous post...). 

The moment something like this comes around there is interest.  Ears perk up.  For the most part, that interest is harmless, but then there are times when it translates to meeting some interesting people.  One of the first questions we asked was that people have a timeline and be actively engaging in a transitional life.  Are you starting to save?  Are you starting to learn?  What are your price ranges? and so on.

The best place to do something like this, we found, was in a small town adjacent to a large city.  We wanted to find someplace where the land was cheap and all of the major amenities were within a half hour drive or so.  The problem with this plan and what we were doing was that there were only small towns and those small towns led to people spreading the word about things they knew nothing about.

It started slowly at first, with people showing up at events that we did not invite.  That was ok.  We were happy about that at first.  Then we had people who said that they were in charge of it. We had people show up on the property unannounced during construction and calls from the cops and neighbors saying that people were camping in our woods.  More and more people wanted to take over this thing that was ours, yet not be involved.  At a certain point, we stopped talking to people, but it didn't end.

The final straw for us was when we got an Facebook email from the closest town.  We had opted for unincorporated acreage and technically, we were not even a part of the town that was writing to us.  We were a part of the town on the other side.  The email was ominous and bold and it came on a Friday afternoon from a new Facebook account back at a time when you could be anonymous on Facebook.  It was addressed to one individual in particular and it said that he had to contact city hall on Monday.

That night, we met up at Carol's condo in the city and thought about the whole thing.  We thought about how uncomfortable it made us and what must have happened.  Someone was talking.  There were 8 of us at that time and none of us had contacted anyone related to the government, local or otherwise.  What made it more suspicious was that it was the wrong city.  there were other things.  People would approach members and say that they had talked to our real estate agent about our project.  Several people began to talk about all the ways they were going to build things on our property.  Several people began to talk about how they wanted to volunteer in exchange for being able to live on our property.  It was interesting to say the least.  Frightening at worst.

I have said it before, I will say it again... Once you figure out how to get away from everyone, everyone tracks you down to figure out how you did it. 

I am going to continue to write this blog and these first couple of posts are pretty much about how City in the Woods came to be and why we d
o things the way we do them.  We are, so far, a secret little town of 9 and we aim to keep it that way.  We are going to start doing more though.  We have a few classes lined up and some big discussions in the works about sustainability and more.  We have achieved something amazing and we want to duplicate it.

If you are in the NC, SC, GA area and you are ready to make the leap, you can join our group here:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1631743643802914/

The Tiny Community Truth...Problem 1: Money

We all like to sit around and play "what if".
What if a bunch of us got together and drank bad beer in the garden and asked "what if"
It was 2013 but it seemed like forever ago.  We were in the garden in the fall, just three of us at the time.  The air was getting just a little cooler, but it was still mid-September in the south which meant it was still hot...muggy.  Still there was a hint of fall in the air.
I had just graduated from Clemson and was looking for a job.  Carol had come down from New York, and others had come from goodness knows where.  We were lost.  Still whenever there was a party or a meeting about sustainability or being off grid, or local politics, there we were, beers in hand, playing "what if"
When people ask me for advice on how to do something like this, whether to live in a tiny house; how to go off grid, and so on, I always tell them about the choices that you will have to make.  People will not understand what you want to do, so you have to decide how much you care.  It is going to be a lot of self guided work so you will have to see how motivated you can keep yourself.  The biggest question, I think, is whether or not to go it alone.
It is easier with friends, that is true.  You can all split the common work and the bills are a cheaper.  You will always know your neighbor and have someone to look after your stuff when you are gone, or your kids when you are away.  And so on.
We encountered a lot of downsides when we looked at what we wanted to do, so fair warning.
We are at nine people now.  The basic idea was to get 10 acres on a plot of land out in the middle of nowhere.  This would have been ideal because land in rural areas now verges on $1000- $1500 per acre.  This would also have been ideal because land in the middle of nowhere is expandable.  Keep in mind our initial goal was to start with 10 acres and expand to hundreds as we brought more and more people into the community.
We had no intention of "going underground" at first.  In fact we wanted the exact opposite.  We wanted to make this an inclusive community where people could visit and would be an example for others.
Problem one...Money.
The key to anything like this is investment.  People have to feel as though they are a part of something and the people around them have to feel as though they are committed.   If you are trying to start anything like this, you need to know that people do not part with small money easily.  Rather than have a part of a place like this, a whole place where they OWN the land, people will often opt to pay MORE money to a structured institution.
Our first iteration, called for a $2000.00 investment from each person who wanted to be involved.    As we talked to each person, we broke down how much we were talking about in terms that related to them and their lives.  $2000? for some people that was two months of rent in
Greenville.  For others, it was their clothing budget.  It was their food for three months and so on.
For some people the price was really cheap and for some it was really high. Still, with each came the promise of independence and freedom.  The people who contacted us would not do it.
I would recommend doing one of three things.  If you are going to get people to go in as a group, get everyone to buy into it.  Make sure that each person has an equal share in the core of the property and have them contractually obligate themselves to it within a specific time frame.
We set very specific guidelines and goals for those who wanted to get involved at first and did not waver.
OR
Get one person to pay for everything at first.  You might have long term problems at first, but you do have the benefit of  a consolidated front.
OR
Stick with friends and a small number of friends, at that (I will get into that later).

Rest assured, we are just getting warmed up.  These past two years have been an adventure and I really think that people should have a good idea of what they are up against.  The core of anything that you deal with for the foreseeable future is going to be money.