House Hunters Recap: Business Owner Goes Tiny

House Hunters downsized for an episode all about tiny homes (or fancy RVs). Small business owner Fefe spends most of her time making customizable gifts for her customers, so she doesn’t need a set location to do her work. Therefore, Fefe wants something a little bit more mobile and freeing. She also wants to prove her friends and family wrong by living in a tiny home.

Fefe’s friend Paul, who is also a broker, joins her and a tiny house expert on the house hunt. The entire search happens in Shallotte, NC. But Fefe mentions possibly moving around to different cities with her tiny home.

Wish List

Hers: Fefe’s wish list is a bit quirky. She doesn’t want to have to climb on ladders to get around to different areas. However, she’s totally fine with stairs. She also only wants a small vanity. Why? No one knows. Fefe would love a tiny home by the seaside. She wants the place to have a modern look, white cabinets, and a washer-dryer built into the unit.

Fefe’s budget is $80,000, and she doesn’t want to spend more than $400 a month to rent out parking space.

House #1, $95,000

This tiny home is way over Fefe’s budget but it’s clear why: It has all the bells and whistles of a full size home. It’s also about 400 sq ft, which is a lot larger than Fefe’s under 200 sq ft goal. Like all the tiny homes that Fefe looks at, it’s customizable. So she can eliminate some things, like the marble countertop.

Fefe loves the modern beachy look but doesn’t like that some areas are restricted, because she would have to climb a ladder to get to them. Overall, most of this tiny home is on one floor. The area that requires a ladder is a huge space that could be transformed into a second room or storage space.

House #2, $59,000

This tiny home is more of Fefe’s goal size at only 196 sq ft. Cosmetically, it’s not even close to what she wants. There is a lot of wood used in the design, so Fefe feels like it’s more of a box than a home. It doesn’t have ladders, but the lack of stairs makes it hard to get to certain areas–unless you have Paul’s ninja jumping skills.

Fefe also hates that there are no doors for the bathroom. It’s closed by a curtain. Some of Fefe’s issues with the place can be fixed with some easy customizations. However, you can immediately tell that Fefe hates it.

House #3, $57,500

This house has more of the modern style Fefe wants. The cabinets and kitchen aren’t white, but she can customize it to make it work better for her aesthetic. The place does have stairs, but also an area that requires a ladder. She immediately makes the decision to just not use that area.

The bathroom isn’t exactly what Fefe wanted, since it has no tub or a regular toilet, but both of those features can be added through customization. She would also need to get a washer and dryer added.

We don’t know much about tiny homes, so this episode was both entertaining and educational. After seeing three really visually appealing and functional tiny homes, we get the craze a lot more. House #1 was spacious, vibrant, and luxurious, but it definitely seemed to defeat the purpose. If you’re going to get a tiny home, you want to be a little minimalistic.

We have to agree with Fefe on the second one: It just wasn’t that homey. It felt cramped and had nothing to make it feel and look special. House #3 was the perfect balance of minimalism and creating a real home environment.

We thought Fefe would go for glam over practicality, but she went with…house #3! She added those customized features that she wanted: washer, dryer, regular toilet, a bathtub, and etc. With those additions, she ended up paying $65,000, $7,500 more than the basic unit but still way under her $80,000 budget.

So House Hunters, did this episode convert you into a tiny home believer? Let us know in the comment section.