housing

Can you build a house for less than a Macbook?

MIT challenges architects to design a house that costs $1,000. Here’s how one student came tantalizingly close.

Obama secretly saves world while environmentalists protest

While Bill McKibben and Daryl Hannah were getting hauled away in handcuffs in protest of the Obama administration’s decision to approve the Keystone XL pipeline, that same administration was quietly fixing the problem.  I don’t have an informed opinion about the pipeline, except that it’s clearly a symptom of our addiction to fossil energy and […]

Trade your house for a pet dinosaur

T-rex courtesy of Ryan North

Here's what the new post-crash barter economy looks like: People are trading housing for dinosaur services.

From Vancouver Craigslist:

Do you own more than one property? Do you have so many rental homes with no mortgage payments, yet you still feel unfulfilled? Tired of your illegal tenants whining that there are rats in the walls? Have you always wanted your own dinosaur? Now is your chance my friend.

Good lord, American homes are huge

This infographic from the BBC shows how much newly built North American, and especially U.S., homes dwarf those currently being built in Europe. The average new U.S. home is more than twice as big as the average new home in the U.K.

'Katrina cottages' become permanent housing

"Katrina cottages," alternatives to FEMA trailers used after Hurricane Katrina, find new life around the country as housing and educational facilities.

Could you squeeze into the world's skinniest house?

In the market for a Tiny House? Here's where to buy one

The economy sucks, housing prices have yet to hit bottom, and your biggest fixed expense is almost certainly rent, unless it's summertime, in which case it's your electricity bill. Sounds like it's time to lead a richer life by reducing your dependence on worldly goods and wasted energy, no?

Build this beautiful shipping container house for only $40K

There's been a small vogue for houses and buildings made of shipping containers, which are cheap, plentiful, and often end up tossed in the sea (either on purpose or otherwise). This airy two-container dwelling is one of the prettiest we've seen, and it only cost $40,000 to build.

Live for free (almost) in a tiny home

How big is 320 square feet? It's roughly the size of a school bus. And Debra and Gary live in that amount of space with their teenage son. Why? Well, for starters, because it cost them $15,000 to build and now they're mortgage-free. They pay less than $150 a month to rent the land, which […]