Hi, Dick— I bought the cottage about 6 years ago as a summer house, and quickly realized that I didn’t like anything about going back and forth (all of 25 miles, but still) to my condo. It took me two years, though, to make the jump to full-time here on the bay.

That said, the original cost was $70,000 (bank-owned property). I knew I’d need to fix it up, but I did not know (even though I talked with a couple of so-called construction guys) that I would have to tear out the rotting pilings that were holding it up and redo the foundation 100%. That included raising it up, knocking down everything under the main small house, and rebuilding. Add those costs to the tear-the-walls-out interior work and the added cost was about $75,000. Yeah. Hell of a shock. So I sold my condo and moved here full-time.

Bottom line: I regret nothing! I have a gorgeous tiny house that is absolutely all I need or actually could want. It takes all about 10 minutes two or three times a week to vacuum the dog hair and dust up, and generally tidy up. Of course, since it’s largely one open room, it’s usually tidy because there’s nowhere to really hide anything.

I’m glad you’re at least considering downsizing, Dick; where do you live that you could manage to find something you could live in? I got totally lucky in many ways about finding this place; it does take a fair bit of luck, doesn’t it?

Thanks for commenting!

Top picture before being lifted up. Second one obviously up. You can see how close the cottage is to my neighbors; everyone held their collective breath. No damage to either side reported!