Enhanced Garage with Apartment, A Dwelling for about the price of a mid-level car.
Why You Need to Build a Cabin Now Before the Next Recession
During the great economic boom that North America experienced after WWII a cabin was a small luxury that many families enjoyed. It was a place to get in touch with nature and perhaps do a little fishing or just take it easy.
Today we live in a world where people in places like Los Angeles are renting out vans for people to use as dwellings and millions of families have become homeless. Much worse conditions are expected during the next financial collapse. So these days a cabin is much more than a spot for recreation, it is a place that can literally save you from homelessness and provide a retreat to get away from the madness. Now more than ever consider building a cabin while it is still possible to do so.
One big issue that prevents many from building are high costs during these economic times. There are several possible strategies to tackle this problem. One might be to build a building with minimal infrastructure that can be more fully developed at a later time. Think of something as basic as a 20 x 20 or 20 x 30 post and beam carport with high walls and a vaulted gable roof for future loft space. Once the basic structure is in place it would be fairly simple to fill in the walls and develop further. Meanwhile such a structure is not something that would require security from breaking an entering since there would be no walls and nothing to steal. When the time is right it would probably take one weekend to nail the plywood sheathing into place, install insulation and enclose the basic shell.
The Enhanced Garage
If building in a lakeside resort where there is some existing security, a plan like the newly released “enhanced garage” designed by William Edward Summers for online design firm easybuildingplans.com, might be the perfect low cost solution. “The Enhanced Garage” is basically a 24 x 34 two-car garage with a full studio apartment at the back. It looks low-key and residential enough to fit easily into a resort community of the type mentioned above. The plans come with development concepts to increase the habitable space.
The apartment section of the building is designed to be a low-key dwelling space so it is difficult to recognize the building as being at least partially a dwelling. The garage area of the building can also be converted to a second, one bedroom apartment, making the building a recurring revenue generating duplex
One of the challenges encountered with owning a retreat is keeping the building low key and secure. This concern is addressed with the unremarkable exterior appearance of the “Enhanced Garage” that allows it to slip without a ripple into many residential neighborhoods. It is also a building that is easy to securely lock up. One concept is to place the building on a lot in a small farm town or rural recreation subdivision where it can serve as a retreat or a money-producing rental.
The cost of construction for The “Enhanced Garage” is very low, just slightly above the cost of a basic garage. Low cost is what makes the duplex an excellent solution for recurring revenue. It is difficult for real estate investors to build affordably and get an income stream from day one. This is one of the few small buildings that you can build new and expect immediate positive cash flow from it, making it an excellent choice for a first house or a resource during financial downturns. The “Enhanced Garage” provides a much better solution for you and yours than a homeless shelter or a FEMA refugee camp
If the anticipated big recession does come to fruition as most people expect, a fully habitable structure like the “Enhanced Garage” would be a much-desired shelter from the storm. The worse case scenario is that a little money was used to build an inexpensive cabin as insurance and now you have a peaceful spot to sit by the fireplace out by the lake.
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