Tiny homes lead to big sales for Rome businessman
♦ He tells Rotarians he’s already looking at future sites.
The Little River Escape tiny home community on Lookout Mountain in Chattooga County has taken off in the last year. Romebased developer Ed Watters said that in the last year he has sold 19 homes, more than the first three years of the development put together. “And we expect to close on maybe another 10 to 12 before the end of the year,” Watters told the Seven Hills Rotary Club on Tuesday.
The homes themselves are sold and titled similar to the way recreational vehicles are titled in Georgia. The lots at Little River Escape are then leased to the residents, typically for five-year periods. Each lot is approximately three-quarters of an acre which creates a cabin in the woods-like environment for the residents.
The 50-lot community off the East Fork of Little River has taken off so much in the past year that Watters is looking at a couple of other sites for future tiny home communities.
Emmye Holbert, the lone full-time, day-to-day employee at Little River Escape, said that in the meantime, a second commons area is being planned for the development.
It will include storage space for recreational vehicles, a dog park and a community garden.
The development already features a pool and community room.
The homes are fitting a niche for people who are interested in downsizing yet another level from his Village at Maplewood active adult retirement community off Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in North Rome.
Tiny homes generally range in size from as little as 200 square feet to more than 700 square feet. Watters acts as a dealer for several tiny home manufacturers and once a buyer settles on a model, if not one already on site, he said once construction is completed he can have it on site and set up in less than a week.
Aside from his Little River Escape community, Watters is able to sell the tiny homes to people who have their own lots elsewhere, but cautioned members of the civic group that many of the smaller models do not meet zoning and building regulations. His larger models, the 700 square-foot homes, qualify in the same manner as modular housing and can be set up in most communities.
“We have had people come from all over the country,” Watters said. “We have residents there from seven states.” One woman even moved from near the Canadian border north of Seattle to Chattooga County. He said she was still getting used to the dramatic difference in the weather.