Buying a home for your family can be a challenging task. Most buyers aren’t familiar with the processes involved in building or constructing a house. This makes it difficult to ensure that you’re buying a good quality well constructed home. This is especially the case when it comes to buying a pre-loved tiny house in Australia because there are additional factors to consider over and above those associated with a normal house.
The Tiny house Industry has advanced to such an extent that a lot of improvement can be seen in tiny house builds. The Tiny house industry has its roots in beautiful heartfelt DIY builds and whilst these will always have their place within the arena, these days you can also find a plethora of professionally built high standard tinys with improved efficiency, comfort, convenience, and safety. Despite these advancements, the tiny house industry is still largely unregulated here in Australia, making it extra important that you do your own thorough due diligence prior to committing to a purchase.
If you are reading this article, you’re likely considering purchasing an Australian Pre-Loved Tiny House.
Before investing your hard earned cash, consider the following factors:
1. Consider the functionality of your tiny home
Tiny homes don’t occupy much space so its important that the space they do take up is a close match for your lifestyle and needs. . When you buy such a small space, , its design should match with the needs and preference of your life, otherwise, you may find yourself disgruntled and potentially end up leaving your house much sooner than expected.
It’s well worth taking the time to note down what you want and need in your new home. Everyone has plans for a luxurious life in a tiny house, but the best planner will factor in the reality of their current life, and their intentions for the future, when making their purchase decision. Make a list of the activities and environment your house should support. What items or furniture take space in your current home? What are the real needs (not expectations) of your daily life? When you start to make a list asking yourself these questions, you will gain clarity on what’s most important to you in choosing your pre-loved tiny home.
While looking for Tiny Homes for sale in Australia, proper verification of the seller or builder is very important. When you purchase a tiny house, either new or pre-loved you need to do thorough research and verify that your house meets certain requirements.
Some things that can be worth investigating include:
- Electrical certificates for all electrical work
- Plumbing certificates for the plumbing work
- The make, model and proper installation of a wood heater (Note that if you want to be able to insure you’re tiny, you need the wood heater to be approved within Australia AND to be installed according to legislative requirements).
- Warranties on Appliances
- The quality and size of the trailer in relation to the house AND the roadworthiness of the trailer (see further below)
- The weight and dimensions of the house — Are they within legal limits?
- The condition of the roof, walls, guttering etc
- The viability of insuring your house and the costs associated with this
- The costs of transporting a tiny from its currently location to wherever you intend to park it.
3. Look for a Professional Home Inspector
Hiring a Professional Home Inspector is especially important when buying a used home. Houses are complex and their structures can be complicated. They need to be designed to handle cold, heat, moisture, harsh conditions and help you live simply and peacefully.
Even if you have all the required certificates proving that the build was initially done correctly, there’s still a chance than things have degraded over time.Electrical protection is very important because the rate of risks is high.Stay away from sloppy work, poorly connected electrical circuits, and low-quality components that don’t comply with Australian codes.
4. Buy a Pre-Loved Tiny within Your Budget
As previously mentioned it is important to make a list of exactly what you’re looking for in a tiny house and your budget should be a key part of this list. . It’s important to work off the price that you can actually afford, so working out your budget before you start looking is important. Don’t forget to keep aside some money for transportation of your new house, rent if you’ll be renting your parking spot, maintenance and repair funds, and also insurance costs if that’s important to you.
5. Ensure the sale and transfer of ownership of is properly documented
As Tiny Houses are currently considered caravans within Australian legislation, you will need to be able to successfully transfer registration from the current owner to yourself to take official ownership of your new home.
Successful transfer of registration requires that the trailer/tiny is deemed roadworthy. Under the banner of “caravan”,a roadworthiness assessment will take into account things like weight, brakes, bearings, wheels and more.
Ensure you investigate the roadworthiness of your potential new home prior to making any commitments as any unforseen issues could turn out to be very expensive.
Additional info on the transfer of registration can be found below:
Victoria
New South Wales
Queensland
Western Australia
South Australia
Tasmania
There are many things that come to mind when buying a new or pre-loved Tiny Homes for sale in Australia.
Consideration of the things above will help ensure that your journey to buying your tiny home is smoother and more pleasant one.
If you have additional tips and trick, please share them with us below!
All the best in your own exciting journey exploring Tiny Homes for sale in Australia.
