Precious Price, a 26-year-old African-American woman from Atlanta, Georgia, went viral after she built a beautiful little home in her garden and lives rent-free. She rents out the main house to make money.
Precious purchased a large 3-bedroom, 1,400-square-foot house in Atlanta in 2019, intending to rent out the spare bedrooms for extra money. As the epidemic struck, however, bookings dropped from few to none because no one wanted to share a residence with a stranger. That’s when she came up with a fresh idea.
“I stared out the kitchen window into my huge backyard, something clicked: I could use that space to build a tiny home to live in, and fully rent out the main house,” she told CNBC.
Precious carried out her plan, beginning with obtaining the appropriate permissions for building, electrical, and plumbing. She then bought a shed and hired a local contracting company to install her concrete slab foundation. Her 296-foot mansion was completed nearly 5 months later.
On the main level, the rustic-themed tiny house has a daybed that doubles as a couch, a small workstation, a full bathroom, a kitchen, and a breakfast nook, and a queen-sized mattress in the loft. To make the space feel larger, Price added wall mirrors and 8 distinct windows.
Precious estimated that she spent around $35,000 on structural and material costs. Rather than taking out a bank loan. She spent around $20,000 on credit cards and received $8,500 in stock dividends. She made up the difference by renting out the tiny house on Airbnb for a few months. She moved in permanently at the beginning of the year.
“This year, I’m excited to fully experience the tiny home lifestyle for myself. It’s amazing what you can do with a bit of backyard space,” she said.
Precious also claims that she has decided to rent out the main house to those who require long-term housing, such as local students and low-income workers, rather than vacationers. Her rental revenue is then utilized to cover the monthly bills of both properties, allowing her to live fully rent-free.