A Florida builder has created a tiny 10ft wide house on a cramped plot to spite his millionaire neighbors – and now plans to sell it for $619,000.
A 1,547-square-foot home has been built on an empty residual lot previously being used as a garden by a neighbor in Jacksonville Beach.
The ‘skinny’ 140-foot deep property boasts two bedrooms, three bathrooms and space for a single-car garage.
It also has a built-in dining table that is made out of reclaimed wood from a local pier destroyed by Hurricane Matthew in 2016.
Apart from this, the house also has nine-foot-high ceilings on the ground floor and vaulted ceilings that reach up to 10 feet.
A 1,547-square-foot home has been built on an empty residual lot previously being used as a garden by a neighbor in Jacksonville Beach
The ‘skinny’ 140-foot deep property boasts two bedrooms, three bathrooms and space for a single-car garage. It also has a built-in dining table that is made out of reclaimed wood from a local pier destroyed by Hurricane Matthew in 2016
This unique home went viral after listing agent Ryan Wetherhold of Oceanside Real Estate revealed how it came into existence.
He explained that he and builder John Atkins first wanted to make the house 15 feet wide, but building codes required the home to have 7.5 feet of space on either side of it.
When the duo tried to get the rule changed, residents of the high-end neighborhood pushed back and said they wanted the plot to remain open.
One such local had even started a garden on the piece of land and persuaded others to attend a public meeting.
‘You get that mob mentality where it carries. The board members then can’t make it their own decision.
‘If there’s 100 people there that say no, and there’s no one that says, ‘Yeah, let’s do it,’ those folks carry. Those voices carry,’ Wetherhold told ClickOrlando.
As a result, he and Atkins were left with only 10-foot-wide option.
He explained that he and builder John Atkins first wanted to make the house 15 feet wide, but building codes required the home to have 7.5 feet of space on either side of it
‘He got creative within the code and was able to do bay windows, bump-out seating that really helped and that was the difference.
‘Being able to utilize his knowledge within the building code to make it, honestly, a very user-friendly, nice, practical home for a buyer,’ he explained.
Despite the building’s size, the property has garnered a lot of interest from people and even has a potential buyer.
‘Normally, you get 50 views in the first few days, and this one already had 1,000 to 2,000 within the first few days.
‘So we knew right when we put it out there that it was something special, something unique and something that was definitely an eye-opener.
‘I put a lot of effort into marketing, and you hope to just reach people through the normal avenues just by your marketing.
‘But (the buyer) actually did see it through all the publicity it’s gotten,’ Wetherhold exclaimed.
Wetherhold says the house is perfect for ‘a person that wants to be in a neighborhood of million-dollar homes but doesn’t want a maintenance factor of that and still wants to be in a nice area and pay about half the price.’
But while the property may seem like an introvert’s dream, the agent has warned that it may be tough to store larger vehicles inside the garage.
‘You can fit a truck in there, but to get the doors open and whatnot — it’s a pretty tight fit.
‘In our community, though, we sell a lot of one-or-two garages, and we find no one in our community even parks in the garage. What they put in their garage, it’s golf carts, bikes, beach stuff and lawn equipment,’ he explained.
Despite this, he says the house is perfect for ‘a person that wants to be in a neighborhood of million-dollar homes but doesn’t want a maintenance factor of that and still wants to be in a nice area and pay about half the price.’
