Two adults and four cats call as 224-square foot house a home in Spring Valley. Trevor Gay and Mary Benasutti built the ecofriendly home on wheels with the help of family and friends for $33,000. It has a kitchen with full-sized appliances, a bedroom and a bathroom.
"Our couch is our guest bedroom and also our little mini movie theater and it's pretty cozy and nice," said Benasutti.
Their tiny house only takes about 20 minutes to clean and utilities cost around $40 a month so they don't understand why other people would not want to give it a try.
"Tiny houses houses sort of spell out freedom pretty genuinely as far as financial freedom, time wealthy and things like that, and that's what hooked us and I can't imagine it not hooking thousands and thousands of other people as well," Gay said.
The growing popularity of the tiny house movement was apparent at the Dayton Convention Center when the Fall Home Show featured a tiny home display. Mike Bedsole showed us the frist steel frame tiny home built by his company and he has orders for eight more of them.
"We all went from small to "McMansion" and it's turning back around because now all this waste," said Bedsole, owner of Tiny House Chattanooga.
Trevor and Mary said they know at least 20 people who want to buy or build their own tiny homes and start a community. But, many of these people are running into problems.
"Some people are lucky like us and they have land to put it on. Other people are struggling and moving across the country to communities that are meant for tiny houses, " Benasutti said.
Tiny homes are subject to regulations, according to Ralph Mantica, the President of the Dayton Area Board of Realtors.
"For it to be real estate, it has to be attached to the property, so some of these tiny houses are still on wheels and carried around the country, " Mantica said.
It could be awhile before a tiny home community takes shape here.
"I've talked to some people at the city and there's nothing in the works currently," said Mantica.
Trevor Gay hopes Dayton doesn't miss out on an opportunity.
"Dayton is a cool epicenter place to be," Gay said. "We need it."
