Join the Tiny House Movement With This Little Forest Hills Cottage in East Dallas

Tiny houses have captured our collective imagination in recent years. There are countless blogs dedicated to tiny houses, and TV shows like Tiny House Nation; Tiny House Hunters; and Tiny House, Big Living have huge audiences.

The tiny house movement, also known as the small house movement, describes an architectural and social movement that advocates simple living in small houses.

While the Little Forest Hills cottage at 8715 Angora St. is bigger than many at 824 square feet, it’s still in the category. And for Dallas, where the mantra is often “bigger is better,” this is most definitely a tiny house.This cute cottage was built in 1948, with two bedrooms and one bathroom. It has an open floorplan and updates, and a big backyard. Its neighborhood, Little Forest Hills, is a community of almost 1,000 homes on the east side of White Rock Lake, with arching shade trees, friendly neighbors, and eclectic architecture. The home is walking distance to the lake, Dallas Arboretum, and The Bath House Cultural Arts Center, and a 15-minute drive to downtown Dallas.

It was listed Dec. 10 by Kyle Lyon with Keller Williams Urban Dallas for $230,000.

Here is how thetinylife.com answers the question, “What Is The Tiny House Movement?”

Simply put, it is a social movement where people are choosing to downsize the space they live in. The typical American home is around 2,600 square feet, whereas the typical small or tiny house is between 100 and 400 square feet. Tiny houses come in all shapes, sizes, and forms, but they enable simpler living in a smaller, more efficient space.

People are joining this movement for many reasons, but the most popular reasons include environmental concerns, financial concerns, and the desire for more time and freedom. For most Americans 1/3 to 1/2 of their income is dedicated to the roof over their heads; this translates to 15 years of working over your lifetime just to pay for it, and because of it 76% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck.

So what is the alternative? One solution might be to live smaller. While we don’t think tiny houses are for everyone, there are lessons to be learned and applied in order to escape the cycle of debt in which almost 70% of Americans are trapped.

The front door opens into the living room, and an open floorplan that gives a give right into the kitchen. The entire house has hardwood floors, and lots of windows that make for a bright, cheerful space (and all the windows are energy efficient).

The kitchen is updated with new white cabinets, granite countertops, and a decorative backsplash. The layout actually creates plenty of space for cooking, and there’s even room for a small kitchen table against the wall.   Both bedrooms are modest in size, but have tons of natural light. They share a fully renovated bathroom with new tile, paint, fixtures, and an upgraded vanity.

The house also has a new water heater to make morning showers as long as you want them to be. The backyard of this Little Forest Hills cottage is good-sized, with a wood deck and mature trees. You can see the new parking garage for the Dallas Arboretum over the fence, but that reminds you that you’re almost across the street from White Rock Lake. I’d take it!

This house is priced at $278 a square foot. Nine neighborhood comps range from $175 to $281 per square foot (average: $220, median: $214), so it is on the high end and is priced ambitiously. But it just hit the market five days ago, and this is a coveted East Dallas neighborhood, so it might fetch that price. What do you think?