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Comment by aratno | Hacker News Reader

Just made the depressing transition from looking at Craigslist housing in SF to seeing this. The concept looks great, but it's hard to tell who its for. I assume you need to own the land it's placed on, so how could it be used for vacationing?

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Fwiw I own a duplex in a very popular Oakland neighborhood with something very very similar to this in the back. My cabin is about 190sqft with a full bath. It even has its own private patio which is about another 300sqft.

I am unable to rent it out because it is too small per city rules and it doesn't have a kitchen. I could rent it out illegally, but if there was any dispute with the tenant, the tenant could retaliate by suing me for renting an illegal unit. In a dispute, I could be forced by the city to pay back ALL of the rent said tenant paid to me, ever.

My cabin sits vacant.

That is both stupid and sad. When I was young I rented a single apartment no bigger than that in LA and I loved that place. And I've lived in an Airstream by Castaic Lake that was even smaller and loved it too.

I'm sure you could find a good tenant who'd enjoy living there so it's just insane that's not allowed.

The problem is you never know how people are going to be unless you really know them. I can't afford to take that kind of financial risk on a stranger. The city will fuck me over if anything goes sideways with the tenant.

Well that's too bad. Wouldn't it be possible to Airbnb though?

Unlikely without annoying my other tenants.

Could you rent out a closet in the duplex at a high rate and throw in the cabin for free?

Have you requested a variance to the sqft requirements? How much would it cost to add a kitchen?

The idea of an owned cabin for vacations (or even full second home) is somewhat common (anecdotal). You'd need to own the land, as you pointed out.

It's common in post-commie Eastern Europe and Russia probably because you couldn't travel out of the country back when the commies were in power and it was rather difficult afterwards with visas and everything. So people well off would have a small country/mountain refuge for vacations.

It's also common all over the world. Especially when people live in the city, but have interests/roots in the countryside.

English aristocrats, which all could travel out of UK whenever they wanted, would still have "country houses".

>I assume you need to own the land it's placed on, so how could it be used for vacationing?

It's quite common for people to buy a house outside the city (or more) that they vacation too. And whenever they get a chance to relax, they go to that place (as opposed to random travel locations).

This is similar in concept, just with a smaller (and artificially expensive) house.

> I assume you need to own the land it's placed on, so how could it be used for vacationing?

I suppose it's just for people that can afford that. Like any beach house or holiday home.

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