"This wasn't some dreamy escape into the minimalist #vanlife trend. In reality, we were desperate to be free from a mortgage, and we wanted to live closer to my in-laws so we could assist them as they age. Though our Concrete house once felt full of character and potential for endless renovations, it had become a burden, with ever-rising property taxes and insurance costs."
"So, we made a plan: Use the funds from selling our house to build a modest detached accessory dwelling unit (DADU) on my in-laws' 5-acre property in Arlington, Washington. This way, we'd finally be able to live in a home mortgage-free. During construction, we'd simply stay in the Forest River Evo trailer we'd bought a few years ago to use for camping trips. It seemed like a perfectly fine setup for just a few months, maybe four maximum, we thought."
A family sold a 4,000-square-foot home in Concrete, Washington, and moved into a 23-foot trailer on the in-laws' 5-acre Arlington property with their teenage son, three English bulldogs, and an iguana named Rawr. The sale aimed to eliminate a mortgage and enable closer support for aging in-laws as property taxes and insurance made the old house burdensome. Plans used sale proceeds to buy a manufactured home within the county's 1,200-square-foot DADU limit and build a detached accessory dwelling unit (DADU). Permits, wetland surveys, well testing, septic design, and mixed contractor guidance created ongoing delays, extending construction past sixteen months.
Read at Business Insider
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