WEST COLUMBIA, S.C. — Tiny homes are gaining more popularity in the United States and even here in South Carolina.
A tiny home community has just opened in West Columbia and more people are hopping on the trend, according to President of S.C. Realtors, Morris Lyles.
"As folks reach a certain point in their lives, they may be wanting to downsize and are looking to get something that's easier to maintain and something that's convenient," said Lyles.
News19 recently spoke to a couple, Todd and Di Myers, that have retired and are downsizing to a 400 square foot home in April.
"I'm just excited for this next chapter of our life," Di said. They’ll be moving into a new tiny home community located in West Columbia.
Lyles said he’s seeing first-time home buyers hop on the trend too.
"There is interest for something that's smaller, that's able to be more affordable, that maybe has a lower power bill, all of those things are very interesting to clients and to potential buyers," Lyles explained.
Even though he’s seeing more interest in tiny home communities, Lyles said it can be hard for developers to create them.
"One of the biggest problems that we have with some of these, is the zoning is not set up in a lot of municipalities and counties even to accept this type of development," explained Lyles.
He added that it's something South Carolina should take a look at because as the tiny home trend grows, buyers are going to look elsewhere if we don't have them here.
He hopes as tiny homes gain even more popularity, municipalities will ease their zoning restrictions to attract developers.