As you scour the classifieds for cheap houses for rent in Watauga, one thought is probably racing through your head: have I lost my mind?
What are the chances of finding a cheap house for rent in Watauga, or Southlake, Keller, Melody Hills, Westlake, Justin, Denton, or any other North Fort Worth community? Seriously? If your idea of a cheap house is eight-hundred per month, you might as well stop searching now because it does not exist. How about a thousand-a-month? For that amount of money you’re going to get a single-wide trailer on a postage-stamp lot, and you know that is the truth. Let’s face it, houses to rent prices are too high for the average American.
We can improve your chances, but you have to be willing to suspend the reality you once believed to be the truth. Are you willing to do so?
A few months ago there was a story circulating on the airwaves about an apartment complex in Norway with over one-hundred apartments made entirely out of shipping containers. It was an impressive site, a three-story edifice with shipping containers stacked on top of shipping containers, all brightly painted, the entire complex consisting of 320 square-foot apartments, and each one renting for a very reasonable price. It was revolutionary for the construction industry, the shipping container revolution they called it, and it completely changed the way people think about shipping containers.
Is it such a leap in logic, then, to consider living in a home made from a shipping container? Developers didn’t think so, and today, even in the United States, you can find housing developments made entirely from shipping containers. Some homes are made from one container; other homes are made from two or three containers connected to each other horizontally and vertically, and they really are a marvel to behold.
There are several things that make shipping containers attractive to those who are bootstrapped for funds. First and foremost, shipping container construction is inexpensive, and that means the savings trickle down to the cost of renting or buying. Second, shipping containers are eco-friendly. A similar house made from wood construction uses approximately 16,000 board feet of lumber just for the framing of that structure. Not so with a shipping container, which is already constructed, and needs no framing. And third, a shipping container offers a home-renter flexibility. Adding on another container is as simple as cutting out a door and attaching it to the existing container. It can be done in a matter of a few hours, as opposed to the cost and time it takes to add on in traditional construction ways.
And if a shipping container makes a great alternative living space, does it not also follow that it would make a great office, or warehouse, or garage, or artist suite?
One such example of shipping container construction can be found in North Fort Worth, Texas. Box Office Warehouse Suites is the first, and only, business park in the Alliance commercial real estate area made entirely from shipping containers, and you better believe developers are taking notice of it and drawing up their own building plans for the future.
So, what about you? Can you suspend reality and think outside the box? You just might find the answer to your house-hunting dilemma if you take a look at shipping containers.
