This new company sells ready-to-use tiny houses

Have you ever wanted to get in on the Airbnb hosting game, but couldn’t because you don’t have a potential rental property? Good news: thanks to this same platform — or rather an offshoot called samara – now you can buy a ready-made tiny house and put one in your garden.

Samara is the brainchild of Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia and started, according to a report by fast business, as an innovation design studio within Airbnb that “searched for new products for the company and new ways to create social change”. Since then, however, the vision has morphed into something entirely different.

Now the focus is entirely on so-called accessory dwelling units (ADUs), or – in short – small garden houses. And the company, which now operates independently of Airbnb, has just launched its first offering – a net-zero tiny home, aptly named “Backyard.”

As it stands, Backyard is currently available in two sizes and five different colorways. The smaller of the two units, the 430 square foot studio, starts at $289,000 and is fully equipped with Samara’s “signature” kitchen, spacious bathroom, walk-in shower, washer and dryer combination and built-in storage. Alternatively, the larger of the two units, the 550 square foot bedroom, comes with all the same features, in addition to (you guessed it!) a separate bedroom.

And they can also be used in a variety of ways – a home office, a spare bedroom or a rental property, the main one. Additionally, the company manages the entire construction process from start to finish, including surveying and obtaining permits. That said, Samara currently only lives in California, where – according to Fast Company estimates – there’s room for about 1.5 million backyard homes (which is objectively a lot of backyard homes). barnyard).

“California is just a glaring opportunity,” said co-founder and CEO Mike McNamara. “There is not enough housing and the cost of housing is extremely high. We have to find ways to get more units to people and we have to find ways to get more units that are more affordable. So that one is already there.

Assuming all goes well, however, you’ll soon be able to buy a Backyard, regardless of location. In other words: your chance to be an Airbnb host may soon come around. If you have the garden to support it, of course.