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Two Tiny House Stories: Ohio Man Builds for Airbnb, Montana Woman Downsizes

21.07.2026 03:11 1 min 2 sources
focus.de DEU + 1 more
Two Tiny House Stories: Ohio Man Builds for Airbnb, Montana Woman Downsizes
Original source: Business Insider

In Brief

Ohio tech salesman Jim McElwain built a tiny house for $45,000 and plans to rent it on Airbnb for $250 per night. Montana resident Julie Lennox moved into a tiny house on wheels, spending about 130,000 euros, and cut her monthly housing costs to under $200.

Two Americans have taken different approaches to tiny house living. Jim McElwain, a tech salesman from Ohio, spent ten years building a stationary tiny house on his property without architectural plans, using materials from a hardware store and YouTube tutorials. The house features a kitchen, shower, air conditioning, patio, outdoor bar, loft bed, and wood stove. The project cost $45,000 with no loans. McElwain plans to rent it on Airbnb for $250 per night, expecting $10,000–$15,000 in annual extra income.

Julie Lennox of Montana sold her home and built a tiny house on wheels. Purchase and setup costs totaled about 130,000 euros, but her monthly housing expenses dropped below $200. The house sits on her parents' land, helping her save in an expensive real estate market.

Aggregated by OpenVan.camp from the public sources listed below, with AI-assisted translation and summary. We always link to the original source. Machine translation may differ from the original -- check the source for important details. Images and content remain the property of their respective owners. Copyright information

Story sources

Ohio man builds Tiny House, plans to rent it on Airbnb for €213 per night

14.04.2026 focus.de DEU Original source

Woman moves into tiny house on wheels to save on housing costs

24.11.2025 Business Insider DEU Original source

🇺🇸 United States — fuel prices

Updated: 18.07.2026

Regular

$1.05 /l

€0.92 · £0.78/l

32 of 141

cheaper than 78% of countries

Midgrade

$1.21 /l

€1.05 · £0.90/l

20 of 94

cheaper than 80% of countries

Premium

$1.31 /l

€1.14 · £0.97/l

9 of 24

cheaper than 67% of countries

Diesel #2

$1.31 /l

€1.15 · £0.98/l

60 of 142

cheaper than 58% of countries

LPG

$0.90 /l

€0.79 · £0.67/l

28 of 52

pricier than 52% of countries

E85

$0.69 /l

€0.61 · £0.52/l

1 of 6

cheaper than 100% of countries

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VanSky - weather index · United States

Best regions in the coming days

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88
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88
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29
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31

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