<p>I just heard a piece on “The Story” (downloaded podcast of a public radio show from North Carolina) about parents who moved out of their house and into a yurt in their back yard, then rented their house out to pay for their kids’ college education (3 in college at once). Wow. They live in California (I am not hardy enough to try this in Minnesota!). They live near a college, so rented out individual rooms to older grad-student types (more rent that way, I guess). Anyone on CC tried anything like this? Or heard anything equally interesting to pay tuition?</p>
<p>Yurt is cheap. It costs something like $3000.</p>
<p>[Pacific</a> Yurts-Original Modern Yurt Manufacturer](<a href=“http://www.yurts.com/]Pacific”>http://www.yurts.com/)</p>
<p>They talked about the cost. They bought a pretty nice yurt (~24 feet across), and paid for some extra windows and doors. Cost of the “yurt kit” was about $9,000. Then they added a deck. And they have a trailer in the yard with a kitchen & bathroom. They said they are getting about $25K per year in rent for the house, so they figure the first year won’t have much payback, but after that they will make some money.</p>
<p>Question is - why yurt? I bet $9000 could buy a nice RV. For 25 grand, they could get a luxury model. A couple of neighbors lived in their RVs while remodeling their houses.</p>
<p>I really like the title of this thread: Parents in a Yurt.
This seems pretty enterprising. I rented out my D’s room when she went to college for a few months. The hardest part was telling my D, especially since she had a hard adjustment.
Is there heat in a yurt?</p>
<p>They put in a woodstove.</p>
<p>They also said they had always told their kids that “their bedrooms wouldn’t be a shrine” when they went to school. All the kids went somewhere away to school, and the parents said they would store 5-6 boxes of stuff ior the kids if they were well labeled and could be put up out of the way in the garage. The parents said it helped them downsize their “stuff”, which they intended to do eventually anyway.</p>
<p>Dunno about the RV (they didn’t mention that as an option), I personally would prefer the yurt I think. I think RVs are more expensive than that, too (although I bet you could get a deal now, since they get about 3 miles to the gallon).</p>
<p>We need to form a cc parents band and call ourselves Parents in a Yurt. We can go on a college tour and horrify our kids!</p>
<p>I wonder what kind of permits you’d need to put one of these things up in the backyard…I like how you can tear it down and move it to another location–your retirement location, I suppose.</p>
<p>In my town, with its excess of houses for sale, a lot of people are offering their houses for rent, once they realize they won’t be selling quickly. Now there’s an excess of houses for rent.</p>
<p>I have a friend who in her younger days lived in a Yurt. Her house burned down in the recent fire in Montecito. She is planning on putting a Yurt in to live in while they decide what to do next.
Years ago my oldest D took dance lessons from a woman who used a Yurt in her yard as the dance studio. In many areas I think it depends on your CC and R’s if you could put in a Yurt. I know where I live you can not keep an RV in view of any neighbors. I don’t know about a Yurt. You would definitely need a permit where I live.</p>
<p>Downsizing and moving into a yurt – sounds good to me.</p>
<p>I live in Indiana, and a lot of neighborhoods have rules about putting up sheds or yard barns, so a yurt would certainly get a reaction. It would be fun to see that reaction. We don’t own enough land to have the space for it. Other than the Indiana winter, I think I could do it. My husband? Not so much. We ran a camp in Wisconsin for two summers, and we were supposed to teach the kids about the environment, and he put two window air-conditioners in our cabin. Yes, 2.</p>
<p>I heard the whole broadcast, and they said the neighbors have not complained, but then, there is a woman in the neighborhood living in a teepee, so they seem to live in a pretty tolerant area.</p>
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<p>My vote is that we call ourselves “Parents in a World of Yurt.”</p>
<p>You all are way to entertaining!</p>
<p>Just got back from auditions at San Francisco Conservatory…daughter toured dorms…800-1000 per month for a little room…tiny shower stall down the hall…Her comment coming out was didn’t we apply anywhere affordable…tell me about “Parents in a World of Yurt”…I can feel it…but oh well…If I have to put a Yurt in my back yard and then rent the house for the next 10 years surely it will be worth it in the end :)</p>
<p>“We need to form a cc parents band and call ourselves Parents in a Yurt.”
ONLY if I can play bass. Now you have got me started, Im going to spend the rest of the day at my desk dreaming of hit songs for the group.</p>
<p>I bags playing the triangle 
</p>
<p>Bet we can come up with some embarrassing songs for a college tour.</p>
<p>The Yurt looks really cool. Kind of suspect they would not be too bright an idea in tornado alley where I live.</p>
<p>I propose we all wear Mongolian hats (if we can’t find them, I’ll swipe some heating mantles from the lab - they look close enough).</p>
<p>If you are curious to try out a yurt but do not want the hassle of setting one up, try camping in a yurt park at Cape Disappointment in WA:
[Yurts</a> and Cabins at Washington State Parks](<a href=“http://www.parks.wa.gov/yurtsandcabins/yurtcabin.asp]Yurts”>http://www.parks.wa.gov/yurtsandcabins/yurtcabin.asp)</p>
<p>A little Tuvan throat singing tribute to Richard Feynman might be in order.
possibly a cover of “Yurt All I Need to Get By”</p>
<p>And note to DD—NO I am NOT moving in to a Yurt. YOU are still paying for grad school.</p>