The Great American Tiny Home Building Contest to be held in North Carolina

What does a tiny house or small house community look like? Does it have a community center? Can you grow a garden? Can you have chickens? It is near a pedestrian friendly city? Who knows? The conversation has taken place in a number of forums, on a number of platforms, and around many a campfire. Towns like Spur, Texas have launched large scale marketing campaigns to bring out tiny house enthusiasts and posture themselves as tiny house friendly towns. But for one reason or another none have truly been as successful as anyone would hope and this is especially true on the East coast. I think that is why I am so personally excited for the Great American Tiny Home Building Contest (click here to read more about the contest or if you are a builder and would like to enter) held at Coral Sands Point Recreational Village near Lexington, NC.

Coral Sands is a park model tiny home resort located on the Abbot’s Creek section of High Rock Lake near Lexington, NC. Established in 2008, they were literally “tiny when tiny wasn’t cool.” I first came to know about the community in 2010 or so. Coral Sands offers deeded, waterfront lots for sale (or lease) for park model, RV-style tiny homes under 400 square feet. They have the land, you bring the tiny home. They do occasionally have lot+cabin packages available and currently have two. One is 298 sq.ft. with a sleeping loft (no bedroom) and the other is a 398 sq.ft. with a full sized bedroom (no loft). The community currently has 21 tiny home lots for sale or lease.

In addition to being able to own your land, each site has its own private pier and floater and is allowed the use of the concrete boat launch, swimming area, bath house, and other amenities not available to other High Rock Lake homeowners. 

Coral Sands Point is a fantastic option for the tiny home enthusiast looking to OWN a tiny (or small depending on how much of a puritan you are) lakefront retreat instead of a more costly, higher maintenance lake home. Because the Point is a land-condominium project, each owner also owns a part of the entire property so it a good option for those who like the idea of lakefront land ownership.

It is important to note that Coral Sands Point is unique and may not appeal to the more conventional, off-the-grid, fly-under-the-radar, tiny home enthusiast because the community has a minimum width of 10 feet (considered a wide load) which requires a special movement permit when transported (and sometimes a pilot car). Because Coral Sands primarily sells their lots, the premise of each home and resident is that the tiny home is not intended to be moved often, if ever. Coral Sands is primarily a vacation retreat and to comply with local regulations, no mail may be received there although there is no limit to the amount of time our owners can use their property. POA dues are $800 per year but that covers all electricity, water, garbage service, wifi, and common area maintenance.

In addition, Coral Sands Point only allows certified park models, many people think they cannot build their own and that is just not the case. Part of their quest with the aforementioned Great American Tiny Home Building Contest is to show individuals how they can get any tiny home on wheels, regardless of width, certified to the proper RV ANSI Standard if they want to use it in a location that requires it. The community intends on having a few DIY units on site after the contest is over.

• Tiny Home Lot Rental (with pier and floater) – Annual Lease $5000-6000 (depending on location on the Point)
• Deeded Tiny Home Lot (with pier and floater) sales price = $54,900
• Deeded Lot as Xtra Boat Slip/Parking (also has a pier and floater) sales price $34,900
• Owner-financing and lease-to-own programs with flexible terms available

By Andrew M. Odom for the [Tiny House Blog]