Overpriced, undersized

Remember your first apartment? If it was like mine, it was tiny and it took most of my monthly income to make rent.

Now some exclusive properties
have exactly the same attributes.

Take, for example, a London home the size of a closet that's on the market for $335,000.

OK, it does have a more desirable location, location, location than my first place. The 77-square-foot former storage room (quick math: $335,000 divided by 77 equals $4,350 a square foot) is in Knightsbridge, described by
the Realtor handling the listing as "one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the world."

I guess so.

Actually, recent sales in the city have been as high as $5,900 per square foot. So maybe the place is a relative bargain after all. And they don't even have to entice buyers with tax breaks, since mortgage interest in the United Kingdom isn't deductible.

Of course, if you can afford to pay almost six grand per square foot for a house, little things like interest write-offs aren't a big deal.

Think small: Some people prefer cozy places. Sometimes they are used as guest houses, other times as cabin retreats. But, according to TinyHouses.net, the appeal of such simple structures is that they are designed for specific needs or wants and sized for human use.

And tiny homes have a historic pedigree. Thomas Jefferson lived in a tiny house while building Monticello. That one on the left in the banner photo at the property's Web site, perhaps? (Several photos are rotated in; refresh a couple of times and you'll see the one I mean.)

The Web site has a nice collection of photos of tiny homes, many including property descriptions and details provided by the residents.

Monopoly house image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net