A woman is living the dream and paying absolutely no rent or mortgage after building a "luxury tiny home" in her back garden.
Precious Price bought a stunning three-bedroom home in Atlanta, Georgia, back in 2019 and would rent out the spare bedrooms. But when the pandemic hit her bookings dried up - so she came up with a new plan.
The 26-year-old told CNBC: "I stared out the kitchen window into my huge backyard, something clicked: I could use that space to build a tiny home to live in, and fully rent out the main house."
So Precious got to work planning her new home, starting by applying for all the necessary permits including building, electrical and plumbing.
Once she got the go-ahead, work began in October 2020. She purchased a shed and hired a local contracting team to lay a concrete foundation.
To give the appearance of a light and airy feel, Precious painted the walls a blue shade and added rustic touches.
Inside of the tiny home, she is able to fit in a queen-sized mattress within the loft, a daybed that doubles as a couch on the main floor - in addition to a full bathroom, kitchen and breakfast nook.
While living in a tiny home may seem rather luxurious, Precious claims she's had to make some life-changing adaptions.
She writes: "I've had to downsize my wardrobe and shoe collection. But rather than getting rid of clothes I still want to keep, I store some at a friend's house. Every few weeks, we do a wardrobe swap."
Keen to save as much cash as possible, she rented out her main house during the build and rented a room in her neighbour's home.
Precious's new home was completely in March 2021, and she initially rented it out on Airbnb to start paying off the costs. She moved in permanently at the start of this year.
Laying out all of the structural and material costs - from labour to the prefabricated shed structure - she believes she spent about $35,000 on the project.
Rather than taking out a bank loan to pay for everything, Precious, who boasts 9,000 followers on her YouTube channel, put about $20,000 on credit cards and cashed out $8,500 in stocks.
But her newly found income from the main house meant she was able to pay off the debt in 2022.
She's now able to bring in almost $32,000 in gross rental income by charging between $89 and $129 per night and $1,300 for monthly leases.
Breaking down the monthly associated costs for both homes, Precious spent a total of $1,580 - $1,200 of which was on mortgage and property taxes, $190 on electricity, $110 on water, and just $80 on internet.
She told CNBC: "All of this is covered by the $2,725 I make from renting out the main house, which means I'm able to live in my tiny home for free."
In addition, she claims the home has given her a 'ton of real estate options' - including rental income and backup housing for herself of family members.
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