World’s second-richest man Elon Musk living modular in Boca Chica

In May 2020, entrepreneur and business magnate Elon Musk tweeted that he was “selling almost all physical possessions,” and would “own no house.” According to the Houston Chronicle, it seems he has made good on his promise and is now living in a 375-square-foot guest house in Boca Chica, Texas. Despite a net worth of $166 billion, the world’s second-richest man doesn’t want to own any assets so that he can focus on the bigger missions of making Earth greener (via Tesla) and moving human beings to Mars (via SpaceX).

Musk’s new primary residence is near SpaceX’s development and test site. The mass-produced, prefabricated accessory dwelling units made by Boxabl — a Las Vegas-based startup making modular instant houses — are foldable, measure 20 by 20 feet and can be set up in just one day. His own “Boxabl Casita” unit is set up like a studio apartment with one large room partitioned into a bedroom area, a fully equipped kitchen, bathroom with a tub shower, and living room.

Boxabl’s casitas arrive, expectedly, in a box that can be towed to the site and assembled in one hour. Everything literally unfolds with Transformers-like precision to reveal finished walls, countertops, and even appliances. The company says the units can be stacked and claims to be “the only building system compatible with automobile-style factory mass production,” which could make for clean integration with Musk’s manufacturing hubs (some of which are also located in Nevada). At any rate, it’s ideal for temporary housing on a site like SpaceX’s Starbase.

Last November, Boxabl posted a video on YouTube with co-founder Galiano Tiramani announcing that the company had just built a Casita house for a “high-profile” and “top-secret” customer in Boca Chica. The customer was apparently related to SpaceX because the house shown in the video had a poster of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on the door. The identity of the top-secret customer became even clearer after Musk tweeted last month that he was living in “literally a $50k house” on a property rented by Space X.