The Advanced Guide for Places To Park our Tiny Home on Wheels
One of the biggest obstacles we faced was finding Tiffany a home. One thing I hear over and over from tiny home dreamers is that the biggest halting factor is finding a place to park their home. Once I found Tiffany, I started researching my dream landscape: wide-open empty land. With Shellmate Island we dug through the trenches of finding a way to build a tiny home on our land. We will cover a bit of both.
Possible Classification of a Tiny House On Wheels
Let start with that there are multiple ways a city/county could classify a tiny house on wheels.
RV
This is a pretty common one. This is your classic recreational vehicle that one might go camping with. Some are manufacture homes that are either have a tow hitch design, gooseneck or a 5th wheel to haul behind a vehicle. Typically these can not be lived in but we have also seen many cases allowing them to be lived in depending on your zoning and county.
Mobile Home
This is what you would see at a mobile home park that could be single units or even sometimes double-wide units. These too are built on trailers but not usually towed very often due to construction and weight. They also most likely be required to be strapped down to the ground in high-risk areas like hurricanes and tornado. Mobile homes in the US are regulated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and have a minimum size requirement of 320 sq. feet. This typically also requires special zoned landed designated by zoning.
Trailer
Tiny houses on wheels are built on trailers. Depending on the county that you reside in you might register it under just the trailer. We have heard in the past that this gives you a bit more flexibility from all angles if this is how you are able to classify your home.
ADU
ADU stands for Accessory Dwelling Unit. Sometimes also called a mother-in-law suite, these units are fully functional tiny homes. They are tiny living before tiny living was cool. They have everything a traditional home would have but the dwelling unit has typically a 1/3 the size of the traditional home that is located on the same piece of land. They are usually on a foundation and have been gaining in popularity in the tiny house community as there are existing codes for them already. With the number of people looking to retire, ADU tiny homes are making their way into more laws for new cities around the country.
Shed
Take your traditional shed and think about building a tiny home in it. This is not typically a good idea to build out from the information we have heard from experts in the community due to design. They are usually built on a foundation and know some people that have had success with being able to build one out for their permit dwelling unit in Kentucky.
Owning Land for Parking a Tiny Home on Wheels
The dream of owning your own land for your tiny house is amazing. I found that land is hard to come by if you don't have the cash. Land loans are not designed like a normal home mortgage that most are used to. I have tried just about every big bank in the book. I have been told that banks do not like to give land loans out for a couple of reasons. One main reason is that if there is no housing structure on land it is harder for the bank to recover if an individual default on the loan. Let's break down the land loan options I found out about.
Raw Land Loan - "Unimproved “raw” land is usually the hardest to finance or get with favorable terms. Lenders consider raw land as the least desirable collateral for all land uses. Most will require more money down (up to 50 percent) and charge a much higher interest rate."
Lot Land Loan- "Lot loans are usually available from local lenders and some national lenders. A lot loan typically consists of one or more building sites for residential construction. These sites usually have been improved with the addition of sewer and water systems, streets, and easy access to other utilities. Typically lot loans require 10-20 percent down, with amortization terms up to 20 years. These lots are also financed by home equity or cash-out refinances on the borrower’s current home."
As you can see, land loans are much different than typical home loans. The main reason we wouldn't have been able to get a "raw land loan" is the massive down payment and with that is that there are usually impact fees that can range in the thousands just for adding water, sewage, and electricity to the land itself. Not to mention the actual cost of installing those utilities on the land.
Construction Loan- "Short-term (usually 3 years) real estate financing secured by a mortgage on the property being financed. This loan is meant to cover the cost of land development and building construction and is disbursed (1) as needed, (2) as each stage is completed, (3) according to a prearranged schedule, or (4) when some condition is met. Construction loans are paid off from the proceeds of permanent financing (usually for 20 to 30 years), which in turn is repaid from the cash flow generated by the completed building, and is arranged before the construction loan is disbursed. Also called building loan, construction mortgage, or development loan." Have your building plans outlined along with the costs so the lender can evaluate their risk as well as your capabilities.
First, applying for the loan the first question to ask is a total dollar amount for the structure being put on the land. Well, try asking for a construction loan for a structure that costs about the same as some cars but for a tiny house. Banks are not too happy to hear what type of small structure will be on the land in case of a default on the loan. It is a much higher risk for the banks, so scratch that off.
Secondly, my best bud, Bryan, works with construction. He mentioned having to get a general contractor in order to get permits to build the structure. Unless you have a family friend that could do this for you (there are some high fees), you might want to look elsewhere to keep cost low. Since we didn't have unlimited amounts of funds this put a construction loan to a fast halt.
Sellers Financing- "A real estate agreement where financing provided by the seller is included in the purchase price. It is also known as a purchase-money mortgage. A purchase-money mortgage is a mortgage given to the seller as part of the buyer's consideration for the purchase of the property and is delivered at the same time that the real property is transferred as a simultaneous part of the transaction."
This is a great option if you are able to find a seller to offer you financing. In our case, we were not able to find a piece of land in our budget that offered this option. From my research, they typically ask for a large down payment upfront, 20-50%. This would not have been possible.
Zoning Laws For Tiny Homes
Most counties I came across have a minimum square footage in order to consider your structure to be livable, as well as specific land, which is designated for specific structures these are called zoning laws. Yes, there can be rules on how big your house HAS to be in order for you to live in. (eye roll) So if your tiny home does not meet the zoning codes for the land you are looking to purchase, you're out of luck. One website we found to be a huge help was the Tiny House Expedition Resource Directory. This organization has a great section where you can look up your state regulations for tiny homes.
MOST IMPORTANTLY, call up your local zoning department for the county you are looking at, they are typically aware of what a tiny home is and can help and the only person to give you a definite answer.
Update: We bought raw land for our tiny home on foundation and in-depth on what is required for permits in the article below!
Locations for Renting A Spot To Park Your Tiny Home on Wheels
If the land isn't your plan and you're looking to have a Tiny Home On Wheels (THOW), there are three awesome options we can talk about:
Private Land Rentals- Finding someone that you might know that has land is a great option for possibly having a place to put your tiny house. Small payments or even bartering in exchange for staying there is an option we see from time to time
Craigslist is, of course, another great option. Landowners are sometimes looking to make a little extra cash on the land they don't need. My only caution with Craigslist is to make sure you'll have the proper hookups and to take a look at the site beforehand. You don't want to get there to find out you can't get your tiny home on the land or it's not what you expected.
Facebook- This is an amazing one to find places to park your tiny home if its private land or even tiny home communities/villages. There are tons of tiny home groups that offer new places to park your tiny house and are a great resource to find spots. One group called “Tiny House Central” made this awesome list -> Legal Tiny House Parking Rental Communities- By State
Privately owned land rentals can be risky in my opinion because this is typically not an established organization that is renting, so they do have the ability to ask you to leave without notice.
Campsites/RV Resorts- This is what we ending up doing with Tiffany! We love our tribe here. We are truly grateful for falling into such a great campground. The nice part about specific tiny homes like Tiffany is that they can be registered with the state as an RV! Start with Google and search "RV resorts near me" and see what is around you. My suggestion is to write down a list of questions you can ask the campgrounds/RV resorts so you cover everything you need to know to make your choice. I offered to send an email with information and pictures of our tiny home so they can actually see the home. This is a great way to get parks more comfortable with tiny homes as well as bring up the idea of a new revenue source for their business as well. It's a win-win for both. If you're in Florida and under 55+ this will seem like an impossible task, but they are out there!
Here is our blog on our experience with living in an RV/Campground
https://www.tiffanythetinyhome.com/blog/2017/5/15/living-in-an-rv-park
Make sure you check your county's regulation on living in a recreational vehicle. In our case, Sarasota lets people dwell in an RV for no more than six months. After that, they will ask you to move it. There are also regulations on how far you have to move it (rolls eyes again). I have seen regulations from three yards to three miles, everywhere is different. The county right above Sarasota does not have regulations for this, which allows us to live in our tiny home at the same spot all year round if we choose!
Tiny Home Communities or Village- View it as RV parks for tiny homeowners. Not only do you get to be surrounded by tiny homes every day but you get to share ideas and tips with like-minded people! A lot of these communities have beautiful lakes or ponds on the property as well, or if you prefer a hustle and bustle setting of a city, they have that option too! One of the most updated websites that give you local tiny house villages near you is https://searchtinyhousevillages.com/ . Chances are if there is a tiny house village near you, they know where it’s at! Heard about a community that had its own currency!
WeeCasa Tiny Home Village in Lyons Colorado
Mobile Tiny- The Holy Grail of tiny home living... If you have the source of income that lets you be a digital nomad then this, in my opinion, is the best way of experiencing tiny home living. Having the right home and transportation is the #1 thing to take into account. Just like backpacking, weight is everything in this case. The ability to hop site-to-site or site-to-community should not be a problem you can get a mix of all the options mentioned above.
If you're in the process of trying to find a place to put your home, I would imagine your struggling, do not give up. I repeat, do not give up. If I learned anything from the roadblock of finding a spot to put Tiffany, it is this: There is a solution to every problem you are faced with especially when trying to live tiny. The powerful Joe Rogan once said, " We define ourselves far too often by our past failures. We look at our past and say "Well that's me." That's not you. You are this person right now. You are the person who learned from those failures and you can choose to be the hero of your own movie, right now."
By no means am I am expert at this topic, but this was my experience and understanding of the obstacles we came across. Every state and situation is different, so please let us know your experience in your research in the comment section below. It could help someone make their dreams of tiny living become true!
Best wishes,
-Tim
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