How to find tiny house parking before your house is built

Finding tiny house parking is one of the biggest things that prevent people from pulling the trigger on going tiny. I know because it’s one of the top questions I get after people watch my youtube tour. It also one of the first obstacles I encountered on my own journey. As one builder explained, “Plenty of folks tell us they’ll hire us as soon as they find a parking spot… and we never hear from them again. Others just start building, and they all seem to find a place to park when it’s finished!” His point made sense: How are you going to get a land owner to rent you a parking space for something they can’t even see?

However, in my particular case, I needed additional funding to complete my build. And one of the mandatory items my lender required to prequalify was a signed rental agreement from a land host. So I was back to square one… trying to find parking for a house that didn’t exist yet. I started by searching my local craigslist for tiny house parking spots. Not only were there very few safe or convenient options to choose from, but when I did find a great one, they immediately lost interest when I told them I hadn’t even started building yet. I quickly realized I needed to change my strategy. With a little thought and creativity I was able to secure a great spot.

1. Use Photos of Similar Homes

While I didn’t have anything beyond sketches and vision boards to show for my house, I had chosen MitchCraft Tiny Homes to build my home and they had an extensive gallery of finished homes on their website. So I headed over to their online gallery page and grabbed photos of exterior homes that were similar in size and style to what I was creating, as well as a few interior photos showing the farmhouse vibe I was going for.

These are the photos I used:

2. Have Hookup Details Ready to Share

I’ll be honest… at this stage of planning I could tell you all about what I wanted my home to look like but I wasn’t sure what hookups I would need. This is an important detail to know when you find land owners who are interested in making some extra rental money, but they are just as new to tiny house parking as you are! So I reached out to my builder and asked them to send me a list of exactly what I would need for electric, water and gray water drainage. I copied all of these details into a google doc and had it ready to share with anyone interested.

3. Post to Local Facebook Buy/Sell Groups

Ok I’m just going to say it… I wasn’t thrilled about making a public announcement to my local area that I was building a tiny house. I had a few close friends and neighbors who thought the idea was genius… but I also had a few friends who didn’t quite understand my tiny mansion vision and although they didn’t say it, I could tell they thought I was crazy. But the clock was ticking and if I wanted to secure my place in line with MitchCraft, I HAD to secure parking and get that signed lease as soon as possible.

So I found a few facebook buy/sell groups in my area along with some broader alternative housing ones and crafted a post with the following:

What I was building: I included 5 MitchCraft photos and noted that these were similar to the size and quality of what I was building and I noted who my builder was for additional credibility
Who I was: a single mom who worked from home, quiet and tidy, with a teenager who is never home
What I was looking for – a parking spot in the vicinity of my daughter’s school at least until she graduated in the next couple of years
What I needed – I explained that I had a document detailing what hookups I needed and would share with interested parties who sent me a private message.

You’ll get loads interested (in where they can get one)

My initial responses weren’t exactly helpful! Here’s the first thing I got: loads of people interested in how much this tiny house was going to cost and where or how they could get one. Stay focused people! This isn’t why I’m here!

Get the rental amount right (it may be trial & error)

I started with an offer of $300-500 a month. But this number came from tiny house dwellers living in houses less than half my size! I got one troll in particular who declared to everyone that I was definitely planning to pay my rent using personal favors (wait… WHAT?!) with a rent offer that low. Time to rethink my strategy…

What worked in the end

I had to get brave and finally post to facebook groups FULL of people I knew in the area that I wanted to live. I also got realistic and increased my rent offer to $600. Within a couple of days I had multiple interested land owners requesting my hookup details. I visited her a few days later and had a signed contract and loan pre-approval within days. And you know what else? I had tons of friends in the area who saw my post and they did NOT think I was crazy. They thought I was on to something really good. So put yourself out there.

I hope these tips help you find the perfect tiny house parking spot! If it helped, I would love to know! Tag me @trailheadtiny or let me know in the comments below. Thanks so much and best of luck to you!