by Steven Harrell
There are a few questions that seems to surface over and over again for folks new to tiny house living or those about to take the leap. The most common seems to be “where do I put my tiny house?” Great question.
A few years ago I took at stab at creating a platform similar to The Tiny House Listings site where people who are looking for tiny house parking could place a wanted ad and folks who have parking available could place theirs as well. Unfortunately I kind of let the system sit there without developing it further or promoting it properly so more people could use and benefit from it.
Now, several years later, I’ve taken a stab at creating a new version 2.0 platform that I consider to be more robust and this time (scout’s honor) I will doing my best to make sure more folks know about it. Thanks to Kent for allowing me to share this announcement so you all will know about it. He’s been kind enough to share so many announcements from so many folks in the past, thank you Kent!
A website like this really begins to be useful when a good amount of people actively participate in it by posting to the site. The whole idea is to bring folks needing parking and folks who have parking together. It’s a win, win, find a parking spot or find a parking tenant.
Shalise’s backyard tiny house parking spot just outside of downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania currently available for $200/month.
On Tiny House Parking you can post one of four types of listings. Here’s a quick breakdown of each.
Parking Wanted For Rent: If you own a tiny house or are planning to build one and need a place to do so, this is the posting type for you. You can specify your budget in the description. I’ve seen many times where folks are willing to do full or partial work in exchange for lowering or eliminating their parking rent. An example of this would be if a farm has an open spot and could use an extra hand. Another example is an elderly person who has space to park a tiny house and could use someone to run errands, pickup groceries, etc. Again, a win win.
Ashley’s tiny house needs a place to call home near Windsor, Vermont.
Parking Wanted For Sale: Planning to put down some roots, grow a garden and call a place your own? Or plan to build a tiny house on a foundation? This posting type is most suitable for you. Again, you can specify your budget in the description. A couple quick hints on purchasing a piece of land for a tiny house (having just went through this recently). Make sure the land perks if you plan to put a septic tank in the ground. Also, make sure the land is zoned to allow for a home the size you’re planning to build. When you agree to a price on the land, you will enter into a due diligence period before you close on it. Be sure to go through these steps and that the land will suite your specific needs.
Parking Available For Rent: Have some extra space for a mobile dwelling on your property or piece of land? This type of posting is best-suited for you. Make some extra cash from unused land and help a fellow tiny house dweller out by offering it to them.
Parking Available For Sale: Many tiny house dwellers prefer to own the land their home sits on. If you’re a land owner or realtor with a piece of land that is zoned to allow small dwellings, this type of posting type is what you’ll want to go with.
When browsing through the site and using the navigation at the top, if you don’t see your city in the drop downs or large city near you, that simply means no postings exist in that city…yet.
The site is by no means completely finished so I ask that if you have suggestions, please email them to me using this contact page.
Like so many others who have a deep passion for tiny houses and the benefits they offer, it is my genuine hope that the tiny house movement continues to catch on with folks and solutions like this HOPEFULLY help tiny house dwellers have one more tool under their tiny belt.
You can visit the Tiny House Parking website by click here.
I can’t wait to explore this (and use it!) thank you!
Great idea. Good luck with the site.
What a great idea… looking forward to looking at your site. At least this morning I am getting an error message when I click on the link in the article…
Best of luck,
Patti
Where a house is sited becomes, in my mind, as important as the house. How one wants to live is not simply about a roof over your head….
I think it takes a long time for a person or couple to figure this out for themselves. The ones that avoid this step usually regrets it.
IF your house is on wheels – well that is a different ball game.
Ron
What would you do for water, sewer, power,etc..
It keeps saying “500 Internal Server Error” when I try to go to the site….
It’s working now. 🙂
I keep getting “Internal Server Error
The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request.” as of 10:25AM EST 3/4
I have sent an email to Steven, hopefully he will have it fixed soon!
We placed our tiny house within our lot on an island in Florida. We recently tied it down and put it on 8×8 blocks. Also, with our construction we can withstand hurricane force winds. In our Facebook page we have an album showing the construction phases. Last week we even had wood plank skirting running parallel with the tiny house installed. In answer to your question…we like it on our 1/3 acre heavily vegetated island lot 🙂 https://www.facebook.com/ourlittlesecretbythesea
Terrific idea. I live in a pretty small house, perhaps 800 sq/ft. Suits my gal and I just fine. I hope the site is successful…………….
A tiny house is just a dream for me now but it’s nice to know that such a utility exists. I hope some day to need it!
This is FANTASTIC!! We will post this on tinyhousebuild.com as well to help spread the word!
Thank you Gabriella!
Don’t forget to check out insurance and liability both as renter and landlord.
A great idea, but it’s not working. First, it’s not a good idea to automatically grab somebody’s location from their IP and hand back results without first getting permission. The google map is also not loading correctly in Firefox. That said, there doesn’t seem to be a way to view the whole country’s listings at once. Trying to change it from the drop down doesn’t work, it just keeps going back to the local results. Why would you assume that someone only wants to see listings from their home town? Sometimes being too helpful can come off as being presumptively intrusive.
Being a landlord who has just gone through THREE horrible tenants in a row (who were supposedly checked out through a rental management agency), who did a lot of damage to our property and caused us literally tens of thousands of dollars in property damage and legal fees, I would be very careful before entering into any rental agreement as a landlord to make sure you have a contract that protects you.
It can be very, very difficult to evict a bad tenant, can take a long time (and in some states, tenants are not required to pay rent during eviction proceedings, which can take months) and cause a lot of bad feelings (which can result in further damage to your property).
Just because someone is living in a small house, doesn’t mean they are wonderful people. So if you are planning to rent out a space, please be sure to cover all of your legal bases first. Be specific what your needs are and spell them out (for instance- what if your tiny house tenant likes to play loud music at 3am? Party with friends 24/7? Deal drugs from the small house? We have dealt with all of these issues with our own rentals).
Hopefully you will get a wonderful tenant who will be quiet and respectful. But please cover your bases so you don’t end up in a nightmare scenario of having someone on your property who becomes a real pain in the behind, and who costs you thousands of dollars to evict.
Agreed Wendy. Not to mention both parties must be very careful of code violations, etc. It is a nice dream and someday may be less complicated… But it certainly is not yet unless you wish to live in the boonies with no amenities, most last a year or two only. (We were lucky not to have the problems you did, but had to quit letting anyone rent just the same.)
Wendy, definitely very good evergreen advice that everyone considering renting out land or a space should heed.
I shared your post on a Jan 22, 2015 rehash of “New Tiny House Listing Service” (and credited you) here: http://tinyhouselistings.com/tiny-house-parking-a-new-service-that-helps-solve-the-parking-conundrum/#comment-301614
Thank you all. Some folks seem to be having no issues with the site while others are. I’m working on it!
It’s completely free to post! You can post your listing here:
http://tinyhouseparking.com/submit-listing
Thank you all for checking it out!
I think the site is a good tool.
There is not going to be a site or tool such as this that addresses all the issues that are out there concerning tiny trailers and houses, but this is a good start. Some are going to have to realize that they have to do some of their own work and due diligence in tiny homes and won’t realize much gain if they want it all planned, organized, approved and laid out for them for a fee.
At least now, this new site gives persons a start on who to talk to that understands part of the equation.
Please include Canadian sites. I’m a Canadian small home owner looking to shift locations hopefully this summer. Another sugestion is if animals / pets are welome, and if so what limitations there might be.
Thanks for the feedback Angele! Actually Canada is listed on the site. If you’re looking for a parking spot in Canada you can go to the Submit Listing past and do so there.
wow- so excited about this. This is the big question for me in the greater Philly area.
Hello,
Greatly appreciate what you’re doing here on the listings.
Had a great deal of trouble with your site search engines. The one at the bottom right of the home page does produce results by leaving What? and Where? untouched and specifically selecting 5,000 miles in the Within? block.
All new sites need tweaking but, you will arrive.
Thanks again,
Regarding the lots for sale.. Is Kent sure that if you buy the land the municipality will allow an RV aka Tiny House to be there? I don’t think it is that easy since each municipality has their own zoning and code issues..
(please tell me I’m wrong)
Where is there a legitimate area for a Tiny House to be LIVED in full time??? Kent? Jay? Deek? Steve? Alex?
Anyone????
Hi Mike,
I’m am sharing Steven’s site and don’t know the answers to everyone’s locations. People most likely will have to do their own research regarding what is legal where they live and if it will work to park a tiny house there or not. -Kent
Hi Mike. The folks who are listing tiny house land for sale are doing so with the good faith that the lot allows tiny houses to be parked there. Before you buy any piece of land, you’ll have a due diligence period where you’ll want to be certain to find this information out before closing.
I want to throw my two cents in on this issue with munincipal codes. I really think the codes will bend and change IF the individual goes before the powers that be and presents themselves well and their plan and has some facts and numbers about what they need and how they and their plan also benefits the current area and rules.
Let’s face the facts here.
No governing body wants to give a blanket approval for something that can be very easily abused and become a shanty town or urban hovel very quickly.
Be it right or wrong, I don’t see much enthusiasm or change by the authorities happening for those that cannot present themselves or their housing plan in an upbeat positive manner that reflects an intelligent CHOICE to go small AND fairly attractive and neat instead of just a desire to get a roof over their head and be a squatter.
The decisions may be descriminatory, but the individual and motive is being reviewed as much or more as the structure.
Thank you SO MUCH for creating this site! I’ve started browsing all over Craigslist to see what options might exist for our Jan 2015 move to the Denver/Boulder area with our to-be-constructed tiny house, and the pickins are slim to say the least! I sincerely hope this will help streamline the offerings, because for us it’s looking more and more like RV parks will be our only option initially. Great idea! -Meg
Thanks for providing this service. I’m in the planning stages only, of thinking about building a tiny house. I will eventually be looking for a place to put it.
YES!!! YES!
I was just talking about this with my mother yesterday!! She was all trying to scare me that I will not be able to park anywhere, lol.
Great idea! For few reasons!
Great post! One issue with renting a spot on someone’s land, the laws for every given county or city matter. In my county, unless you are living on a piece of land where you, the owner of the tiny house, are somehow directly related to the owner in the large house, it is not legal. This and other laws, limit a person from renting to a stranger, unless you do it under the radar, which I am not willing to do.
I look forward to using this site! Thank you!
Be sure you know what ‘under the radar’ actually means in the area you are in… In some cases they ask you to move, in others it is destruction and/or confiscation of property. Also a note to landlords: Make sure you know the ‘squatters’ rights’ in your community.
btw, Glad to hear you are not willing to go UTR, it is part of why few dare allow them on their property now… We had a neighbor told by one ‘They couldn’t kick him off because he was there illegally and he would turn them in.’ They got ticketed, he got removed by the police and charged, I forget what for.
I agree with Moi who posted above. Even when it seems you have found a great spot to park your tiny home on you own land or another persons land you better watch out because you might have to move off that land soon after you moved across the country to park it there. I own a large home, and a tiny home on acreage in a very rural wooded country dead end gravel road. It is in the same county as Seattle WA, were tons of tiny house dwellers live under the radar. All it takes is one person to complain to the county and then they are obligated to follow up and come to your property and fine you or evict the tiny house dwellers. Even though I pay almost FIVE thousand dollars a year in property taxes it is illegal for me to live in my tiny house on my own land in this over regulated nanny state. Yet people still rent out their back yards and driveways illegally and it seems perfect until it is not. You may not have a mortgage if you own and live in a tiny home but can you really sleep well at night knowing you have to hide from county officials or relocate while you fight city codes? I refuse to give this rainy state any more of my tax dollars. I am selling it all and towing my tiny house to NC where there is plenty of UNRESTRICTED land to buy and live in peace. I suggest that Tiny house listings have a disclaimer on their site that states that those people advertising spaces for rent may not be in compliance with the local city/county or state codes. This may help avoid a law suit for tying to do something good for tiny home dwellers.
Please be sure to check with all township, county and state codes in NC before buying. There are a lot of people trying to unload land they were told was unregulated. There are also serious issues with mining damaged land (unsafe water, etc.)
The codes that exist everywhere took decades to implement, they will take some time to modify. Some make sense… some were created by communities wanting higher taxes and builders wanting more income.
This is fabulous! I’m so excited to see a site like this up and running! We are on the hunt for a space in RI…we are meeting with a farmer on Sunday! If that doesn’t pan out, I will be posting!
http://www.facebook.com/anothertinyhousestory
Cool! You want post your wanted ad here. Best!
http://tinyhouseparking.com/submit-listing/
I’m currently taking an e-Course in downsizing, and one of the things we THM people have disgust is getting together and starting a TH community.
It would be good to have a list for those wanting to buy into our own TH micro-park. We could list what part of the country we’d like to live in and see if we can hook up with other TH owners to share the expense of land and whatever is not off the grid.
A bit off topic, but the other day I had the thought that perhaps Native American reservations might want to consider augmenting their income by setting up TH parking areas; they could be as simple as off-grid spots, or as complex as the equivalent of an RV park. They are considered (as far as I know)sovereign states and not beholden to the local state codes. It could be something to look into if you live/work near one and need a spot.
It is not something most would consider. The sovereignty is the main reason… To most of my friends on the rez, it feels too usery. Sorry.
I like the interface. Very nice.
I think that to drive traffic to the site it might be interesting to add some social categories. For instance maybe Tumbleweed classes, Meetups for aspiring owners, and house tours.
I love your post and I think you have a wonderful idea… looking forward to look at your site. You guys are magnificent!