Tiny Home Parking. How I Found a New Idyllic Location!

Finding the perfect Tiny Home parking spot is almost always a long and winding road… with a few potholes and flat tires. Most municipalities still categorize Tiny Homes as RVs, or temporary dwellings. This means you can’t technically live in your Tiny House full time in most areas of the United States, making the parking search even more challenging.

But this article isn’t about finding a legal parking spot, necessarily. It’s about finding an idyllic Tiny Home parking spot. There’s a difference.

I understand the need to categorize dwellings, but I’m not for setting unreasonable limits that impair our options and freedoms just to raise more for property taxes. Instead, I believe categorizations are helpful to create thriving communities. People, as a whole, tend to want to group together with similar individuals. Housing choices are no different. Apartment complexes are typically next to other apartment complexes. Mansion owners want to be neighbors with other mansion owners. And Tiny Housers also want to be near other Tiny Housers, which is why we are starting to see more and more Tiny House communities.

Finding Tiny House parking has been an interesting journey for me. I’ve been very lucky. A few opportunities have presented themselves to me, and I’ve taken them. For example, I parked for nearly three years at Mt. Hood Tiny House Village for free, in exchange for online marketing and on site promotion. It was an easy job, and my living expenses were next to nothing.

Thanks to my free parking, I was able to pay off my student debt and save money!

After a few years, the location of Mt. Hood Tiny House village no longer worked for me. It was in a rural part of Oregon, without a lot of people my age to socialize with. I started dating someone long distance who lived in Seattle, and the commute back and forth was just too much. Free Tiny Home parking is wonderful, but I had enough money saved up to look for something else. Even if I had to pay for it.

Besides, Mt. Hood Tiny House Village had a lot of rules and restrictions on their tenants. I couldn’t have a garden, nor build a porch or a storage shed. They didn’t provided recycling for the massive amount of people that stayed there (the village is located in a large campground) or have an area for compost. My dog had to be on a leash at all times, and she does perfectly fine off-leash. Finally, they decided to ban composting toilets. I believe they did this because a few of the Tiny Homes that were being rented out on occasion (my house included) had received complaints. Why? Because these renters weren’t really interested in embracing the Tiny House movement, they just wanted to taste the HGTV-version of living small. A composting toilet really killed the vibe for them (you mean my husband has to sit to pee???).

I love my toilet, and I wasn’t going to change it to a flushing monstrosity just because a few renters couldn’t handle dealing with their own waste. So, it was clear to me that it was time to move closer to Seattle. But where?

I searched the internet for months (click here to find my list of Tiny House parking resources). Nothing seemed perfect, even after touring a few locations. If I was going to leave Mt. Hood Village, rent a truck, and tow my house 200 miles north… it needed to be the right location.

Finally, I found an advertisement for Tiny Home parking on a 20-acre farm on Whidbey Island (about one hour from Seattle). The location sounded ideal. It was far enough from the city that it will feel like an escape but close enough that I could stay in the city with my boyfriend. My master plan was to rent my Tiny House when I wasn’t using it, so I reached out to the landowners, asking if they would be interested in hosting a half-timer / AirBNB? Miraculously, they said yes!

After touring the farm and meeting the landowners, I had a good feeling. This was the spot I had been looking for. And the timing was right. So, my Tiny Home parking journey started down a new road.

In September of 2018, I moved my house to Whidbey Island. It was quite an adventure!

It took several meetings to agree on a monthly rental fee, parking location on the property, and a percentage cut of the AirBNB profits for the landowners. We had to figure out a cleaning schedule and fees, and I needed to purchase a bunch of extra towels and sheets for guests.

I’m really excited for this new chapter in Journey’s life. Within two days she went from a mountain home to an island home. Isn’t that crazy? I guess that’s the benefit of having a home on wheels.

2019 should be a fun year of learning how to run an AirBNB out of a Tiny House while absorbing all that I can about farming and sustainable living from my landowners. I have so many plans – including building an epic covered deck that will expand my space another 60 square feet! Oh, and there is also a beautiful Yurt on the property that will be available for nightly stays. And guess what kind of toilet they chose to use for that rental? A compost toilet! I think we will all get along just fine.

Rent My Tiny House on AirBNB