Tiny House Summit: Solving the Challenge of Tiny House Parking

Kyle Nussen, co-founder of Park Your Tiny, discusses the challenges of finding parking for tiny houses and the solution his platform provides. He shares his personal journey into the tiny house movement and the benefits of living a minimalist lifestyle. The conversation explores the financial advantages of tiny living and the importance of finding affordable and long-term parking options. Kyle also introduces the Park Your Tiny House Summit, featuring industry experts who will discuss various aspects of tiny house parking. The summit aims to provide clarity on parking options and help individuals achieve their tiny house dreams.

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Transcript

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It takes a brave and independent mindset to go tiny. If you are trying to figure out your tiny pivot, this podcast is here to inspire and connect you with the other unconventional, gritty, inspirational people within this community. I'm Laura Lynch, your tiny house friend and host. On this show, we are always going to come back to money because as a financial planner, this is the question I hear the most. How do I make this work for me financially? Well, that's my jam, so jump in, let's go. New episodes drop every Thursday. Hey, Kyle, welcome to Let's House More Mola podcast. Super excited to have you here today. Thank you so much for having me. Very excited to be a part of it. Yeah, was just, we were just talking before I hit record about how I've just been at the Colorado Tiny House Festival and solving for parking or placement or land or whatever is one of the biggest two challenges that people are facing. So. super excited of the tools that you're bringing to the table when it comes to where people put their tiny. Yeah, thank you. It's such a huge issue and I'm super excited to talk about it during today's podcast episode. So thank you again for having me. Getting into the tiny house industry, had first no idea that this was such a huge issue with parking. I'm sure we'll talk about this more, but I bought the plans to our tiny house. set to try and find land and get the start, the build going until we ran into all the zoning issues. And then as we scoured the internet, we found more and more people were struggling with this. And so, yeah, it's a huge issue. And hopefully today, during today's episode, we're able to shed some light on it and get some people moving forward. So go ahead and introduce yourself and share about how you first got excited about tiny living. Yeah. So my name is Kyle Nusson. My partner and I, Alex Nusson. created a software very similar to Airbnb, but for the tiny house industry to help people with parking. Many during COVID, as we were kind of scouring YouTube one day, we discovered the wonderful world of tiny houses, got obsessed with all the different tiny house builds and all the different designs and where people were living and we got hooked. And we're from Austin, Texas. And we thought it would be super easy to just find local land within Austin, Texas, build out our tiny house and live the tiny house dream. until lo and behold, we ran into all the zoning restrictions and as friendly as Austin is to tiny houses, it's still a lot of work to try and find land that is zoned and acceptable for tiny house. And especially if you're going to build it your own, that's a whole nother complication. and so I have a marketing background. I used to be a marketing consultant for a big software company called ClickFunnels. And I've had several different businesses before with my fiance. And so we kind of put our heads together and we're just thinking of the idea, like, you know, what if we put our heads together and try and solve this problem? Because there's tons of people out here who are struggling with the same thing. They believe in tiny houses. They believe in the vision for this, but parking is a barrier and it's preventing them from moving forward. And so we're kind of thinking of like, what could we model? You know, is there a solution out there that maybe we could bring into the tiny house world? And that's when the idea kind of hit us. But what if we brought something similar to the Airbnb model into the tiny house industry? And so we built a platform called parkertiny .com. We're at the end stages of development with it. But what it is is just like Airbnb, people are able to, as a host, if they have land that they want to share with the tiny house owner, they can post a listing on their site. And then if you have a tiny house, let's say on wheels, you can then book your stay on our site. And then you can actually book and everything's organized and managed through our platform. And then you could choose by location, some other variables. But then our goal is to spread the message of tiny house parking, get more people in here, create a win -win relationship for everyone in this industry so that more people can live tiny and most importantly, live out that dream. Yeah, it's so good that there'll be a way for people to share their space with others. I have the ability to park some tiny's or RV's or whatever because we live land that is somewhat unrestricted, I guess. And I think that there are a lot of people out there that maybe they have a farm or some other space where they know that they could get by with it or they know how the rules work. And yet there's not really a great way to share. There's hip camp and harvest host and whatever, but specifically for people looking to park their tiny, I think it's great to have a one -stop. shop where people can share that. And as you mentioned, I think there are some decent solutions out there. But the thing is, at least in my personal experience, I didn't feel like it was very long term stay, whether using hip camp or Craigslist or Facebook marketplace or tiny house map or all these other amazing resources. I think they're good to get you started. But if you're somebody who really is going to invest all your time and energy into tiny house, I think you're wanting for something more long term. And if there is this long term option, I think more people are going to get into the tiny house industry as well. Yeah. Yeah, I agree. Yeah, definitely vacation rentals is one thing, right? Or vacation stays or, you know, a place to park it for a short period of time is one thing, but a longer term, you know, commitment or a longer term opportunity is what most people need because certainly most people don't travel with their tiny full time. They're looking for a more long term solution. So you said that you kind of learned about, you know, tiny homes and the lifestyle on YouTube. What about the lifestyle resonates with you personally? I could consider myself a pretty hardcore minimalist. I'm very excited about the minimalist lifestyle. I watched a documentary many years ago called Minimalism. Sure. Maybe a lot of people here have watched it as well. And that changed my life. I had so much stuff. And I found myself very excited after watching that documentary to see how much I could get rid of. And I found with every item that I threw away, I felt lighter and a sense of release. And it was almost like this transformational healing journey that I went through as I became more and more of a minimalist. And that kind of led me when I finished college to actually go backpacking. I traveled for a few years. I mean, living out of a backpack, you're pretty hardcore minimalist. And so I kind of got used to it and adapted to that lifestyle. And then when I discovered tiny houses at the time, I I don't and currently still living in Austin, we have a pretty decent apartment. But you just keep packing more more stuff in it, and then you get more and more stressed out. And I'm just getting to a point where like, there has to be a better way. There's, there's gotta be something more aligned with my values. And so when we discovered the tiny house videos on YouTube, I just immediately was like, this is perfect. Just the creativity that people are leaning into. with tiny houses, it's just so inspiring. And to just challenge myself to see how little I can have is a very exciting concept for me because I find that my stress levels go down, I can focus on higher priority contributions. And as your podcast demonstrates, you can increase your wealth by not having such high expenses. So it's a wonderful tool for doing that as well. Yeah. Yeah, I feel like that even in my relationship, that stuff causes a lot of stress, because it takes up so much time to maintain and to fix and nothing is manufactured in a super durable way anymore. And so the more stuff you acquire, the more broken problems, glitches, whatever that you have to kind of be dealing with. And it takes up so much of your life to keep all the stuff going. And yet at the same time, we are programmed and taught, you know, on all the platforms and all the screens that we're supposed to be out and that we deserve to have all these things. And yet what, you know, when you think about deserving, sure, we all, you know, deserve to have a really high quality of life, but quality of life is created through relationships and experiences and memories and having the time to give to those. those elements requires that we not be spending our time fidgeting with all of our stuff. Absolutely. That's kind of funny. Even if you just have extra storage or a garage, you'll just start packing more and more into it. So it's so fascinating with the tiny house because you're restricting it, the size of your house, now you're restricting how much can be in there. So the quality of what's in there, I believe is going to be much higher. Yeah. Yeah. Good, high quality. And you know, there's some, you know, good, you know, good feels that we get when we go out and we scour around and we find the perfect, you know, furniture piece or whatever. And I, you know, I like that as much as the next person, but man, you can get that same experience when you go out and find the perfect rock hiking. So dive in a little bit deeper on roadblocks and solutions. seems like that, you know, the parking thing is, you know, your area specialty. So just talk a little bit about what you've learned through this process about the challenges that people are facing and, you know, the solution that you're bringing and other solutions to help people. There's all of those people that I saw at the festival who are like, where am I going to, you know, I really want a tiny house, but I don't know where to put it. Talk more about what you've learned as you've been getting into this. Absolutely. I think creating a summit, which I'm sure we'll talk about in just a little bit, has been a huge research process for us as well, because we're learning from so many people who are a part of it what's important to them, what roadblocks they're hitting. But for me personally, in our journey, looking at several different land options around Austin, there were some that were approved, maybe not necessarily the best areas. There were some that maybe we could fly under the radar and many in between. And that process was very stressful. And I think a lot of people can maybe get discouraged along that journey. And having been through kind of that pain where you see the vision of what you want, but you see such a huge barrier preventing you from achieving that can be very upsetting and discouraging. And Having been through that experience, like I said, we decided to put our heads together and create a software to help hopefully resolve this issue or give more people the opportunity to live tiny. But like I was saying, throughout this process of creating our summit and speaking with so many different people across the industry has given us a huge understanding of what people are actually wanting in this space. And I'm really excited to get this out to the world to hopefully increase the size of those interested in living tiny. And the goal is to make it easy for people to find parking for their tiny house, whether they're in the beginning stages and they just, you know, are building it themselves or maybe they hired a builder and they're looking for a place to park to not necessarily be so stuck on just this one area that might be the most tiny house friendly. They could potentially search by location, whether it's per state or per city. per city and then actually start to look at several listings that are available that are already, you know, they have confidence and certainty that when they book, they're going to be able to stay there long -term. They're not hopefully going to get a knock on the door telling them to leave, which could be very stressful. So that's kind of the vision of what we're creating. And hopefully as this more people learn about it, more people can get into the tiny house world and benefit the amazing things that it can offer. And so then the responsibility kind of is in on the landowner or the lister to have figured out, you know, that they can have TINYs on their property or, you know, that they can provide that additional, you know, housing parking. How do we know that the people that are listing have actually cleared that with their municipality or? you know, that they are following the rules? Is there any sort of checks in place to make sure that people? Yeah, amazing question. And this is actually something I was talking to one of our current summit speakers about. Originally, I had anticipated that every single landowner who had posted on our site would have been verified in a way, having gone through almost like a pre -checklist of some sort, making sure that they are verified and everything approved for the tiny house on wheels to be there. As we did speak with more and more people, they did bring up more of a concern that the majority of people were already parked kind of under the radar and they were under the impression if you do limit it to only 100 % verified parking spots, there may not be enough of a market at least in the beginning stages. And so we're definitely taking that into consideration. We are doing our best to make sure that every listing will be a safe place to park. ultimately, we are in the beginning stages. We're going to do our best to make sure every listing is verified in the best that we can. But hopefully, as more people start using it and more cities start becoming aware of this, the regulations will start opening up to make it easier. Yeah. What about for the listers relative to people are concerned about, say, liability on their property or maybe questionable behavior on their property. Is there some sort of vetting process for those folks wanting to park or advice for people listening about how to protect themselves? Any blog articles getting out there? How are you kind of? Absolutely. I will do a plug for somebody who's actually on our summit who I think would be a great resource for this. It's Mac Insurance. I believe his name is Michael. He's actually going to be on our summit. And he talked about He provides insurance for tiny homes and they actually also provide insurance if you're moving to tiny home. So if you did decide to have tiny home insurance with Mac insurance, I think that would be a great option for you, especially if you're going to be moving from different parking spots, because whether something happens to the tiny house in a specific location or on the move, I believe they cover it. So that would be the first suggestion. When it comes to the landowners, they may, I'm not entirely sure of the legal side of the hosting and things like but I believe they may also be eligible for insurance options as well or something. I'm not entirely sure how that works on the Airbnb side, but our team will definitely be looking into that to make sure it's a win -win for everyone. Yeah. Yeah, good. These are all questions I'm sure that people are going to be thinking about when it comes to such a litigious world that we live in. And so how do I make sure that if we have people living on our land that we're protecting ourselves and vice versa? Absolutely. So let's talk about the summit. Super excited because it's just a few weeks away. So tell us about the summit and who all you have lined up for it and what listeners or participants on the summit should expect from it and why they should attend, all the things. Absolutely. So on August 23rd, 24th and 25th is the Park Your Tiny House Summit to celebrate parking in the tiny house world. The link to sign up is going to be summit .parkyourtiny .com. Hopefully by the time this is posted, that page will be up and available. It is free to register for the summit and we've brought together some of the biggest and brightest minds in the tiny house space to talk about parking and hopefully solve this problem once and for all. And so some of the people that we're very excited to have on is of course you, Laura. So thank you for that. We've got Alexis Stevens from tiny house expedition, John and Finn. from United Tiny Homes, Renee Sievers, Lindsay Wood, the Tiny Home Lady, Zach Giffin from Tiny House Nation, Jordan Liberata, Steph Douglas, and so many more people. So it's going to be amazing. We're very excited for the event coming up and we hope to see you there. That's so awesome. You got all the thought leaders gathered in one place. I'm sure that'll be super valuable for participants, especially people new. to the idea because they're going to get to hear from all the veterans who have been in this space for a really long time. So what are some of the topics that they're talking about? Good question. So day one is going to be considered where to park. So all about different locations and figuring out what is going to be the parking option that's going to be best for you. Day two is going to be what to know. So we're going to be talking all about legal and parking logistics that people need to be aware of. And For day three, it's going to be what comes next. We're going to be talking about the future for you and Tiny House Living. So that's just a high level overview. You can check out more on their actual page. But very excited for the summit. Really the main goal is to get clarity on where your ideal parking spot is going to be. And then really goal setting and foreshadowing what your life is going to be like after that. Now that you know, have your tiny house and it's parked somewhere and what's going to be next for you. So good. So listeners would sign up for the summit at see the website again. Yep. It's summit .parkyourtiny .com. Sweet. So we'll have that link obviously in show notes so people can go there directly. So let's go back a little bit to your personal experience and you and I talked about this a little bit before we hit record. You know, you are in, you know, a generation that's very curious about, you know, financial goals and financial success and gosh, you know, we're all living in different times where we have to kind of figure this out in a changing environment. So what are your thoughts on tiny living as a pathway to financial success? I read this and we were chatting about this before. believe it's from Jordan Liberata. He is a tiny house author. He's going to be part of our summit. And when I first read this from his book, I thought it was a perfect explanation of it. And he mentioned that tiny houses are a tool to help you build wealth or financial freedom. And I thought that was a perfect description of tiny houses. Because I think some people who maybe haven't studied too much about tiny houses, maybe see for the first time and they're like, how could you live in such a small house? And maybe they write it off, but they don't see it as like a stepping stone to a better life. And I think that's the perfect approach, at least in my opinion, to why tiny houses are such a phenomenal starting point for people. have so many friends who, the first thing that they did was try to buy the biggest place possible to impress all the people in their life. And now they're in debt and they're stressed out and it's just putting themselves in a deficit when they're first starting out in adulthood. versus the opposite. so, kind of seeing that and going through it myself, I just. Thought there had to be a better way, whether that was moving to a more affordable place or trying to. Do you live live more like a minimalist or essentialist, you're trying all these different things. but at end of the day, like, what is the biggest expense we all are, Are contributing to and it's our house and so if we are able to significantly reduce our housing expense. I mean, what would that do for us financially? It just change everything. And so that's why I tiny houses are the ultimate tool for people to help build wealth, at least in the beginning stages. And it just creates a platform for you to be able to create such a phenomenal life after. Yeah, I think as you have experienced that, you know, less focus on the roof just allows you to... follow your passions and create new things, right? mean, would you have been able to, you know, leave your job and start, you know, parkyourtiny .com if you had been stuck in the largest house you could afford? Yeah, no way. And I think that's another thing that you just mentioned is then you're working so many hours because you're just trying to pay for this big house that you're maybe don't even have a lot of time to actually enjoy anymore. And if you do decide to live tiny and reduce your expenses, now, as you mentioned, you have more time to contribute and focus on your passions. And it's a beautiful thing that people now have the time and energy to focus on. know. I feel like that there are so many solutions to the world's problems that aren't getting solved because people are stuck in their, you know, required job to pay their stupid mortgage. Absolutely. So let's talk about how parking, whether you're renting or owning ties into that piece. Can you be more specific? I mean, if tiny, if a tiny home is a tool for, you know, financial success, then where is the parking? How does that tie in? So that's a really good question. And I think that's something that I'm currently working on getting clarity Someone from our summit actually asked that exact question too, because in my understanding or when I originally thought about it, I was under the impression in order to build more wealth, the first thing I would want to do is get a property or at least a parking spot for my tiny house that I would own. And that way I could, you know, pay it off as soon as possible. And then I have a larger savings moving forward. However, after talking to some people on the summit about that question, I'm kind of crunching some numbers. I then realized that maybe starting with renting land actually would be a better option, at least in the beginning, because technically, if you do the math, maybe it's actually lower expenses in the beginning, which then ultimately allows you to save more. And then over time, maybe you are able to purchase something later on down the line. Or better yet, maybe you want to try out a different spot. And as long as you keep your expenses low, you're able to try out different cities and different areas without necessarily committing to something more long -term. So I think it's definitely an interesting question to kind of ponder. I definitely thought going immediately into owning would be the better option, but it's definitely an interesting question to kind of crunch the numbers. And I think based on what your goals are, it'll help you move forward with a little bit more clarity. And I think too, people have rigid mindset around the idea of renting anything, right? They think, you know, you're just throwing money down the drain. But if you were to buy a house in a, you know, developed new community in many parts of the country, you're going to be paying HOA and CDD, CDD fees, right? Which are own your home and your land supposedly, but you're paying those fees for the entirety of that ownership based on the valuation of that particular house. And so those could be $600 a book and you're paying those, you know, forever. you know, having some regular expense around your parking is, you know, not, you know, outside of the realm of what you would have to do in life anyway. So I don't think it's that ridiculous. Of course, ownership of land gives you the opportunity for that land to appreciate over time. And certainly you can work on that. That depends on where you buy land. And as I talked about a good bit about my personal experience when I was speaking in Colorado, We can really take a lot of risk when we put too many of our eggs in the real estate basket. So definitely totally okay to find somewhere to pay a small rental fee for a while while you're trying to figure out what you want for the long term. So how do listeners kind of find out about the platform you're building and the summit? Absolutely. So the summit. you'll be able to check it out at summit .parkyourtiny .com. The summit dates are going to be August 23rd, 24th, and 25th. So check it out. It's free to register and very excited for you guys to attend. If you want to learn more about our platform, like I said, we're at the end of the development for it. Hopefully by the time our summit launches, it'll be ready for the public. But that's just parkyourtiny .com. If you guys want to check it out and learn more about Awesome. Well, Kyle, thank you so much for sharing your life experience, your passion, your summit, and the great platform that you're building for folks to solve this really important parking challenge. Absolutely. Thank you so much for having me, Laura. It's been a pleasure. Awesome.