The Uncharted Territory of Tiny Homes: Van Guerrero's Journey from Corporate to Community-Driven Tiny Living

In this episode, Van Guerrero shares his journey into tiny living and the importance of community in enhancing the tiny home experience. He discusses the challenges of transitioning to tiny home reselling, particularly the unique financing hurdles faced by potential buyers. Van also expresses his aspirations for improving the tiny home industry, advocating for better regulations and support systems for tiny home living.

Van's Links

Website: https://tinyreselling.com/

- Instagram: @tinyreselling

- TikTok: @tinyresellingatx

- Facebook: @tinyresellingllc

- Tiny House Expedition Feature on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrcQYuOdtSY

Book a Call with Laura

Go to thetinyhouseadviser.com

Transcript

Less House More Moola Podcast (00:41)
Well, Van Guerrero, welcome to Less House More Moola podcast.

Van Guerrero (00:45)
you so much for having me it's a pleasure

Less House More Moola Podcast (00:47)
It is so awesome that we get to connect and talk about your experience, especially since you're out there helping people get into tiny living, which is, you know, there's those hurdles that we all talk about the land and the financing and you have some great success stories and you've seen people make success of it. So I'm super excited to really focus on the solutions today.

Van Guerrero (01:15)
Absolutely, me too. Thank you so much again for having me. I'm excited to share as much wealth and knowledge as I have.

Less House More Moola Podcast (01:21)
Yeah,

good. So let's go back and let's just, cause you're in tiny living yourself. So yeah. So go back and tell us the story of how you came to tiny home living.

Van Guerrero (01:26)
Correct, yes.

Yeah, so I moved into my tiny home in 2020, but before that I was living in a two-bedroom apartment. My brother at the time, I had encouraged him to stop his corporate job and come live with me so that he could live out his creative, know, fantasies and lifestyles. I won't say fantasies, he's actually doing it. He's in the kind of the music.

realm I guess and anyway he was living with me at the time and I was making the most money that I had ever made at that age. was in my ⁓ mid-twenties and I was like I've got all this money like I wanna you know buy this huge house and start doing all this stuff and it was actually a little bit frustrating ⁓ living in the Austin Texas area around that time. ⁓

the market was starting to really rocket ship up. In 2022, we were the number one city in the United States for the market and price points and people moving in and stuff. so anyway, I thought that I was set, I had money, I was gonna be able to do this. And then when I started getting into the actual minutia of purchasing a home, there...

Basically it was not in the cards for me still even at a really good corporate job making six figures And I was really a little bit upset because I was like well This is the next stage of my life I'm supposed to get the big house and do all these things and like I don't understand why this isn't working out for me and

My brother was like, you know, I've always known you to be like a creative person, somebody who always does something a little bit more alternative. And he's like, I don't buy into the fact that you really want like a huge house and you want to do all these things. Like that doesn't really seem like your vibe. And he was like, if I recall, you wanted to buy a schoolie and go travel, you know, around the United States and kind of live a nomadic lifestyle and things like that.

And so I was like, you know what? Yeah, I think you're right. I'm going to do that. I'm going to look into it.

I was like, know what, you're right. I'm gonna do that. But then that quickly got shut down too because I worked a corporate job that required me coming into an office five days a week and traveling around the, you know, the United States really wasn't a thing at that time. This was right before COVID. And so nomadic lifestyle or digital nomadding or just working from home wasn't as popular back then. so ⁓ then I was like, well, I want to do something alternative but it's not gonna be this big.

house,

it's just me, why do I want, you know, all this stuff. And then I started looking into tiny homes because that was something a little bit more permanent, but kind of...

felt like where I wanted to lead from a living lifestyle. And ⁓ actually a coworker was like, hey, have you ever looked into this place called Village Farms, which was on the east side of Austin? And I was like, no, I haven't. And took a look into it and immediately fell in love. And I had to deposit down, like just within the month. And was there every weekend, like waiting for my home?

to get there and then pretty much the rest is history so went from from corporate big house to Schoolie to tiny home, and then I haven't gone back since so been living tiny since

Less House More Moola Podcast (04:51)
I love that story because many of us, probably everybody who listens to this podcast and everybody that you're working with in your ⁓ tiny reselling world, we all have this idea of being a little bit different, maybe a little offbeat, having to go into the beat of our own drum, right? But even us who have kind of our own voice in our head, we still can get really sucked in to that narrative that

And I was just thinking about it the other day, I went through, a period of making the most amount of money I ever had and I shopped my brains out, like, here I am now talking about, having fewer higher quality things and really thinking through, what you're, consuming and whatever. But gosh, when you get that first influx of income, it can be really

just so easy to follow a path that you see on TV or that you've kind of seen in magazines. It's just kind of all around you all the time.

Van Guerrero (05:52)
And I really give kudos to my brother because I was so overwhelmed by this pressure this narrative that you're talking about Everybody's telling you you need to get a big house This is the next step you get the good job you get the house get married and have the kids and he was like What are you freaking out about? He's like this is not you don't have to do any of that And I was like oh, you're right like oh, you know and it felt so something that I hear from my clients a lot when they purchase is That when they they're looking for something they're missing something they know

that the way they're living is not right, but they can't figure quite out what it is. And then when they start considering this and they actually are pulling the trigger, they talk about having this indescribable feeling of just like knowing that you're home and that this is gonna change their life for the better and having the positivity. And so when I see people experience that, I'm like, yeah, yeah, like you're gonna be with us for a long time. ⁓ it's just nice to break the mold. And everybody told me, no, don't get that, that's such a bad idea.

everybody's, I'm so jealous, I wish I could live like this, this looks so fun, like my gosh. So it's just, you know, do what makes you feel right and I think that's the best way to go.

Less House More Moola Podcast (07:03)
It's about being true to yourself. And when you can design a life that's true to yourself, then you just feel so much more comfortable in that space. So obviously, being true to yourself has been, you know, a big part of it for you. And you fell in love with your community. And it was just like, gosh, it really clicked for you. What else has been kind of the best part of it for you?

Van Guerrero (07:05)
Absolutely.

Absolutely, absolutely.

Yeah, so I will always say that the community portion was the best part of it, just where I live in particular. We talk about people, you know, beating to their own drum and, you know, having different, you know, idiosyncrasies. ⁓ I had the privilege of meeting people here that I don't think I would have ever met anywhere else in any other walk of life just because we're so vastly different from one another. But these people that I met have been incredibly life changing for me.

spoke about getting all the money and then kind of spending it kind of crazy and being young in my 20s and having all this money available to me. ⁓ I was spending it just as quickly as I was getting it and at the time I was in the middle of getting married and then all of a sudden I got outsourced and so I lost my job and I wasn't you know budgeting correctly. I didn't have all my finances in order and some neighbors ⁓ who had moved in but six months before and I'm just getting to know them and stuff one of them

was like a financial advisor and does that and she helped me be able to afford my wedding, make it through without having a job, get on the right track for savings and stuff like that which is a completely different... I just have a completely different mindset now about how I do finances. I've met my CPA here so my accountant

comes from the tiny home community. We offer a lot of contractors and ⁓ a lot of blue collar work in the Airbnb portion of our business. And we get all of those people from the people who live here. I mean, I'm just connected in so many different ways. of my business partners, my best friends, people I consider my family, all came.

from living tiny and being in this community and I 100 % contribute my successes to the people around me because I would be a completely different person if it wasn't for them. So I know we were talking about the community but also ⁓ being able to walk.

to the farmers markets on Saturdays, getting fresh food. I make sandwiches and sauces and all different types of stuff and be able to go outside and cut fresh vegetables to put in same day is amazing. I attribute my...

my non-allergy having ⁓ health to the local honey that I buy from these stores. So just having really like wonderful access to good organic food, wonderful community. Mentally I'm in such a better space and it's just really improved my life overall.

Less House More Moola Podcast (10:03)
Has it sort of unhinged your career in terms of your ability to do things or take more creative risks than you would have been able to?

Van Guerrero (10:13)
I, it's funny, right now my company is so busy, which I'm so blessed about, but we, I'm trying to make sure that I am setting boundaries of when I'm available from a business perspective versus like when I just want to be in the community and live my life. But I'm so ingrained in this community with my company that sometimes it's not always like that, but I get genuine joy from helping people out. So being able to be connected in that way is great. But on the side, ⁓

or I should say like the other half of me, the alter ego, I am a professional

dancer and working actress and I have agents throughout the United States ⁓ and have been blessed to be a part of some big major things that are out and some of them are not out yet. ⁓ And because I live in this community, because I'm not tied to so much maintenance, landscaping, I don't have to pay egregious bills all the time, ⁓ I have the flexibility that I can go and do and pursue other endeavors and I have

many creative people here. I used to be a crocheter and a weaver and I was out of that game for a little bit but now we got a new neighbor who weaves again so we're gonna start weaving again so there's plenty of plenty of opportunity to have all different kind of creative outlets and I just don't think that a lot of people get that opportunity when what I call them being a slave to their home if that makes sense.

Less House More Moola Podcast (11:39)
It sounds like you have such a multi-dimensional and rich life that you have created for yourself. And so much of it came because of your choice to move into a community where the very first thing that everybody knows about everybody else there is you have that one thing in common. And do you feel like having that one thing in common, like jumpstarts conversations or like jumpstarts trust?

Van Guerrero (11:44)
Yes.

Yes.

Absolutely, ⁓ I 100 % think so. ⁓ Again, I think a lot of us have that indescribable feeling and that excitement. And so when everybody moves or when somebody moves in and you've already lived here, everybody's excited and they want to be your friend and they want to get to know you and they want to have community and you're just more likely to ask people like, do you do? Where'd you come from? know, like how can I help? Where in typical households, you might get somebody to knock on your door and give you some cookies and say,

welcome to the community but otherwise I I've always known it that you might know a neighbor too but that's it but here everybody knows everybody and you ask for a cup of sugar get 15 you know it's super supportive and so yeah I definitely think there's some jump-starting conversations people are just eager to be in each other's lives which I think is such a wonderful magical thing

Less House More Moola Podcast (12:55)
So how did you fall into tiny reselling?

Van Guerrero (12:59)
Yeah, kind of a crazy.

It just happens dance and the mix of a bunch of different stuff. I'm I still working for my corporate job. I was in corporate tech sales and ⁓ The community was new enough yet that there really hadn't been any resales within the community Everybody just was still buying new and people were still living in them and I had a neighbor Who was a bit older and didn't do the social media thing as much and she was trying to sell her tiny But she didn't really know how to market it tiny homes aren't allowed on the MLS. There's not a lot of platforms

that allow you to ⁓ host listings and things like that and she saw this young 20-something year old who did sales even though had nothing to do with homes and said you you have social media presence to help me market this thing and I'm not a big social media person my lovely assistant Cami does all my social media now it was horrible before then because I'm not that's not me but I was like me you want me to do that I don't I don't know

kind of almost kind of got like neighbor pressured into it and I was like well let me see what I could do I'll try to you know throw it on social media I'll try to figure something out and we we were starting to have offers on that house like the next week or something like that and so her home sold quickly and then there were a few other neighbors who were like what do we do we won't need to sell our house and so she told those neighbors and it went from selling just one house to helping two or three to five to seven to twelve and it just kind of grew from there and

⁓ We just had to build a foundation around our company based on the needs and how we want to support them throughout all of that. I was like, this will just be a side gig. But now it's my full-time job and I don't work corporate sales and haven't since 2023.

Less House More Moola Podcast (14:47)
So like unpack it a little bit for people who don't know why is it that tiny homes need their own platform for reselling.

Van Guerrero (14:52)
Yeah.

Yeah absolutely, so tiny homes are not considered real property so they're not like a traditional home. They have different house coding, tax implications, all that kind of stuff and so a realtor legally can't get involved in those sales and because of that, that means they're not allowed on the MLS. So you have this big network of realtors and the MLS platform that you can look and search and find all these homes for sale that tiny homes don't get that privilege. ⁓

of the same with like realtor.com or redfin.com they don't allow things that are not considered real property. Tiny homes ⁓ are considered legally RVs. They're RVIA certified so again there's a lot of the coding and the way they're built is differently. Technically they are considered depreciating assets as well ⁓ but depending on where you put it and if it's in a community that those things can change ⁓ but it's just hard to ⁓

to navigate and to find some place to do it. Zillow ⁓ offers ⁓ you an opportunity to put them on, but it's in a for sale by owner section and they in the past year, year and a half have split those tabs off. so like, unless you're specifically looking for for sale by owner, you can't even find it in the search. You get 500 solicitors or realtors trying to sell your house and then realizing they can't sell your house. And it's just a lot and it's really

⁓ you know depressing to be like stuck in you know in a place where you can't even get you can't even sell your home ⁓ and so that all changes too just depending on where you live there's different regulations and rules and codes and stuff zoning that happens from city to city county to county so it's a lot and it can be very overwhelming for some people for sure

Less House More Moola Podcast (16:47)
So your focus, you're obviously in the Austin area and so you have central, what's your focus area in Texas?

Van Guerrero (16:50)
Okay.

Yeah,

so we do Austin and surrounding areas. We've helped people in Bastrop, Dripping Springs, we do Manor We are open to exploring and kind of learning together for other opportunities. Tiny Reselling has recently got into the advisement portion ⁓ of tiny home living for people who are wanting to do ⁓ large tiny home communities or maybe looking from like an investment standpoint, getting some alternative real estate. ⁓

things like that and so we're happy to grow and expand and learn as much as the need requires it. we have just gone out as far as Dripping Springs, Manor and Bastrop which we're talking about like an hour-ish out some of these places. And we would love an opportunity to explore things in other states or just in other places in Texas. just, you know, we're kind of word of mouth and Cammie's helping us with the social media. So hopefully we'll start being able to expand in those areas.

Less House More Moola Podcast (18:50)
So when people list their homes with you, they end up on your website and then promoted across social media. And that's how, where the buyers come from.

Van Guerrero (19:01)
So we actually also have a private newsletter that you can sign up via the website or if you come and walk through a home, do a private walk through. We used to have open houses, but we found private walk throughs are a little bit more fruitful for us. But we send out a private newsletter every two weeks that basically is an entire list of all of the listings that we have, plus things that you could do around these areas where these tiny homes are, where they reside. And the majority of those people are prospective buyers.

who are waiting for a particular style of home, a location, maybe they when they came to look they were just in the preparation stage but weren't quite ready to buy and so they can kind of keep a tab on what's going on in the market ⁓ if prices are changing or new stuff is coming up that when they are ready to jump on it they know what's going on but of course you could always do that on the website too it's just something a little bit more compact and succinct about ⁓ here's what we got here's the price here's a change and here's something

to do around town, things like that.

Less House More Moola Podcast (20:03)
So are all of the homes that you're listing in communities already?

Van Guerrero (20:08)
Not all of them. So the majority of our ⁓ clientele does reside in this one particular community in Village Farm because there's not a lot of these out here just in general. But we are starting to... ⁓

Our clientele is starting to expand into just having tinies that are either needing to be put onto land ⁓ or they're trying to buy something for their land or get it moved to sell to somebody else who has land ⁓ and or as mentioned before, advising on purchasing straight from a manufacturer to put into some type of...

I guess I would call it compound, but maybe somebody's looking to purchase multiples of these to put them on their property to turn them into investment, know, STRs or something like that.

Yeah, short term rentals,

Less House More Moola Podcast (21:01)
So let's talk about some of the success stories that you have seen. ⁓ Particularly, you know, tell us some of the financing success stories that you've seen because that is one of the primary challenges that people have, right, is figuring out how they're going to buy their tiny house.

Van Guerrero (21:21)
so luckily tiny reselling has ⁓ We have preferred banks that we've done business with that have been vetted out it is definitely hard to find a bank that will ⁓ Finance a tiny home

I'll send you a bunch of stuff so we can put it in here. Honestly, 21st Mortgage is who we do the most business with. ⁓ I've told people before these loans are...

what I call Frankenstein loans. So it's a little bit of a house mortgage, it's a little bit of an RV loan, it's a little bit of a personal loan. All of it benefits the bank, so we do run into issues with having high interest rates and things like that. But what's great is that typically these loans are pretty flexible. So you can get kind of creative in how you're putting money down, how much, what... ⁓

like what you need to qualify, things of that nature. As of recently, we've been running into the high interest rate portion of it. But for the most part, it is very, very, very rare, at least with 21st, that we see people get declined, just straight out declined. So that's really great for people who are obviously trying to make a move, is that they do have, it's almost, I don't wanna say it's guaranteed, I mean 90 % of the people that we run through

through

these programs, they get approved, which has been really, really great. And we also just started leaning into the personal loan aspect. ⁓ The prices here have been dropping just as the way of the market and interest rates and things like that, which has put us into a category where people can get personal loans instead of doing the financing route, which is really great. We did one a little bit earlier this year that basically transacted almost like a cash sale, but it was through a personal loan.

through Discover that they were able to get rid of half of the red tape that they would from a traditional ⁓ bank and ⁓ qualify and then get funds immediately put into their account and then they have like cash buying power to negotiate better to get a better price for the home which is really great and then we can do a cash deal in a day or two and so that's really great for people who are looking to move quick ⁓ and get into something super exciting quicker for sure.

Less House More Moola Podcast (23:41)
So personal loans are unsecured, meaning there's no property securing them. that's based on just your credit ⁓ history and your credit worthiness. And then 21st actually, ⁓ they collateralize the loan with the home. Is that right?

Van Guerrero (24:00)
To my understanding they we go through like a seller interview form that they have to fill out ⁓ It doesn't technically have to be attached to land that is yours if that makes sense ⁓ They basically just put a stipulation that you can't move it until after the ⁓ I think it's actually only one or two years before they allow you to start moving it ⁓ They're wanting to know your credit obviously

some other history, things like that, and making sure your debt to income ratio ⁓ is within ⁓ their particular requirements. We also do have to get appraisals on the tiny homes at that time, which is something to note is ⁓ if you are selling ⁓ tiny in a spot where there's not a lot of tinies, it's going to be hard for them to appraise it accurately ⁓ because they are basing a lot of their numbers off of the surrounding community, obviously.

But luckily enough, we've been heavily ingrained in this community as well as the surrounding areas. We basically own the market comparables and the market comps so that we can provide all of them that information. So it's something just to note is like, hey, if you got to get it appraised, you might want to come with some additional comps in hand to help support them to make sure that the home gets appraised accurately.

sense but that's pretty much it I don't think that they do anything else ⁓ require any other type of collateral or anything like

Less House More Moola Podcast (25:29)
Do they require that the home be RVIA certified?

Van Guerrero (25:33)
But you do have to show that it is RVIA certified. All of the tiny homes come with, they call them license plates, but it's just got all of the VIN number information, the RVIA certification, a lot of the information about how the house was built, and they do require just like a copy of that for sure.

Less House More Moola Podcast (25:51)
And so where you are, do you find that there's just a few builders that have built the homes that you're reselling?

Van Guerrero (25:56)
⁓

For this for this particular community, there's five builders There's definitely more builders out there, especially here and around, Texas ⁓ I haven't seen one yet that hasn't been RVIA certified Which is it which is a good thing? ⁓ But here the majority of them come from the bigger manufacturers who we're talking about Clayton homes Athens homes Lakeside platinum And things like that, but they are starting to kind of acquire each other

and kind of conglomerate a little bit so ⁓ they might turn into two or three but there's also a ton of wonderful local you know independent tiny home builders here around Texas that you could you know buy a tiny home from as

Less House More Moola Podcast (26:41)
So when you and I talked before we recorded, we were talking about some of the opportunities for improvement you would like to have some influence over in the future. Do you want to talk a little bit about that?

Van Guerrero (26:56)
Yeah, absolutely, and we kind of talked about it briefly, I do have big dreams of establishing some type of...

tiny home or alternative real estate MLS platform. There's not a lot of, it's weird. There's nobody to help support the transactions. And right now I basically play both sides. I'm the help for the seller as well as the buyer. And ideally I would love to grow that a little bit, maybe start some certifications and understanding and processes to get people certified so they can help start representing them. And then also having this platform that

everybody can put it on if they've got representation to look and sell similar to ⁓ real property but ⁓ also to there are it is the Wild West out here and there is not a lot of rules and regulations and so when we talk about getting people certified it's coming up with ethical rules and values on how things are being you know how transactions are being conducted and how things are being sold but also

⁓ just kind of solidifying politically and with the government like how we can how we can maintain our autonomy and our rights as individuals purchasing homes. ⁓ We do see unfortunately a lot of big huge conglomerates ⁓ that kind of take advantage of the fact that there's not a lot of regulation and then they end up turning some of these communities into like a slum lorry.

situation where they've got the land and then they lock people into these you know rents and all sorts of crazy stuff that they're just you hear all the horror stories that I don't want to scare anybody because it doesn't happen everywhere but just making sure that people are running communities ethically selling ethically there's more oversight we've seen people get away with some stuff that from a distribution perspective that they shouldn't have and just kind of really tightening that

up so that these wonderful people who want to live this wonderful alternative lifestyle don't get jaded by some of the people who are taking advantage of the system right now.

Less House More Moola Podcast (29:14)
And so you see some of these happening in tiny home communities specifically and like, you know, whereas there's, you know, housing authority and protections for single family homes and lending in single family homes and even HUD certified, so mobile homes, right? But in the tiny home space, those rules don't exist yet.

Van Guerrero (29:32)
Correct. ⁓

correct yes yeah and you know I do a lot more lobbying than I thought I would have

on behalf of Alternative Real Estate for the tiny homes specifically. And we've worked with a lot of non-profits who do kind of more in the HUD space because there are some really great stories where they were able to purchase the land from underneath them and have all these protections put in place. And they're like, this is what we did, but we can't really help you, you know? And so I just want to build something where we do have some type of organization that has some power behind

that can help, you know, really support people all over. ⁓ It's kind of a tricky and nuanced thing because again, it's not the same from county to county and city to city. ⁓ But I would love to kind of solidify and tighten that more and be kind of the leading program that heads all of that. That would be wonderful.

Less House More Moola Podcast (30:32)
It sounds like you have a ton of passion and you've been doing this long enough that you've identified some of the issues and problem areas. You've also identified the people who maybe have influence and the people who have ideas about how things have been done in other parts of housing. And so it seems like you're really resourced in terms of moving forward with your vision.

Van Guerrero (30:58)
Yeah, I've been very, very blessed, have a lot of support. We've had a lot of success. It's very much a need. it just, there's no stopping yet. We still got a lot of work to do, but we're happy to do it. ⁓ yeah, we kind of want to be the household name for Tiny Homes and supporting and helping, you know, from alternative real estate perspective.

Less House More Moola Podcast (31:23)
Well, Van, this has been such a great conversation, very positive in terms of, you know, your own personal experience and what you have gathered from your tiny living experience. And then the way that you're supporting others and seeing others, you know, just really come into a lifestyle that lights them up and changes things for them. And your community sounds amazing. And the vision that you have sounds amazing. Where can listeners

Find out more or follow or support or get in touch.

Van Guerrero (31:57)
Yeah.

Absolutely, so of course you can go on to our website which is tiny reselling.com can check out all of our listings the website is in construction So it's going to be growing can sign up to our private newsletter there and see all the things that are happening We also are now on all the social media platforms. Thank you to cami We have tiny reselling on Facebook Instagram tick-tock am I missing anything else? Facebook Instagram tick-tock I think from that perspective

And I think that's pretty much it. Hopefully we're going to be on some more podcasts, so that'll be great. But I think, that's all we can catch us.

Less House More Moola Podcast (32:36)
Well, Van, thank you so much for sharing all of your stories and bright lights around Tiny Living with us. It was great to have you on.

Van Guerrero (32:45)
Thank you so much, I really appreciate you having me and I hope you have wonderful day.