Whether Van Life, Tiny Home life, or RV life, anyone can tell you, what makes or breaks the tiny living experience is the parking.
All the Rave About Tiny Homes on Wheels
When we first explored the idea of tiny living, our hope was to live in a Tiny Home. We were sold the moment we saw a Tru-Form Tiny. These houses are super cute, but are heavier than traditional RVs. They are also relatively space limited, most don’t have slide-outs. That said, living in a tiny home is the superior choice to feeling like you are living in a traditional stick-built home. But our rustic wood van conversion by Pata Vans is a close second.
But we couldn’t choose a tiny home for our tiny living adventure, because we needed a permanent parking spot. The max length Tiny Home for a family of four is extremely heavy, and can’t be pulled by a heavy-duty truck. We quickly realized permanent tiny home parking spots in good locations are almost non-existent. Plus, most counties don’t allow permanent occupancy of an RV on private property.
Anti-Tiny Home Counties
Most county officials will state the same thing, the anti-tiny home regulation has something to do with health and safety. Sure is confusing that tiny home living in RV Parks is safe and healthy, but on private land with a well and septic is not? Likely it’s something more to do with property values. It’s also hard to collect property taxes on a Tiny Home RV.
We found the same obstacles to living in a Tiny Home over and over. For most counties, Tiny Homes are treated like RVs, and the same rules apply. There is some movement toward allowing Tiny Homes (props to Fresno). Tuolumne County, California was the only county of many called willing to work with us in allowing living in a Tiny Home. We would have had to buy land, which is a challenge in and of itself. If you haven’t researched this, just know you typically need 20-40% down, and can expect to pay a higher interest rate than on a traditional mortgage.
Home is Where You Park It
After exploring many options, we landed with Van Life and an RV. After exploring several communities over a year to serve as a permanent home (including Auburn, Truckee, and Sonora in California, and Ashland, Oregon). We ended up parking at the Santa Cruz KOA in Watsonville, California. We love the Santa Cruz KOA, they have good monthly rates in the winter and allow any type of tiny living on wheels, you can live your best Van Life, Tiny Home life, or RV life there.
Now, we can’t imagine life without Van Life. Much more to come on the versatility and love of all things van.
