Looking to purchase land that’s zoned for a tiny home? Save time by knowing these 3 things first.

If you watch Living Big in a Tiny House on YouTube, all you want to do is find some gorgeous land for your tiny — preferably overlooking a nice green pasture — and then live happily ever after. Unfortunately for Americans, finding land for rent, let alone for purchase, is a big undertaking. Here in San Diego the legislation on tiny house parking in someone’s backyard has been continuously argued over. Not only that, it’s still pretty expensive. (Think: Why would I want to pay $600-$1200 per month in rent for land, when there’s all these affordable land lots for sale on Zillow?)

See also: 5 keywords to help you find land that’s zoned for a tiny house or RV dwelling

While it seems like it would be easy enough to just buy a lot of land and then park your tiny on it, there are a multitude of zoning laws and regulations in the way of it. In our search for vacant land for our off-grid tiny home, below are 3 crucial things that could have saved my husband and I quite a bit of time prior to contacting realtors or taking to land sale websites.

1. Most parcels of land you’ll find on Zillow and Redfin are zoned “Single Family Residence,” which means you can’t legally put a tiny home on them.

For city planning purposes, most areas with dense populations have subdivisions of single family residences only. This means that homes are required to be stick built on a foundation, and tiny homes on wheels (which are often legally classified as “recreational vehicles” or “mobile homes”) aren’t permitted. If you’re serious about owning your own land for your tiny, don’t risk getting your hopes up at the sight of a gorgeous lot of land in a great neighborhood. Most lots of land permitted for full time RV parking are in rural areas with higher acreage, on completely vacant land with no nearby utilities. If they do come with some utilities, it’s likely nearby farm irrigation water only, because they’re zoned agriculture. To that end, living far from a community is a completely different lifestyle than you may be used to. Taking care of a dirt road with the potential of snow, for example, can be unexpectedly stressful.

2. Understand CC&R’s, HOA’s, and county square footage minimums

It’s not everywhere, but most counties have a minimum residential build requirement of 1,000 square feet. Some places like Walsenburg, Colorado (featured in the Tiny House Expedition documentary, “Living Tiny Legally”) have changed their laws to be tiny home friendly, but you’ll still find the square footage requirements around 600. For this reason, even if you’re considering doing a pre-fab or modular build of a micro-home on a foundation, it’s important to know the “covenants, conditions and restrictions” (CC&R’s) of a particular area before beginning the design process. Most residential, especially suburban and higher-end neighborhoods have CC&R’s in place to protect the value of their properties. Why? Because for most Americans your home is your greatest financial asset, and smaller homes tend to equate to lesser value. There’s also a stigma against mobile and manufactured dwellings, which are considered “depreciating assets,” and to be fair, haven’t historically been well kept with pride of ownership. While tiny homes are becoming increasingly modern, sleek and both economically and environmentally friendly, granting communities permission — even to rent land to a tiny home dweller — is still up for debate in much of the country, given the majority of people’s attitudes toward them. If you’re serious about finding land for your tiny, it pays to research which states, and above all, cities, are tiny home friendly. If you have a specific county in mind, it’s helpful to give them a call (or email them) and ask if they have a direct link to the section of their website which houses their rights/land usage database. I did this with Sonoma County and they were super helpful. Even showing me how to take a parcel number off of a listing on Zillow, and use it to get detailed reports on zoning, rights and utilities. Given the number of wildfires in California, a lot of these communities are becoming increasingly tiny home friendly.

3. Learn about waste water treatment & water rights

Even for the well researched tiny home land seeker, this isn’t a topic that’s readily posted about on the Internet. I wasn’t aware of the specifics until I came across a land realtor’s website and went down the rabbit hole of what are essentially different kinds of septic set ups, ranging in vast expense (anywhere from a simple $3,500 tank, to a complex $20,000+ eco-friendly leaching system). For the off-grid tiny home dweller, you might think you can just set up a composting toilet, but you’d better double check. Counties vary in their waste water treatment requirements. Some are lax and don’t require anything. Others demand that you set up septic, and some even specify that you connect to city sewer — and that’s what’s ultimately super expensive. I once found a beautiful lot of land for sale in which the realtor shared how the seller can no longer afford to build on the property, But good news, there’s a water meter installed! …Valued at $30,000. For this reason, parcels of land that aren’t bare, meaning someone has invested in excavation, roads, grid-tied power or water source set up, are generally a lot more expensive. If they’re in your price range — and they permit tiny home dwellings — it would be worth it. But even if there’s some utilities connected, make sure to check for water rights as well. You may be fine with collecting rain water, but in the event you need to sell your land, prospective buyers may be deterred if they can’t dig a well because there’s a years long waitlist (common in areas of California where there’s been prolonged drought).

While this isn’t a comprehensive list, it’s a good place to start, because understanding vacant land is complex business. If you can find a trustworthy, testimonial-approved land realtor who understands soil, water and lands rights, you’ll be in good hands. My husband and I have found a few through farmflip.com, and other land for sale websites.

Lastly, by no means am I an expert, so please take my recommendations and information as that of an amateur who just wants to share what may be helpful to others. If you’re searching for vacant land for your tiny home, I hope this saves you some time. And if you have any tips, please share in the comments!