What Is The Tiny House Concierge?
So you are interested in tiny homes!
That’s amazing! As someone who has been enjoying the tiny house lifestyle since 2020, I can confidently say that I would 100% recommend getting involved.
Whatever your tiny house plans entail, a tiny home is sure to add incredible value to your life.
Assuming you do it right.
And if you don’t? Well, Friends, that’s what we call a Tiny House Meltdown!™
My goal at the Tiny House Concierge is to help humanity avoid tiny home trouble, so everyone can enjoy the benefits these houses have to offer us.
If you keep reading, I’ll tell you more about what I do, but first, who am I? And what makes me qualified to be a “Tiny House Concierge?”
Who Is Alaska Wagoner?
Hi, that's me! (And yes, Alaska is my legal first name.)
I’m a former traditional real estate agent who once bought a tiny house.
In doing so, I realized there was no one to help me. During my own tiny house transaction, I had to:
Teach a home inspector what a tiny house was.
Struggle to find common language with the DMV.
Solve a tiny house title issue.
Write my own tiny home contracts from scratch.
Do due diligence on the tiny home builder
Verify that once I paid the seller, the seller paid the lender so there wouldn’t be a lien on my home.
Confirm that the sellers were who they said they were, and that they in fact owned the house. (Because fun fact, sometimes people sell houses that don’t belong to them!)
WHEW!
Buying my own tiny house took almost three months.
By the end of it, I was well-aware of how easily a buyer could get themselves in hot water. The only reason I had known how to toggle through the pieces was because I was a real estate agent.
And that got me thinking… why isn’t there a tiny house real estate agent??
There are 1.5 million real estate agents in the United States according to the National Association of Realtors. (According to Google just now.)
You’d think one of them would be available to help with a tiny house, right?
Well, actually no.
Tiny homes are considered personal property in most cases, so traditional real estate agents usually can’t touch them. In fact, the deeper I got into tiny homes, the more I understood that a traditional agent wouldn’t even know where to begin with tiny homes (I didn’t). There were simply too many variables when it came to this new housing frontier.
Long story short, I thought a tiny house “real estate” agent should be a job, and thus, The Tiny House Concierge was born.
Which reminds me that I should probably tell you what it is I do, exactly.
What is The Tiny House Concierge?
The Tiny House Concierge is a tiny house real estate consulting company.
I help people buy, sell, and understand tiny homes.
Here are a few people I can help, and how!
Tiny Home Buyers
If you are a tiny home buyer, you probably have a ton of tiny house questions, and at this stage of the game, the internet isn’t always helpful. This is because the book on tiny homes is currently being written. We’re pioneers, you and me, along with the rest of the tiny home community.
My goal is to help you feel confident and stay safe when buying a tiny home. Here are a few things I can do:
Help you decide if a tiny home is really for you.
Answer questions about tiny home financing, parking, and insurance.
Explain how people get into trouble with tiny homes and how to avoid the pitfalls.
Share my personal experience, and pump you up about the tiny home lifestyle.
Tell you the deal with buying land and the basics of real estate development.
Explain building code, zoning, certification, and which ones you want!
Help you evaluate tiny home builders or secondhand tiny homes.
Be there for you after you’ve purchased a home to answer questions, get you through your first tiny house winter, and share decluttering tips because Let’s. Be. Real.
If that sounds helpful, let’s book an appointment.
Tiny Home Sellers
If you are a tiny home seller, you also probably have a ton of questions. And fair enough. Despite what you may have heard, selling houses is hard.
*Unless you are a crafty FSBO (For Sale by Owner) in a bull market with a penchant for sales.
Even then, tiny home resale is a wild card the world hasn’t seen yet, and as a tiny house real estate consultant, I want to keep you safe, AND sane. So here are a few things to be aware of if you are selling a tiny home:
Tiny home sales come with increased liability risks.
Tiny homes often have title issues that need to be resolved.
Financing (your buyer's biggest obstacle) is clear as mud.
The comps to figure out how to price a tiny home are terrible.
Everyone will want a tiny home tour, but few people are actually in a position to successfully buy your home…
Now, before you panic, remember that I am a tiny home real estate consultant, OK? I’m here to serve and protect.
In fact, I’m going to do you one better. Instead of me telling you that this is terribly difficult work that you couldn’t possibly do yourself, and raking in the commissions while laughing maniacally in my tiny house…
I’ll help you sell your tiny house in whatever way works best for you.
YES, even if you are the determined aforementioned FSBO. (LOVE YOU)
I wanted to structure my services in a way that honored the DIY origins of the tiny home movement.
So to that end, when it comes to selling your tiny home with The Tiny House Concierge, you can choose your own adventure.
I can offer:
Full listing services
My Tiny Home Seller’s Kit
Just the paperwork
Basically, if you want someone to help you price your home, do the marketing, screen buyers for fortitude and emotional solvency, tell low-ballers to take a hike, help serious buyers toggle through obstacles like financing, insurance, transportation, and parking-
*INHALES*
-help you evaluate offers, fill out the paperwork, solve title problems, provide emotional support, and be on call during transaction day, I’m your person!
And if you want to do all of that yourself, but have someone give you a cheat sheet about doing it more easily, give you the paperwork and be on call to answer questions, I can do that too.
Are you planning to sell a tiny home? Perfect! Learn more about my seller services here.
Tiny Home Builders
If you are a builder looking to get into the tiny home space, more power to you! I’ll drop the humorous tone of this post for a second to tell you how much I respect the daylights out of what you do.
Building is hard. Building a product in an industry that’s currently being invented is really hard, but we’re in a housing crisis, and you’re responding to the call.
So from the bottom of my heart, thank you. This lifestyle has so much to offer the world, and I appreciate what you do.
Now, I am not a builder, and I would never presume to tell you how to build. However, if you’re just getting started in this space, I have a few years worth of experience I could share that will save you a stupid amount of time, money, and pain.
Here are a few reasons I’m helpful:
I live in the product you’re building.
I’m a former real estate agent, so I understand selling homes. (And handling buyers)
In addition to real estate, I have a background in marketing, and I can explain the importance of talking through marketing before you build an unmarketable tiny house.
I’m on the International Code Council’s committee writing building standards for these homes. I can give you the cliff notes on where things are heading.
Your clients are my clients. And then tell me things they won’t tell you.
I’ll tell you right now, that you’ll need to talk to more people than just me to do this right. Becoming a great tiny home builder takes a village, but here are some examples of the value I can offer:
I can give you a pulse on where you’re entering the industry, the current market, how things are changing, and where the opportunity lies.
I can help you understand the different types of buyers, and which type of builder you want to be.
I can explain zoning, building code, and certifications, and help you hone in on the specifics of the house you want to build.
I can assist with layout, design, and utility choices.
I can tell you what the most common buyer questions are going to be, and how to answer them.
I can share the ways I see builders fall down, screw up, or go bankrupt. (And the ways they wildly succeed!)
So before you go spend $8,000+ buying a tiny home trailer (do you know where to get the good ones?) let's have a little chat.
Contact Me about builder consulting!
Tiny Home Real Estate Investors & Tiny Home Community Developers
Tiny homes provide an amazing opportunity for new and seasoned investors.
Whether you dream of a tiny house vacation rental or a full-on tiny home community, I’d like to help you get started.
My value to you comes from two main things:
I speak “tiny house”
I speak “real estate”
I speak “investor”
Because tiny homes are new, there is a lot that gets lost in translation. Because I speak the three languages listed above, I can speak intelligently about the numbers, while teaching you how to use language and make decisions that won’t tank your project.
If you’re just looking to have a chat or buy a couple of tiny homes, let’s book an appointment.
If you’re looking to do large scale real estate development, contact me, and I’ll make the calls you need.
~
And there you have it!
That’s who I am, and what I do.
My name is Alaska; I am your tiny house concierge.
How may I be of service?
Contact The Tiny House Concierge!