Money Matters Episode 307: Tiny House Economics W/ Laura Lynch

Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®: Money Matters Podcast Interview

January 29, 2024 . 10:26 AM . ID: 249121525

Transcript

00:01 - 00:03
[speaker unknown]
This conference will now be recorded.

00:04 - 00:25
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
Welcome to a special episode where we're diving into the world of tiny living with financial expert Laura Lynch, Moore's journey from traditional homeownership to a tiny house is not just to tell of downsizing space, but Upsizing life, quality and financial freedom today will explore how embracing minimalism doesn't mean compromising on aspirations.

00:25 - 00:30
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
And how financial planning pays a pivotal role in this lifestyle shift.

00:30 - 00:40
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
Get ready to uncover the financial strategies and personal insights that make tiny living more than just a trend but a pathway to to a liberated and fulfilling life.

00:40 - 00:46
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
Join us in this enlightening conversation with Laura Lynch were tiny houses open doors, the big opportunities.

00:46 - 00:47
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
Laura!

00:47 - 00:49
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
Thank you so much for being on the show today.

00:49 - 00:50
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
And welcome.

00:51 - 00:53
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
Hey, Kristopher, that was a great intro.

00:53 - 00:54
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
Thank you so much.

00:55 - 00:55
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
Thank you, Thank you.

00:55 - 00:56
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
I'm playing around with the intros.

00:56 - 00:59
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
Here's a lot but but we're working on it here.

00:59 - 01:03
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
And, Laura, you know over that, you invited me on your show.

01:04 - 01:06
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
Less house more Moola.

01:06 - 01:08
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
And that is, we recorded that yesterday.

01:09 - 01:14
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
And we've been, you know, kinda talking a little bit here on the lead up to that in the last couple of weeks.

01:14 - 01:16
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
So, I've gotten to know you a little bit before we have our show today.

01:17 - 01:23
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
But for listeners who aren't familiar with you, I'm gonna take a second just to share your bio, so that they can get to know you a little bit better.

01:24 - 01:39
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
Laura Lynch's, a financial planner, and tiny house living advocate with a passion for helping individuals achieve financial freedom through alternative lifestyle, or expertise in financial planning, is specifically tailored to the unique needs of the Tiny House Community.

01:39 - 01:50
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
Lawyers Personal Journey in tiny living combined with her professional background allows her to offer specialized guidance and downsizing, debt management and comprehensive financial planning.

01:50 - 01:59
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
Her approach is rooted in her own expertise and driven by a desire to assist others in navigating the financial aspects of tiny house living.

01:59 - 02:01
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
Your website, now.

02:01 - 02:02
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
You've got a couple.

02:02 - 02:11
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
There's the Tiny House advisor that's where people can If they want to get to know you a little bit better, they can go there and then also the podcast that I just mentioned is less house more Moolah.

02:11 - 02:14
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
Let's let's dive right into it.

02:14 - 02:15
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
That was a lot of the edge.

02:15 - 02:17
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
Alright let's dive right into it.

02:17 - 02:23
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
What inspired you to transition from traditional home ownership to tiny house living.

02:24 - 02:31
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
Yeah so this is so much rooted in sort of what happened with the pandemic.

02:32 - 02:34
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
There was, I was on the path, right?

02:34 - 02:49
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
I was on the sort of big, firm, financial advisor path and was driving down, I 95, headed South from visiting my family as the pandemic was breaking out.

02:49 - 03:12
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
And, you know, there was that moment of borders being closed and all of that uncertainty and I said to my husband in that moment, Why are we going back to a world where we have such a high cost of living where we have a mortgage where we have this conventional life that ever buddy expects to build for themselves.

03:12 - 03:24
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
Why are we not going to our tiny house, which is completely free and clear, where we would have a little bit more space, where maybe we could be more resilient in times of uncertainty?

03:25 - 03:31
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
And so, that is kinda the pivotal moment that launched the 20 month project plan of getting.

03:32 - 03:32
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
From.

03:32 - 03:35
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
Our normal life to our tiny house full-time.

03:35 - 03:52
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
So, we're four months out from the final moment of moving from a more traditional path to a tiny path, and, really, the, it all, kind of, really, began at that time of the pandemic and that trip south along the inter-state.

03:53 - 03:55
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
Wow, 20 months, that's a long time.

03:56 - 04:03
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
It's a big, huge project that you took on, I'm interested in, and, of course, I'm interested as a financial service.

04:03 - 04:11
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
But I think listeners will also be interested in how your background and financial planning influenced your approach to tiny living.

04:12 - 04:32
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
Yeah, so I think tiny living as a concept and something that's really evolved in the, in the public sphere on YouTube and HGTV really has been focused on the lifestyle decision of folks focusing more on experiences, rather than things.

04:32 - 04:32
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
Perhaps.

04:33 - 04:52
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
And, so, I am really viewing my background as kind of an opportunity to solve for the money problem of making that transition, because there is not a smooth and paved path to tiny living like there is a smooth and paved path to homeownership.

04:52 - 05:01
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
There aren't any government programs out there providing special loans for first time, Tiny House buyers, or FHA loans, or VA loans.

05:01 - 05:07
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
They're still evolving legal landscape there, that can be quite confusing.

05:07 - 05:17
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
So, I think that the financial planning background really aids me and helping people overcome the money problem, when they're trying to make this change.

05:18 - 05:37
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
And so, also, then, I like to think that I'm sort of expanding the thought process outside of just lifestyle decision, but also to the additional financial autonomy that we can create by choosing this lifestyle, and also the potential for financial impact.

05:37 - 05:54
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
If you're not spending, you know, 30 to 40% of all of your income on your roof, then what can you achieve during this lifetime and what kind of impact can you make in your community or within your family or whatever is most important to you.

05:54 - 06:18
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
So, I really view it as kind of a shift of values away from square footage over to maximizing life and impact and so, that's where I'm hoping that my financial planning expertise can help people sort of reshaped their idea of tiny Levine from just lifestyle to those other financially tied elements.

06:18 - 06:19
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
I love it, I love it.

06:19 - 06:25
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
And you said a lot right there and I'm gonna try to kinda just point out some of the things.

06:25 - 06:27
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
One of the things you talked about was a value shift.

06:27 - 06:30
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
You mentioned the roof.

06:30 - 06:40
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
You know, I know when I think of my clients and I think of things, expenses that people call in for distributions that are north of $10000, roof, foundation, work, air, condition.

06:40 - 06:48
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
Those are the biggies right so, you know, looking at it in that perspective of people you know, not having to come out in 10 grand and north of that.

06:49 - 06:52
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
And what could you do in your life with those big?

06:53 - 07:09
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
Pockets of money there, you also mentioned, you know, some of the roadblocks that this is not Salt You know, solving for the money plan is not Is easy, is just going out and purchasing a home through, say, FHA or VA loans.

07:09 - 07:11
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
So this is kinda new territory for some people, right?

07:11 - 07:16
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
So having a guide like yourself, I can see where that is, is a huge thing.

07:16 - 07:21
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
For people that are going down this road, can you, let's pivot a little bit and talk.

07:21 - 07:23
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
Because we talked about some of the negatives here.

07:23 - 07:30
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
But let's talk about some of the financial advantages of choosing a tiny house over conventional home.

07:31 - 07:31
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
Yeah.

07:31 - 07:44
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
So at the most basic, a tiny home is, you know, roughly depending on whether you're buying it a new one, A, you know, second hand, one, whether you're building it Right, just in rough numbers, right?

07:44 - 07:48
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
A tiny home is one third of the price of the average home.

07:48 - 07:58
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
2023 average home purchase in the United States, $430,000, and you can pretty get a pretty dang nice, tiny house for 150,000.

07:59 - 08:09
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
So, just that opportunity to reduce, then, you know, drain on your income on, you know, when I say, roof, I mean, kind of, you know the house, right?

08:09 - 08:14
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
So, reduce the drain on your income of your, of your cost of housing.

08:15 - 08:23
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
Allows you to then, perhaps, create more financial autonomy for yourself, which, you know, is choice, right?

08:23 - 08:25
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
That's what we're all leaning into.

08:25 - 08:25
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
Really.

08:25 - 08:35
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
That's what retirement represents, for most people, is choice of what I'm going to do with my time, how I'm going to spend my energy, where I'm gonna put my focus.

08:35 - 08:43
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
And so for clients that choose to spend a lot less on their home, they're able to make more choices about what they do with their time.

08:44 - 08:46
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
Maybe they take a sabbatical.

08:46 - 08:53
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
Maybe they take a big family trip that they've always wanted to, Maybe they leave corporate and start their own business.

08:53 - 08:56
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
Like, there's just so many things that tiny living can enable.

08:57 - 09:02
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
Just by reducing that, you know, significant chunk of cost of living.

09:03 - 09:04
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
I love it.

09:04 - 09:04
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
I love it.

09:04 - 09:07
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
And you know, some of those, I think everybody hears that.

09:07 - 09:13
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
They hear that, autonomy and the freedom of being able to, you know, kinda get off of the corporate tread.

09:14 - 09:15
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
Mill there for a little bit.

09:15 - 09:26
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
And, you know, but when we talk about hard dollar cost, the number that you throughout, the Housing, Tiny House cost about a third of the average house, right.

09:26 - 09:38
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
And, so, that's huge, that's a great, that's a really big difference there, that you would be able to, you know, fill in the blanks and and put those money, those dollars, in, different areas of your life.

09:39 - 09:49
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
How do you advise when you have clients that come to you and they're looking at saving for your tiny house, how do you address budgeting with these clients?

09:50 - 09:57
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
Yeah, so this is a big part of the planning process is figuring out how you make that transition.

09:57 - 10:06
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
Because very often, you have to start work on achieving your tiny house before you can access your other home.

10:07 - 10:16
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
In my case, my tiny house was a DIY build and it was taking place years and years ago while I was paying a regular mortgage.

10:17 - 10:22
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
So how do you sort of front those expenses get yourself, you know, set up before you make that leap.

10:22 - 10:26
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
It's not as it's not the same as saying, Hey, we're gonna move across town.

10:26 - 10:27
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
Let's get a realtor.

10:27 - 10:29
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
Let's go shop for houses.

10:29 - 10:38
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
Let's put in a contingent offer based on the sale of our current house or, you know, whatever sometimes lenders understand, right that you're gonna buy and sell.

10:38 - 10:48
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
In this case, you really have to be more strategic with your financing because the lending path is not so nicely paved.

10:48 - 11:01
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
So with clients, I'm really looking for opportunities in their life during the process of downsizing to maybe capitalize on some of the things that they're gonna that are gonna exit their life due to their tiny life.

11:01 - 11:09
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
So working with clients to think about where there might be money that they could pull from, you know, different things that they might sell?

11:10 - 11:23
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
Maybe there's, you know, going to be a financial change in their life where their cost of living is gonna be reduced by, you know, stopping certain activities or a transition like retirement or, you know, whatever.

11:23 - 11:36
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
I'm trying to like really comb through their expenses and income to look for places where we can start to fund that buy or build build project in advance of the transition.

11:36 - 11:41
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
And you're totally right, It's absolutely about budgeting and understanding.

11:42 - 11:55
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
You know, fixed expenses, versus flecks expenses, and where there is room to shift values around how we're using our money in order to achieve the dream that we have in front of us.

11:56 - 11:56
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
Love it.

11:56 - 11:57
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
I love it.

11:57 - 12:05
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
I am hearing some overlap with the type of clients that I work with, who are retirees so we don't necessarily call it downsizing, we call it right sizing.

12:05 - 12:07
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
But the idea is the same, right.

12:07 - 12:15
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
We're, we're getting out of a bigger house that's costing us a lot of money, maybe the kids, you know, left and they're out of college and all of that.

12:16 - 12:18
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
But those things, are, are, are similar.

12:18 - 12:26
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
Some of the things that are unique, though, if they wanted to move into a different house, there is a clear path to how you fund, right?

12:26 - 12:30
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
You've got some equity and you've got traditional loans.

12:30 - 12:37
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
What setting the tiny house apart is that they're, you know, it's not so clear cut for us, Right.

12:37 - 12:48
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
We, you know when it comes to the lending and where you're working with people to get really unique ways of budgeting and getting that out to the forefront.

12:48 - 12:51
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
So they can see that before they get into these builds.

12:51 - 12:56
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
That often take a long time and a lot of planning goes into it.

12:57 - 13:02
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
Could you discuss how tiny living can contribute to achieving financial independence.

13:02 - 13:03
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
Yeah, sure.

13:03 - 13:13
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
So like I said, the tiny home, you know, just a rough numbers, right, is one third of the average You know home purchase in the United States last year.

13:13 - 13:26
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
So if you have the same income or the same you know dedicated amount of money that you would have used for a $430,000 mortgage, you know, I've run the numbers on that, right?

13:26 - 13:31
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
And it's about $2800 and principal and interest a month at 7% interest.

13:31 - 13:44
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
You can pay off a tiny home in four years for that same amount of money, even at a much higher interest rate on a personal loan or some of the other lending solutions that are out there for tiny homes.

13:44 - 14:00
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
So, if you can, you know, kind of, continue to push forward with income, making in order to, you know, have that same sort of pool of money to devote to our house, you can really get debt free so much faster.

14:00 - 14:11
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
And so then once you become, you know, completely mortgage free, then sort of the world is your oyster as far as how you might want to retool your life to align with your values.

14:11 - 14:22
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
Whether that's, you know, more travel more time, you know, focused on, you know, balance of your time outside or, you know, whatever it is that's most important to you.

14:22 - 14:29
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
You really just have a lot more choice once you get to that point where you're not even having to pay for a mortgage anymore.

14:29 - 14:36
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
So that is where I see the financial independence sort of hack there, right?

14:36 - 14:41
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
The cost of housing is a huge lever that we can pull in our lives.

14:41 - 14:43
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
And, of course, tiny living isn't for everybody.

14:43 - 14:48
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
And there are certainly people out there who need and value a large home, and there's nothing wrong with that.

14:48 - 15:01
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
But for people who are just doing it because it's the default and the assumed path, like I think it's worth considering, hey, you know, there are some significant tradeoffs to having this, you know, sort of American dream home.

15:01 - 15:04
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
And one of them is kind of being stuck.

15:04 - 15:08
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
You know, kind of what I call the mortgage lace, leash for 30 years.

15:09 - 15:16
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
And you're kind of stuck in that payment process where you don't have a lot of flexibility about how you might want to pivot your career.

15:16 - 15:26
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
In my case, I was in that, you know, 30 year lease, I had bought another house and, you know, 2018, I had years and years and years to go right on pay that off.

15:27 - 15:33
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
And I wanted to start my own firm and starting your own firm takes you back to, you know, revenue, zero dollars.

15:33 - 15:42
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
And so, there was only one way that I could achieve that and that was by saying, hey, let's get rid of the mortgage, let's reduce our cost of living.

15:42 - 15:54
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
Let's take the nest egg that we have and let's use that in a, in a way to start this business and have a runway to the path that I want to be on for the longer term.

15:55 - 15:56
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
I love it, I love it!

15:57 - 16:03
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
I want to talk a little bit more about your journey, Laura, which you know you shared with us is a 20 months.

16:03 - 16:04
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
That's a long time, right?

16:05 - 16:12
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
What, what surprises have bubbled up during this journey over the last 20 months or so?

16:13 - 16:16
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
Things that you weren't expecting, that you'd like to share with us?

16:17 - 16:25
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
So, what has a why it's been 20 months for us, is because we have a very complex transition.

16:25 - 16:30
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
We are changing geographies, who are moving from Florida to New Mexico.

16:31 - 16:36
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
Well, I had, yeah, I had to leave corporate and start my own firm.

16:36 - 16:47
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
My husband, who's in construction, has two, had to wrap up his business, resigned from his part-time job and is launching a new business out there.

16:47 - 16:50
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
So we have to kind of ramp up all the legalities of that.

16:51 - 16:55
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
Part of that construction business is a lot of heavy equipment and tools.

16:55 - 17:05
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
So we are having to take four different trips across the country to move until all of the excavators, and bobcats, and tractors and things across the country.

17:06 - 17:18
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
We had three different properties in Florida, so a lot of strategy around tax efficiencies of dealing with properties and all of that.

17:18 - 17:25
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
So that's why our path is so complex, and so when I work with clients, they have you know, sort of a range of complexities.

17:25 - 17:30
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
There'll be people that are just renting, right, and they just want to get a place of their own.

17:30 - 17:33
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
And they think a tiny house is a good solution for them.

17:33 - 17:42
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
And, so figuring out, you know, how to fund that and deal with the rental, a payment that they have at the time, and maybe some debt or what have you.

17:42 - 17:49
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
And then there'll be people that own a home that are trying to be more sustainable and downsize into a smaller package.

17:49 - 17:57
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
And then there'll be people like me who have like just a lot of balls in the air, and how do we get all of those moved in the right direction?

17:58 - 18:07
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
So that is why my project plan is so long and complex, the things that I didn't expect.

18:07 - 18:09
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
Which is, you're actually to your question.

18:10 - 18:25
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
The downsizing has been a big deal because of, I am sort of, you know, minimalistic I was in the military, so I, you know, got used to moving every few years and didn't get too attached to things.

18:25 - 18:29
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
My husband, on the other hand, cried when he broke a hammer.

18:29 - 18:47
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
So, very strong attach it to his things, and so getting through sort of that downsizing process of, you know, a couple of decades worth of collecting of things has definitely been a learning journey for us to go on together.

18:49 - 19:01
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
The feeling that I have about just reaching that place of, you know, I get to make decisions, not so much based on money anymore, but based on what I'm super passionate about.

19:02 - 19:16
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
And learning to, you know, embrace that creativity and follow that path, has been just, it's been surprising to me, how different it feels to walk around in the world.

19:16 - 19:27
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
And in a place of not scarcity around money, and instead a place of following, where you feel like you can make the biggest impact during this lifetime?

19:27 - 19:30
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
So those are a couple of the, kinda the big surprises.

19:31 - 19:35
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
That's a grid that is really good information to share with us.

19:35 - 19:44
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
I know and we were speaking on your show yesterday about Maslow's Hierarchy of Need, and how we kinda check those boxes off.

19:44 - 19:56
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
And it's very interesting that when you talk about, you know, making decisions from passions, things that you enjoy, this is a very similar conversation I have with retirees, because that's kinda what we all want at the end of that.

19:58 - 20:05
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
So, so that surprises is kind of a gift that you found there, and you're sharing with people that, you know, you may not have to wait to them.

20:06 - 20:17
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
If you're making some of these, these changes here, you also talk to us and you shared with us about the surprises of just how complex your situation is, right, that you personally, but, you know, you've got people that are renting that.

20:17 - 20:29
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
It's, it's, it could be simple, But then you've got people with multiple businesses or different states that, they've got properties, And so everybody's situation can be a little bit different.

20:29 - 20:31
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
So, I can see, we're having you know, A guide.

20:31 - 20:37
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
Somebody who's been there before you would be very beneficial to listeners who were thinking about this.

20:39 - 20:51
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
Let's, we're getting to only get a few minutes left here, so we're getting towards the end of the show, how do you see the tiny house movement of evolving and what financial trends do you predict in this space?

20:51 - 20:51
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
Yeah.

20:51 - 21:00
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
So the tiny House movement has really picked up a lot of steam in, you know, popular culture, which has been great.

21:00 - 21:30
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
Everybody's gotten really excited about it and I feel like we're in this Floodgate moment where there's just a really big build-up of people that would do it but it still is just a little bit too hard and it's a little bit too hard on the legalization front and that's like a whole show into itself the complexity of the legalization and it's a little too hard on the financial front from the standpoint that there aren't a lot of great lending paths out there.

21:31 - 21:38
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
And so as the, I work with the tiny Home Industry Association and volunteer on their resource map.

21:38 - 21:42
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
There's other organizations that are really focused on this legalization effort.

21:43 - 22:01
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
There's an international committee that has been formed, that's trying to work on consolidating and making more concise, the building codes and acceptance of tiny homes And if that were to happen that would impact not only the legalization but also the lending environment.

22:01 - 22:08
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
And if those two gates started to peak open a little bit, I feel like there would just be a flood of people making this choice.

22:08 - 22:14
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
Because there's no generation of folks out there that are thinking about, you know, what their values are.

22:14 - 22:21
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
What's more important to them having a large home, which is what the builders primarily prefer to build due to profit margins.

22:21 - 22:24
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
And that's what municipalities prefer due to tax base.

22:25 - 22:31
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
So, that, but there are people that are really trying to make this choice but it's just a little bit too hard.

22:31 - 22:43
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
So I feel like that the future of this is really dependent upon those two things and should it get easier than you will see a lot more of this happening actually in your communities?

22:43 - 22:47
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
Instead of it just being something that maybe are seen on YouTube and HGTV.

22:48 - 22:49
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
I love it.

22:49 - 22:49
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
I love it.

22:49 - 22:53
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
Now, you mentioned if you're driving right now and you're listening to this.

22:53 - 22:59
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
We're gonna have this in the podcast nodes, but you mentioned an organization called the Tiny House Association, was that right?

22:59 - 22:59
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
Did I capture.

22:59 - 23:00
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
Them?

23:00 - 23:18
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
It's the Tiny Home Industry Association, Siia ..., a tiny home industry association dot org, and there's a resource map on this website that I personally work on, to keep the legislation updated state by state county, by county city, by city.

23:18 - 23:21
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
So, as changes, happen, they're reflected on the map.

23:21 - 23:26
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
There's also a link to communities, tiny home communities, and tiny home builders.

23:26 - 23:38
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
So trying to provide a very easy resource for people to access who are trying to make this choice and to figure out in their community or their target community where they'd like to be, what they can and cannot do.

23:39 - 23:40
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
I love it.

23:40 - 23:40
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
I love it.

23:40 - 23:45
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
So, we're gonna put that on the podcast notes as well, so people can find out more about that.

23:46 - 23:53
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
Laura, as we're bobbin towards the end of the show, what have I forgot to ask you that you'd like to share with listeners today?

23:55 - 24:04
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
So, I think that listeners, there's a sort of conventional wisdom that we have all, you know, come up with.

24:04 - 24:11
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
And I think one of the biggest challenges that people face is just overcoming sort of the norm.

24:11 - 24:21
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
And choosing a different path, and I would say that people that go down this route have an independent sort of bent to them, and they're able to do things differently than other people.

24:22 - 24:27
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
And one of the huge topics that comes up all the time is about home equity.

24:28 - 24:32
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
And so I, I write about this topic.

24:32 - 24:36
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
I'm getting ready to record another podcast episode about this topic.

24:36 - 24:41
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
And I think that there are some misconceptions that we have about home equity.

24:41 - 24:56
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
That, I think, are worth critically thinking about if that is a barrier to going down this path, and, you know, the primary basis of that is that home equity, as long as you're in, your home is not something that you can just cash out.

24:56 - 24:57
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
You know.

24:57 - 24:58
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
It comes with interest and fees.

24:58 - 25:06
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
And so if we take that money that we otherwise would have been plowing into our home equity and maybe we put it somewhere else.

25:06 - 25:14
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
Is that a choice that would be as equally good for us in the long term?

25:14 - 25:29
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
This is something to explore because we definitely have a little bit of a sacredness that we aspire, that whether we assigned to home equity, and without kind of critically, thinking about what home equity actually is going to do for us in the future.

25:29 - 25:33
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
So, I love this home equity topic.

25:34 - 25:36
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
We could have done a whole show on home equity.

25:36 - 25:40
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
Now I'm curious So I will, I will encourage listeners to do the same thing.

25:40 - 25:45
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
I'm gonna do is to pop over to your podcast and listen to the rest of this when you do that.

25:45 - 25:49
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
Now, for listeners who want to do that, how can they find you?

25:49 - 25:50
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
How did they get to your podcast?

25:51 - 25:54
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
Yeah, so my podcast is a linked from my website.

25:54 - 25:58
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
The tiny House advisor dot com advisors, spelled ...

25:58 - 26:00
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
Are not OR.

26:01 - 26:04
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
The podcast is less house more bullets on all the platforms.

26:05 - 26:09
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
Moolah is, M O O L, a that home equity episode will be Episode 40.

26:09 - 26:15
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
So, that is going to be coming out in a few weeks, and I write about this on LinkedIn, too.

26:15 - 26:16
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
I'm very active on LinkedIn.

26:18 - 26:18
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
Love, it will go.

26:19 - 26:21
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
Listeners go out there and find Laura on LinkedIn.

26:21 - 26:23
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
Laura, we're right here at the end of the half-hour.

26:23 - 26:25
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
Thank you so much for being on this show.

26:25 - 26:26
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
Really enjoyed it.

26:26 - 26:27
Christopher Hensley, RICP®
Have a good rest of the day there.

26:29 - 26:30
Laura Lynch, CFP® ABFP™ AAMS® CDFA®
Thank you so much.