Jinkie Echols 0:00

We purposely wanted people to be able to own their own property. I personally believe that the quickest way to financial independence while I shouldn't say quickest, the route with the most longevity to financial freedom and wealth building is by ownership.

Ethan Waldman 0:22

Welcome to the Tiny House Lifestyle Podcast The show where you learn how to plan, build and live the tiny lifestyle. I'm your host, Ethan Waldman, and this is episode 278 With Jinkie Echols. Joining me is Jinkie Echols an incredible advocate for affordable housing and the founder of Peace Wind, a successful tiny house community in Cocoa Florida. Jackie is here to share her remarkable journey. And the lessons she's learned along the way from bootstrapping her own tiny house community from buying the raw land to getting the codes and zoning changed all the way to developing the houses and opening up for business. From her experience as a builder, developer and landlord her own tiny house community Jinkie has firsthand insights into the challenges and rewards of creating an affordable and diverse community Jinkie's passion for community building and the unique perspective she brings to this male dominated field. Make this episode a must listen. Sit back and prepare to be inspired as we explore the world of affordable housing and Tiny House communities with Jinkie Echols. I asked John and Fin Kernohan of United Tiny House Association what they love about their PrecisionTemp hot water heaters. And here's what they told me.

John Kernohan 1:37

Hey, Ethan. This is John and Fin Kernohan with the United Tiny House Association.

We have a total of three PrecisionTemp On Demand hot water heaters. The thing we really like about these and folks know this, I think they pick this up on thin ice. If we don't like something, you'll never hear us talk about it. So the two things we noticed that we noticed experienced immediately. They took painstaking effort to make sure that it was done right and installed. And so that was pretty cool right there. The other thing is the continuous on demand hot water that just ran forever without any fluctuations or anything. I can't imagine an application especially in our environment and our lifestyle of being the nomad, transportable, mobile, tiny lifestyle where one of these units aren't good to use.

Ethan Waldman 2:37

Right now. PrecisionTemp is offering $100 off any unit plus free shipping when use the coupon code THLP. So head over to precisiontemp.com and use the coupon code THLP at checkout for $100 off any unit. Thank you so much to PrecisionTemp for sponsoring our show

all right, I am here with Jenkie Echols of Braveheart properties and TCC consultants. She is the owner and developer of a 35 acre tiny home community in Cocoa Florida called Peace Wind, in spite of being told that creating a cohesive tiny home and small cottage community was impossible. You did it anyway and did so beautifully. Jenkie Echols. Welcome to the show.

Jinkie Echols 3:34

Thank you. Thank you, Ethan. It's a pleasure to be here. Yeah, I'm very grateful.

Ethan Waldman 3:39

Yeah, it's great to have you on and I'm really excited for you to share kind of your story and your journey with with our listeners, because I think there's gonna be a lot of interest in hearing what you've done, what you've accomplished and kind of your mindset and maybe how to replicate it. So can you tell us more about your journey in creating the Peace Wind community and maybe some of the challenges you faced along the way?

Jinkie Echols 4:01

Absolutely. The elevator pitch on the back story is basically I had a midlife crisis and decided that I really wanted more life and less responsibility and that going back to my roots and living tiny was probably the best way to do so. So I set out on a journey to figure out how to live in a tiny house legally.

Ethan Waldman 4:27

Okay, so you that sounds like kind of like the individual journey like I want to live in a tiny house legally but I don't know. Yeah, sounds like that that vision kind of did you did you build the tiny house and then kind of say, well, I now I need a place to park it or was it all kind of connected?

Jinkie Echols 4:45

It was all connected. It started with really wanting to live that way and prioritize my my life experience over all my stuff. And so I went on a search to find out Property and in doing so, realize that there were so many other people that had the same dream or desire that I did. And I felt that kind of like in the field of dreams, if you build it, they will come. And I decided that if this was something I really wanted, and it was important to me that I wanted to be the history maker to make it happen not only for myself, but for for others too. Who wanted it.

Ethan Waldman 5:28

That's awesome. That's that's so inspiring. Can you kind of give us just the like, the stats, like what what is Peace Wind? How is it you know, how is it set up? How many houses are there the kind of the numbers give us the numbers?

Jinkie Echols 5:43

Sure. The facts are Peace Wind is a 35 acre property. We zoned it to be for tiny homes and small cottages. So we're very diversified. It is in Cocoa, Florida. It has eighty-four lots in phase one development. We have phase two, which is our clubhouse and our pool and our rec area, which is currently in permitting and seem to be under construction. And then we have another 15 ish Well, 14 ish acres that has another 54 home sites on it. Okay, however, we have chosen to keep it wooded. It's a very beautiful, natural Florida wooded setting with oaks and pines. And we have hiking trails, and dog walking paths and just nature areas in that 15 acres that we're maintaining. Beautiful. So yeah, so we have currently about 54 lots that are for privately owned individuals, they own their lot own their home. Okay. And then we have about 30 that are rentals.

Ethan Waldman 6:56

Okay, so that there are houses there that people rent?

Jinkie Echols 6:59

Yes, we are very diversified. Like I said, we have ownership and all forms tiny homes, on wheels, tiny houses on foundations and cottages. You know actual site build houses up to about 1800 square feet. Wow, okay, yeah. And we have lots that are rented, or people, people who own tiny houses on wheels can rent their lot. Okay, and just rent a lot. And then we do have homes that are built here by Braveheart, and we rent them out in their entirety.

Ethan Waldman 7:32

Wow. Wow, that's quite Yeah, runs quite the gamut. So do people buy their lots? Or do they rent their lots? No, they buy their lot. Okay. Interesting that we have both? Yeah, that's a that's a much different model than I've think I've ever heard of before. Usually you you know, you think of a tiny house community. And it's, you know, there's still kind of this landlord tenant relationship where, you know, people are bringing their own tiny house and then renting a spot for it, that they might not necessarily actually own. Is that something that you specifically wanted to avoid?

Jinkie Echols 8:09

Yes, we do see that around. A lot of times, there will be RV park properties zoned as RV parks that will kind of convert into a tiny house situation. And so they rent their lots because they can't legally do individual lots to individual owners. Okay. We purposely wanted people to be able to own their own property. I personally believe that the quickest way to financial independence while I shouldn't say quickest, the route with the most longevity to financial freedom and wealth building is by ownership. Okay, and not renting. So yeah, that was a very important component. Braveheart is also a nonprofit. So we have the ability for people, because they can own their own lot and their home. They qualify for mortgages. And can a lot of times, if they're lower income, they can qualify for grants and VA funding and FHA and first time homebuyers. So ownership was really, really important to be able to have

Ethan Waldman 9:25

awesome. How did you go about finding the 35 acres of land for the community? And were there criteria that were important in selecting the location?

Jinkie Echols 9:35

Yes. And I basically just was determined to find something. So I just started driving every day, I would just drive around and I would drive around and I am blessed to have some friends in the real estate area. And so I'm like, hey, send me any of the MLS listings for five acres or more. Okay. So we wanted something that kind of was out of the way, felt isolated and not in a bad way kind of cozy and cocoon ish and, and out and removed. But we also wanted it to be extremely convenient to things that people need. So we looked at some beautiful, beautiful properties more in the West Midwest part of Florida, but they're so remote that it's very difficult for people who have to commute to work or to get to the store. So that that was some of the criteria. And the other criteria of what, of course, was something that we could realistically afford. I didn't find that I bought an exorbitantly expensive piece of property, it was not at all affordable. That's all that's a whole nother story. But we also needed something that was not highly desired or sought after that was kind of a blight, if you will, so that we had a little more, a little more motivation for our county and our our zoning to allow us to do what we wanted to do.

Ethan Waldman 11:11

Okay, and what like, yeah, was there when you bought it? Um,

Jinkie Echols 11:15

a whole bunch of transit and drug addicts? Okay. Um, yeah, so it was a derelict property, it was all overgrown. It was extremely rough. It had kind of become a homeless camp, if you will. Okay. And what it started out to be originally back in the 1980s was, it was supposed to be a trailer park, and the person developing it got into a little trouble with zoning and got they went bankrupt. So they lost the property, and then the property, just that derelict for about 20 some years.

Ethan Waldman 11:59

Okay, so And were you looking specifically for something that was zoned for an RV park?

Jinkie Echols 12:05

No, and it wasn't zoned for an RV park. Okay, it was zoned for manufactured housing. Okay. And no, I wasn't, I was just looking for a big enough piece of property that could do what I wanted to do.

Ethan Waldman 12:18

Okay, so and you mentioned that you had to find loopholes, and kind of right building codes and zoning codes to make the community legal. Can you elaborate on that process and like the specific codes you had to develop?

Jinkie Echols 12:33

Absolutely, that's probably my favorite part. That was a challenge. And it was a fun challenge. The county actually did give me the nickname of the queen of loopholes, which has been really fun. You know, it's, when you're dealing with any type of government entity, it gets a little frustrating. It is a little bit challenging for a lot of reasons. But I just had to set myself up with the mentality of if you can't beat them join us. So I decided to immerse myself in the county codes and the rules and the legalities of zoning and building codes. And find any little crack in the door that I call a loophole that would allow me to do what I wanted to do. The first step in doing that the first loopholes I found were in definitions, the definitions of what things were and how they could be manipulated, in a good way to accommodate a tiny home, and then manipulate the verbiage for tiny homes in order to fit those loopholes. So we originally started out being able to use the modular definition for a modular home, okay, and utilizing a certain specific construction methodology to be able to put some homes here in the early stages before we were actually rezoned.

Ethan Waldman 14:12

Interesting, okay, so then then you got rezoned. What are you rezoned as

Jinkie Echols 14:21

I partnered up with a couple tiny home builders, and we went to work on our county to actually write a building code or for tiny homes on wheels and tiny homes on foundations. Nice. Yeah. It became problematic within the government system of planning and zoning and building because they, they're very much black and white, and they very much have a checklist. And anything outside of the box, if you will, is a little bit challenging for them, right. So we wrote a code so that they could have Have a new box so that they could have a box where tiny houses would fit. And then we went to work with our county commissioners to get a legal tiny houses zoning tiny homes on wheels or on foundations in our county can be in one of two places. They can be in a on a property that is zoned manufactured housing. Or they can be on properties that are zoned agricultural. Okay. If you want to own a community, it has to be in manufactured housing zoning. So what the county agreed to do with for us and with us was to allow a tiny house zoning a new Tiny House zoning within the manufactured housing arena. So that's what we did. So we are now zoned manufactured housing. And tiny home zoning.

Ethan Waldman 16:07

Wow. Yeah. Very impressive. And so I just Google Maps, Cocoa, Florida, is that is it in the same county as Orlando, or is it a different county?

Jinkie Echols 16:20

Different County

Ethan Waldman 16:21

Where about it's near Orlando?

Jinkie Echols 16:23

Yeah, we're about 30 minutes east. Yeah, we're on the on the beach side. Okay. Yeah.

Ethan Waldman 16:27

Okay. So, have you seen other, you know, jurisdictions or people try to kind of replicate what what you've accomplished?

Jinkie Echols 16:37

Replicate, no. Try to do something on their own. Yes. As a matter of fact, I have helped a few municipalities in, in our area in our general area, get new codes and zoning for tiny houses. Yeah.

Ethan Waldman 16:55

Awesome. So that's a great segue into, you know, what advice would you give to someone who's interested in starting their own tiny home community?

Jinkie Echols 17:03

I have lots of money and lots of determination. Okay. No, I'm just kidding. Just kidding. I think, first of all, you, you have to do it for the right reasons. You have to have a level of passion and determination and fire within yourself to be able to, to be able to surmount the obstacles that you will face and you will face obstacles. It's not impossible, but it is difficult. But it is doable, and immensely rewarding. When you get to the other side of the hill. That's the first thing I would say. The next thing I would say that would be the most helpful is know your area, know, know where you want to make this community and go to the county, and, or your city. It depends, you know, what your jurisdictions are within your building and zoning, but go to those authorities and find out find out what the what the planning and zoning want, what is their motivating factor? Usually it's money, usually it's property taxes, and then go to your county commissioners get to know them. And I I don't really mean like know them, like sit down and have coffee with them. I mean, like, look at their platforms, because they're elected officials. So look at their platforms, what did they run on? What's important to them? What what is it that they try to convey and articulate that they are for and use that use that to your benefit, find out what those elected officials stand on their platforms, and then create a sales pitch, if you will, to pull those heartstrings to kind of motivate them to want to do what you're doing. So here's to cook. I know that's kind of gobbly gook ish. So to clear that out, let me just give you an example of what I did. And our particular county where we have the space center, we have a lot of very high end corporations. And our county the most important thing is dollars, tourism dollars, young family dollars, consumer dollars. That's the most important thing to our county. So we have some areas within our county that are wonderfully historic and old in nature and very charming. neighborhoods and areas demographic, but they were dying. They weren't growing because they weren't attracting young families. Part of the reason why they weren't attracting young families is because young families can't afford to live within our county. It's too expensive. They can't rent here, they can't own here. So my sales pitch, if you will, my marketing agenda to our county commissioners was, this is a way to bring housing to the young families that would be coming here as young executive, for the Space Force and for Elon Musk, and for Harris and for, for the technologies areas that we have like Northrop Grumman and in the big tech areas that we have growing here. And that's good for them. tax dollars are really good for county commissioners, and for government entities. So they like that sales pitch. The other thing that is a motivating factor for for our county in particular is housing for people who are retiring, we have a lot of high end executives here and space personnel, astronauts and stuff like that, that want to retire here. And it's too expensive. So it's the same thing. You know, older people want to downsize, they need something that has longevity and, and can be affordable for the long term. And then the last thing that I pitched to them was, why not be the first, why not have a really good marketing tool of being a pioneer and a trendsetter. And yeah, I had a few county commissioners that really liked that, the sound of that. So that's how I went about it. But you need to get to know your area, your county commissioners and the powers that be and find out what their motivation factor is, and design a community that can meet the needs that they have, even if they're not your needs.

Wow. And so how long did this whole process take? Like, when did you maybe when did you close on the land? And when did you put your first tiny house?

Well, it took way too long. I always say in building and development always planned 20% More money and 20% more time and then add another 20%. And you're about on target. Okay. Yeah, so I it took me about two years to get the courage to even think I wanted to take this task. And to quit my job. And to do this full time. So that was it's been 10 years total, it'll be 10 years, this November 2015. And total from from, from my mental conception of this is what I want to do. So it took me two years to get the courage to actually take this huge leap of faith, and liquify all my assets. And then it took me in that two years, I was also trying to find the property. We closed on the property in November of 2015. And it took me five years to get through planning and zoning and code writing and legal ease. And we have been in full time full on development and sales for the last three years. And we are will be done in the next three months. Wow. So yeah, eight years active property owner and development and those five years of rezoning we had a lot of infrastructure stuff we had to put in you know, like, electric and water and sewer. Yeah. All that really fun, messy, expensive stuff. Yeah. And getting you know, site plans done and and all of that kind of stuff that took the five years along with rezoning and getting codes and stuff. But active development will be three years

Ethan Waldman 23:45

you bought the land before you knew whether you were going to get the okay from the property was there? Was there ever a moment or moments where you were like, Oh my gosh, this was a huge mistake. I'm not gonna be able to do it.

Jinkie Echols 23:58

Yeah, pretty much every day all day until about three years ago. Yeah, um, yeah, there were some really, really really really really tough. Tough days and and months and, and years. Yeah, for sure. And really, truthfully, yeah, probably a week did not go by up until about three years ago that I didn't think this was the biggest mistake I've ever made in my life. So but I survived on the other side of the hill and now I'm like, it's, it's a dream come true. And it's awesome. And it was really hard but it was totally worth it.

Ethan Waldman 24:41

Wow. Well, I want to kind of shift into talking about the community itself and just kind of you know, there's there's a when people say like a tiny house village or a tiny home community, I think that that can mean like a large range of things all the way from just like essentially a glorified RV park. All way up to like a very intentional community with, like group meetings and meals and you know, all kinds of stuff like that. So what is the what's the community vibe? What's the what's kind of the plan there?

Jinkie Echols 25:12

Well, I think that's great that you brought that up, I think that is actually a really important thing, for lack of a better word. I think that's a really important point about Tiny House communities, is that they are all unique. And I think that's important. I think as a society, we need to rebuild community. And community looks different for different people. And when you build a community around what your heart desires, and what your passion is, birds of a feather flock together, so you will attract like, like minds and like people. So for our community, specifically, our community. What was important to me was to be extremely diversified, both in house choice as well as people groups and income group. What was also important to me was to have an organic as best we could synergistic holistic type community. So we have on site gardens, I grow a lot of food, we have community gardens, we share that. That kind of feels when I say that, that kind of feels like a hippie kind of vibe. And we're not horribly hippy here. But we do really like good food. So we have a tendency to grow foods so that we can have really delicious, fresh stuff that we just pick off the tree or off the vine. And that's really important to us here. It's a great community builder to plant and grow food together. Yep, we also have a lake that is a rec area, it has a gazebo, it has outside seating and has lights, and you can fish there, and people hang out and do group studies there and all kinds of stuff. And then when we have our community, clubhouse, and rec area done, we will have different types of meetings and get togethers in that particular space. One of the things we will definitely be doing because I love love, love yoga. So we will, you know, we'll have some exercise classes in there, we'll have holiday parties in there, we'll do you know, whatever. You know, if people want to do a group learning session of some sort, we're kind of open to that. But because community is really, really, really important to me. And being able to share life with other people is really something that I feel is needed. In our society today, we do try to foster community events. So we're very close knit group here in the sense of where we all say hi, of course, there's people here that I wouldn't necessarily want to have dinner with. But I like them all the same. I say hello. And then there's other people here that I'm like, Oh my gosh, this is my, this is my best friend ever, you know. So we we try to be really conscientious of people's boundaries and their spaces. But at the same time, we're all cordial to each other. And we all get along. And I have to say this is one of those things I was told many, many times over the last 10 years that this will never work. You can't have diversified people groups, you can't have diversified houses, you can't have diversified income groups. And it work because people are too different and they won't get along. And I think probably the thing that I'm proudest of the most with this particular community is that has been completely and utterly false. We are all very different. And we all get along and we all respect each other. And it's awesome. It's really, really great to appreciate the differences in the uniqueness of each house and each individual and each family. And it's it's worked and it's worked really really well. That is awesome.

Ethan Waldman 29:25

So with the the lots being sold, are there, is there like an HOA fee is there you know, is there some kind of ongoing fee for people who who buy a lot just to help contribute to the pond and the walking trails and all that stuff?

Jinkie Echols 29:46

Yes, there is. So because we are actually a legal tiny house community, we're not an RV park. We have to be what's considered in our county a PUD which is a planned urban development Okay, And under the laws for our county in the state of Florida that requires us to have an HOA so that all of our common spaces our dog park, our kids playground or lake or you know all that the common spaces that they have insurance and they're maintained. So yes, we do have an HOA, I hate HOA. So we have done the minimum required by law. So our HOA really does nothing other than pay our lawn guy and pay the insurance then pay the electricity and the water the utilities for for our common spaces. So our HOA fee is $37.68 a month. Wow, that is really cheap. Yeah, and that is based on a budget. The HOA fees are paid yearly, I think they come. I think that's like 400 and some odd dollars per year. And that covers the budget for our lawn guy to maintain all of the green spaces. And like I said, the insurance and the stuff that we're required to have on those spaces. So yeah.

Ethan Waldman 31:18

And Braveheart is a nonprofit.

Jinkie Echols 31:23

How does that work? So we have, like I said, In the beginning, it's really important to me, for people who otherwise couldn't afford houses, can I have a real strong out, since I don't probably shouldn't say a curse word on here. So. So since I've been very busy, I have a very, very strong inclination that nobody should should not be able to afford housing. I wanted to be able to provide rentals or other means to people who wouldn't be able to afford to live within this county, if they work in this county. So we have different churches and different community organizations, the Veterans Association, Habitat for Humanity, different organizations that will help fund or subsidize a rental house for someone who could not afford to rent in our county. So in order to do that, to take tax deductible contributions from those organizations and be able to subsidize someone's rent, I had to be a nonprofit. So that's why we did that.

Ethan Waldman 32:51

Nice. What would you say some of the Are there any challenges with living in a community such as peace when and what about some unexpected benefits?

Jinkie Echols 33:02

Yes, there are challenges, I think there may be more challenges for me than others. Because I live here I live in a tiny house. I have two dogs that I walk multiple times a day, but I am also the builder. I'm also the developer and I'm also the landlord. So it does get a little challenging for me because I have to be more strict than I would like with boundaries both work boundaries and personal boundaries. So that people don't just knock on my door at midnight saying hey, I need this or I need that right. Oh, so I yeah, I've had to be very clear and very strict with these are my work times these are my personal times. This is when it's okay to approach me about something about work and so on so forth. Our lots are really big. So as a community as a whole, I think maybe the the biggest challenges maybe for people who decide to go tiny and don't get rid of enough staff and find that they fall back into the mentality of of having extra stuff and so they think they need a garage and five sheds and you know, their their property becomes a tiny house with a whole bunch of sheds in a garage and they have more storage space than they have house. That would probably be the the biggest hurdle I think for some within the community. The benefit is I get to legally live in a tiny house which is absolutely fabulous for me. I love living in a tiny house. I love the fact that that it it really forces me to prioritize things that Don't necessarily fall in a consumerism agenda. Yeah, it forces me to be outside and it forces me to, to really be intentional about decisions. The benefit of living in the community itself is that I have a fabulous tribe here, we have a fabulous group of people here, that the one thing we have in common is that we, we, we all want to live in a tiny house, and or a small house, you know, some of our houses are a little bit bigger. But that that's the commonality. And that that really creates a really nice community for us. Nice.

Ethan Waldman 35:44

Nice. Can you tell us more about your experience as a woman in the tiny home development space and some of the unique challenges you may have faced?

Jinkie Echols 35:54

Yeah, sure. Wow, how to address that without i Well, first, I'll say I am a radical feminist. So this will probably come across that way. And I have to say, when I was 43, I had a midlife crisis, and became a fireman, paramedic, and went to work for our county as a fireman. So my entire life, I have been in the male dominated work arena, if you will. So the biggest challenges with that is being a woman in a male dominated field. I think specifically, with builder developer and changing codes and working with government entities. Those fields are dominated by men and men have a tendency to not not really like women telling them what to do. I'm trying to be nice. They, yeah, they don't like it. So I have had to figure out a way to be both feminine and masculine at the same time, if you will, I've had to, to learn to use my authority, in a way, my knowledge and my authority. And my position, as some people was the as powerful I don't particularly but we'll use that word. I've had to learn how to use that in a way and present that in a way that is not threatening to the men who, who I need their support. Yeah. Yeah.

Ethan Waldman 37:44

How do you see the tiny home movement evolving in the next five to 10 years?

Jinkie Echols 37:50

I think we're at a precipice right now. Where government, municipalities, counties, cities, states, they're not going to have any other choice. Because something's going to have to give the housing situation is out of control in the United States, and both for costs and for land development. And it's going to be propelled quickly, quickly forward, out of necessity, I do participate in affordable housing within the state of Florida. I'm very much a part of that space. And they're all moving to to tiny houses, every one of them for affordable housing, and not even so much anymore for the affordability of building the tiny house, because as we know, that has gotten very, very expensive over the last five years. Yeah, but more so for the affordability of long term use and maintenance. Yeah, my electric bill is $25 a month, you know, so my, my long term maintenance living in a tiny house is very miniscule. So you can make very little money and maintain a tiny house if if you didn't have to have a mortgage on the house, and so on and so forth. So a lot of government entities are seeing with the big government dollars building smaller homes and tiny homes that are energy efficient, as a means to housing people at lower income levels.

Ethan Waldman 39:24

Nice. Nice. Well, that's, you know, it's sad and exciting at the same time that you know, housing has become so expensive, but it's also I agree that there's you know, we've we've kind of reached and past a tipping point where tiny homes aren't, are now really accepted and widely understood. And it's it's just a slow piecemeal of kind of pushing each individual county and city to come up with how they're going to accept them.

Jinkie Echols 39:55

Yeah. And you know, what Ethan, I think is really great. Is that There's properties like mine, and like Braveheart. And there's other ones. You know, there, there are several small communities, they're all very different. But there's several around the United States and globally as a matter of fact, that have been functioning long enough, with tiny homes, to where there's a prototype. So, you know, like, we've been functioning now for eight years, but specifically more like five. Yeah. And there are other communities across the United States that have been functioning and functioning well, for three to five years. So there's that historical precedent has been set. So there are prototypes. So now now entered governments and the people and the powers that be that have the ability to, to make the change across the spectrum so that it's easier for people like me and you when, and different people who want to develop communities or even for for cities and counties to develop communities. It's easier now because they can go well, hey, Brevard County did this. Here's the code, here's the zoning. And here's what they did. Or, you know, this county did it. So I think that that's really, really helpful. Because there have been enough pioneers at this point, creating communities that work and are beautiful and function well, that there's things to look at and mimic and do and the proof is in the pudding. Right? So there's somebody who's like, Yeah, this is working. This is working this is this is doing what we want it to do, therefore, Let's replicate this.

Ethan Waldman 41:50

Nice. What are some of the future plans and projects you have in mind for Peace Wind?

Jinkie Echols 41:59

Well, we're gonna finish this community. Um, like I said, probably we only have, I think it's seven or eight more, a lot left to sell and will be sold out. And all of our rentals and rental lots are full. So once we finish our clubhouse and pull this, the development is officially done, and I thought I was gonna retire. And just jump in my camper van and be a full time van lifer going in and hiking with my dogs and having adventure, how ever life as you know, it takes really strange turns sometimes. So I have just started TCC consulting, because I have been asked by a few investors to consult and help them do some a couple of tiny house development. So it looks like I am going to be traveling and helping other people create their dream tiny house community, which is really exciting.

Ethan Waldman 43:02

Yeah, in Florida or

Jinkie Echols 43:04

elsewhere. No. Elsewhere. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. Next week, I'm going to meet in North Carolina. Okay. Yeah. So, yeah. So it looks like there's maybe going to be one in North Carolina, in the mountains and one somewhere on the ocean. And I'm not sure if that's going to be on the East Coast. You know, North Carolina, South Carolina. I don't know or if that's going to be in the panhandle of Florida. Okay, we'll see.

Ethan Waldman 43:39

Well, very exciting. Yeah. Well, you've been so generous with your time, I've really enjoyed getting to meet you and learn all about what you've accomplished. Do you have any resources, you know, books, YouTube channels, just anything that has inspired you or that maybe helped you along the way that you'd like to share with our listeners?

Jinkie Echols 44:00

Golly, wow, that's a tough one. Um, I felt like the Lone Ranger when I did this. Yeah. So, um, you know, back in the day, 10 years ago, about the only thing that was out there was D. Yep. She was her name. Do you? She's in. Yeah. Dee Williams and Jay Shafer. And what's his name? Yeah. JJ for Yeah. So those were kind of the only two things really out there. And I know Lee's community. And it's Washington, right? Yeah. Yep. Those were kind of the things I originally kind of looked at. And I visually and conceptually, I did a lot of research on Ross Chapman's pocket neighborhoods. Okay. Yeah, so that was kind of the the actual functional side of it. And then the other thing I looked a lot at were historic neighborhoods, fishing villages, specifically in our county, but all around the world, how old communities used to function in places like the Caswalds in England and, and different things like that and go back to, you know, how, how Indians did it, you know, and, and historical sites and how people lived in community. So I did more of the historical kind of thing. And then the rest of it, I just kind of did a lot of meditation, and just kind of tried to just make the best decision from my heart from a place of love. When I was faced with a decision, and I just was winging it. Nice.

Ethan Waldman 45:55

Yeah. Well, Jinkie Echols, thank you so much for being a guest on the show today. This was wonderful.

Jinkie Echols 46:01

Thank you so much. It was a pleasure. fun being here.

Ethan Waldman 46:05

Thank you so much to Jinkie Echols for being a guest on the show. Today, you can find the show notes including a complete transcript, photos of Peace Wind and links to learn more about the community at thetinyhouse.net/278. Again, that's thetinyhouse.net/278. Make sure to check it out because I believe they still have a few lots left for sale. So if you're looking for a place to live in a tiny house, this could be a great fit for you. Also, thank you so much to PrecisionTemp for being the sponsor of the show today. We love working with PrecisionTemp and we think that they offer really awesome Tiny House hot water heaters. Well, that's all for this week. I'm your host Ethan Waldman, and I'll be back next week with another episode of the Tiny House Lifestyle Podcast.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai