questions about rv living...

Ok, here's the deal. I'm poor and young and single. I'm a homeowner of a ghetto house in a ghetto neighborhood...my mortgage is less than $25,000 if that tells you anything about the neighborhood and my house. With repairs, I would hope to get $30,000 out of it someday (it's a big house with new roof, furnace, water heater). I'm considering eventually selling the house and getting an rv of some sort- smaller houses tend to waste less, and my pets and I don't need a lot of room. Besides, if we want to relocate, we wouldn't have to worry about selling a craphole house again. Around here you can buy a small lot of land (some even right down the street from me) for under $5000. What would it cost me to put sewer/water/electric hookups on such a lot to be able to hook up a travel trailer or motorhome? I'd much rather be stuck with a small lot and a house that I can take with me than a big ghetto house if I'm not going to be able to sell it. Granted, all this would require that I sell my house to begin with...stupid housing market... Also, what kind of vehicle would I need to be able to transport a travel trailer? I'm vehicle-stupid, so spell it out for me:-)

would the zoning where you are thinking of buying land allow a travel trailer or an rv?

my friend who lives one street over has a small travel trailer behind his house.

you'll be sorry and very claustrophobic if you do..

as to where you can park a camper as a permanent residence.
Campers can be very expensive if purchased new. We purchased a
40 ft camper with 2 slide outs in 2000. The sticker price for it
was $33,750. Another downside is rvs do not appreciate in value, no matter
how good care you take of them - a house is a better investment.

and in just about any neighborhood if the economy continues to suck, houses aren't a terribly good investment either :-(

Do you work nearby to this neighborhood? Do you wish to travel? Relocate? Or are you happy to be in that locale but just wish less costly housing?

One thought that comes to mind is that a "mobile home" is a very inexpensive way to have a home that belongs to you. If you wanted to put something on a small plot of land, zoning might be more kind to a mobile home than to an RV. Or you might find a space in a mobile home park, where you don't actually own the land but pay a modest fee.

FWIW, I don't think it's impossible to live in an RV. One person can accommodate to a small space quite easily.

short term, I'm training as a dog groomer (a great career field, btw) and soon will actually have a decent income and a trade that I can take with me anywhere in the country. Long term i want to get my phd (I'm taking time off from my masters right now). I want something a little more mobile than a mobile home- have already thought about that option- and I would rather own my own plot of land so that I can have my pets and have space for them to run, although some mobile home parks do allow small animals. I will hopefully relocate in the next few years out of state for postgrad school and also there is the possibility that a very good friend (that I would like to continue to live near or with) might have to relocate in the coming years as well. Less costly housing is always good too.

I haven't seen a $25,000 house since the 80's. The thing about trailers is that they wear out, unless you get a really expensive one and that can cost more than your house these days. If you go this route, be sure and check for leaking and don't ever believe them when they say they fixed the leak. You would generally need a half-ton to pull a trailer, depending on the size. You might need more for a much bigger trailer. Or you might could get away with less for something smaller. I think each trailer will have specs that will spell out the size of vehicle you need to pull it. My instinct would be to tell you to rent out the house and buy the lot and trailer too, that would give you more options. But it's hard to get a loan to do both if you don't have the income to support both payments. A lot would depend on your goals for your future. Also, local economies can change and I can't imagine that house never going up in value over the next 50 years.

and look up area code 46016. My house was on the market for $12,900 (an 1,800 sq ft house, mind you, that is structurally sound but ugly) before the seller (a bank) put on a new roof and a new furnace and water heater (they had been stolen out of the basement). That didn't quite double the price. Most people have a hard time believing how bad the housing market is here, but it is just ridiculous. I didn't buy this house as an investment as much as just an alternative to renting, as even with taxes and insurance this is still cheaper. Trailers wear out, but a lot of them have barely been used to begin with. I can't imagine getting more than $35,000 out of my house in even the next 20 years in this area, and I have no plans to stay here anywhere near that long.

is the area that bad?

have pulled up and out in the past several years. Decent paying manufacturing jobs dissappeared with little to nothing of comparable wages to replace those jobs.

This trend hit Michigan in the 90s - was a little later to hit Indiana - but has hit hard throughout the state in the past six or seven years.

Now is an economic failure of a city. Schools are failing too, and without that there is little hope of things improving anytime soon. On the positive side, cost of living is almost nothing. However, even with that we are all still struggling to make ends meet. I live in the poor part of town- the town is very divided racially, educationally and economically, and being a poor educated caucasian I really don't fit in anywhere. Would consider leaving but can't afford to move. It sucks.

Looks like most all the boomers left, with lots of younger people there. Did they leave when the first wave of factories close?

Also lots of disabled people. Is there some niche you could fill in that regard?

http://www.cityofanderson.com/documents/economic/Housing%20Trends%20and%20Data.pdf

If you have a definite plan to get out and you're sure you can implement it, then buying a trailer might not be the worst decision. If not though, you could end up in a trailer for the next 20 years because you know that saying about the best laid plans. On the leaking thing, I was just trying to help you not make the biggest mistake I've made when buying used RV's. Even very nice looking RV's can have leaks in weird places. I think A LOT of people are going to be in RV's in the next 10 years, young and old. I don't see how people can continue to afford all these rising rents and housing prices. It's just crazy.

Seriously. Some people do. Here's an example of one such home on wheels.
http://www.larry-arnold.info/landrover/Camper.htm

If you would rather live in a trailer, put it on your own land and rent the house out. All that is needed for hookups is some minor plumbing and electrical rerouting. Remember that yesterday's ghetto has become today's trendy neighborhood in many cities of the USA, so don't write off the neighborhood just yet. You may end up getting a good price for your home in the future and be able to afford both a house and an RV.

I lived in a trailer for ten years with my husband and three cats traveling around the west. The kind of horsepower you need to haul an RV around depends on the size and weight of your trailer. Just be forewarned, your fuel bill can triple when you tow. In places with cold winters, RVs are not the place to live in. RVs have to be winterized for storage anyway in cold climates or all the pipes burst.

Although getting a travel trailer into my backyard through the alley would prove somewhat challenging, but perhaps not impossible if I took out some crappy fences and backed it in at an angle. I live in central Indiana = cold winters, but my house is freezing as it is and costing an arm and a leg to heat. Almost a hundred year old house.

moving them in and parking them. The fence idea should work for you or you could try to figure out constructing a permanent access that would enable you to take it out if you want to travel some.

Where if things where you live turn to shit you can turn a key and drive off . It may be cramped but then there is always an outdoors . I was born in a travel trailer in the 40's and lived in one for the first 6 years of my life .

If you buy a used one, many of the parks nowadays won't permit rigs more than 10 years old.

Their unit just passed the ten year mark and they told me about this a while ago. I think it had to do with park owners not wanting to scare away the $200k rigs (and higher, much higher!) by catering to the "trailer trash" in older units. Not all parks are that way, but many are.

Why not combine pleasure with survival?



It worked well in "Damnation Alley."

years ago. We have lived in it temporarily while moving between military bases, and honestly, I can't imagine living that way long-term--just simple things like taking a shower, fridge space, storage, propane--they really aren't meant to be lived in like a house year-round, especially in winter when there's heat/moisture/condensation issues--they're not built like houses. Why not just rent an apartment or townhome until you're settled? You won't get any decent resale out of a trailer.

People seel them on Craigslist and Ebay a lot. They depreciate really fast.
There are a lot of different types. Maybe you should get on an RV'ing board and talk to some of the folks.
I've never lived in one full time, but they are fun to travel in.
I would think you'd need an SUV or a pickup to tow most of them, although there are "lite" ones out there.
I've always thought it would be appealing to be able to pick up and move any time.

There is probably land availabe WITH services and perhaps even a modular home on it..

Even in sky-high S Cal, you can find bargains.. so if you don't live here, you might even have a better chance..

try this website
look for ones with land..and not "space" rent :)
http://www.usedmanufacturedhomeforsale.info/index.cfm?page=search&What=FindAds&frmState=IN&frmCity=ANDERSON