Permanent Placement of a Trailer???

[crabbey1]

Hello all,

I live in California but am not opposed to moving. My girlfriend and I are considering getting a very long trailer such as Spartan Carousel to live in permanently (of course we would still hold on to our Argosy for travel). We wanted to know of anyone who has had the experience of living full-time in a trailer and what the logistics of this process are. We want to obtain some land and have this trailer reside there but we are definitely not interested in living in a trailer park or the like... ANyone have any thoughts on zoning, permits, or other legal issues we will face?

Thanks for any help on this topic!!!

Chris and Haley

[wahoonc]

Zoning and local ordinances are going to be you biggest obstacles in my opinion.

I live in NC and in most developed parts of the state mobile homes, travel trailers and very small houses are quite often not accepted. The more rural parts where you can buy a decent sized parcel of land are quite often more forgiving. FWIW my current house is actually a single wide mobile home that is under 900sf. I like everything about it, except the exposure during severe weather, definitely NOT the place to be during severe storms or potential tornado weather.

Aaron

[m.hony]

I have lived in a trailer in a trailer park.
That is one option here.
Another option is to own an acreage outside the city limits.
Really inexpensive living- all bills totaled a little over $300 a month-
lot rent $95
insurance $22
property tax $40
internet $33
electric $50
cell phone $63
I wouldn't mind living in my trailer full time now, but I can't get the wife on board with that plan.

[crabbey1]

Yeah, that is what we are talking about. Saving money. We both owe tons of money in student loans and we just cant get ahead while also paying $1900 in rent plus all utilities and insurance. We figured we could pick up a trailer for around $10K and invest another $10K into the reno and boom, we have a house that is ours. Then not only would living be dirt cheap but all the decoration and design would be for our own space, not someone else's rental.

One year's worth of rent would cover the cost of the trailer and it's renovation... After that, we are set for at least the next 5 years and can pay off our loans... Then we can truly be free and travel freely across the States.

[tz779]

I am finding "mobile home" parks here in Massachusetts do not let Airstreams or any other "RV" stay at their park. So trying to live in a 30' Airstream as my home may not happen here. How is it in other parts of the US? I may go to S. Carolina...are full-time "RV" owners welcome in the south?

[coastal]

Originally Posted by tz779

I am finding "mobile home" parks here in Massachusetts do not let Airstreams or any other "RV" stay at their park. So trying to live in a 30' Airstream as my home may not happen here. How is it in other parts of the US? I may go to S. Carolina...are full-time "RV" owners welcome in the south?

it depends on local laws but here in south carolinas beaufort county (bluffton, hilton head, beaufort) the trailer has to be movable and you can't have a permanent set up

Nearby jasper county allows more permanent living but they have some very low end parks I would not want to stay in. The moveable law imo keeps a mobile rv park from becoming a trailer park and is a good thing. There are people that live in RVs year around or most of the year here but they are good road allowed units

[tz779]

Originally Posted by coastal

it depends on local laws but here in south carolinas beaufort county (bluffton, hilton head, beaufort) the trailer has to be movable and you can't have a permanent set up

Nearby jasper county allows more permanent living but they have some very low end parks I would not want to stay in. The moveable law imo keeps a mobile rv park from becoming a trailer park and is a good thing. There are people that live in RVs year around or most of the year here but they are good road allowed units

Ok, thanks! So I could, possibly, set up two or three RV parks and reserve 4 month stay at each? Breakdown and set-up would take a weekend?
-Rob

[truxpin]

Here in the Wichita, KS. area we have multiple issues concerning the "fulltime" RV'er.
There are only about 4 RV parks in the metro area, 2 are 30+ years old (and so are the facilities) one is really nice and semi-affordable but always at capacity. The newest one is really nice, but for the cost you could rent a house (here in Wichita anyways)
There are quite a few Mobile home parks here, most of which have quite a few vacancies. Most are more than willing to lease a spot to a travel trailer or 5 wheeler.
We were lucky enough to find a 7 acre piece of land that used to house an old single wide trailer, so the utilities were all in place. It's on the edge of the metro area but just far enough out to avoid drawing attention. I made a deal with the owner to "maintain" the land in exchange for rent. Brought in about 40 tons of gravel and poured a few cement pads for the Airstream to sit on.... Perfect!! Of course we ARE in violation of city AND County code, but I was always told that possession is 9/10ths of the law! ;-)
Worse case scenerio, We hook up and go somewhere else.
I put an ad on the local Craigslist for RV space wanted. In the listing stated we were looking for a small piece of land to park our Airstream on and live "short term" Made note that there needed to be water ,sewer and electricity and it had to be within 20 miles of town. We actually got about a half dozen offerings.

[tz779]

Originally Posted by truxpin

Here in the Wichita, KS. area we have multiple issues concerning the "fulltime" RV'er.
There are only about 4 RV parks in the metro area, 2 are 30+ years old (and so are the facilities) one is really nice and semi-affordable but always at capacity. The newest one is really nice, but for the cost you could rent a house (here in Wichita anyways)
There are quite a few Mobile home parks here, most of which have quite a few vacancies. Most are more than willing to lease a spot to a travel trailer or 5 wheeler.
We were lucky enough to find a 7 acre piece of land that used to house an old single wide trailer, so the utilities were all in place. It's on the edge of the metro area but just far enough out to avoid drawing attention. I made a deal with the owner to "maintain" the land in exchange for rent. Brought in about 40 tons of gravel and poured a few cement pads for the Airstream to sit on.... Perfect!! Of course we ARE in violation of city AND County code, but I was always told that possession is 9/10ths of the law! ;-)
Worse case scenerio, We hook up and go somewhere else.
I put an ad on the local Craigslist for RV space wanted. In the listing stated we were looking for a small piece of land to park our Airstream on and live "short term" Made note that there needed to be water ,sewer and electricity and it had to be within 20 miles of town. We actually got about a half dozen offerings.

Great idea! thank you!!