Glut in two years?

[zapper]

Originally Posted by smithcreek

Where are all these new campers and their trailers? I just took a trip from RI to VA and back. On the way there I only saw 8-10 RVs in total, though I might have missed a few. Still, that's nothing compared to the normal August when the roads are full of them. Is everyone camping close to home? Staying off the highways? It was weird.

Interesting observation.

Where we live in California the freeway daily commuter traffic is way down. Last month we took the AS on a mini trip from CA to near Bisbee AZ. Noticed traffic still way down. Few RV's on the road. Campgrounds along the way maybe 50% full, most less than that. I attributed most, but not all, of the emptiness to seasonal declines in folks camping because of kids are back in schools (some places) and upcoming holidays. However, how the parks are managed have dramatically changed over the last 4 months. Nobody in park offices anymore. Have to call and reserve, because offices are closed. In fact, most of the permanent RV sites are now vacant. Where did they go? Oh. I know, maybe they are hiding out with the new AS owners.

It will be interesting to see if the "snow birds" return this year to the southern states or stay home.

[Safetyfirst]

Originally Posted by zapper

Interesting observation.

It will be interesting to see if the "snow birds" return this year to the southern states or stay home.

Not only have they already begun returning to Florida, many snowbirds say they’re staying permanently.

[OTRA15]

If there is one easy lesson from this pandemic IMO, it may be . . .
_________________________________________________

" . . . predicting the future is an effort with limited returns . . . "
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[Q-man13]

Originally Posted by Safetyfirst

Not only have they already begun returning to Florida, many snowbirds say they’re staying permanently.

Summer will cure that for many.

But if you can't see you kids, grandkids, or friends there is not a lot of reason to go 'home'.

[rucos]

the problem for many is that you cant drive over the Canada-US border. Some people here in BC just tried to go to their house in Mexico and US customs told them go home....when they turned around and went thru Canada customs they were told to go into 14 day quarantine even though they never did get into the states!
The only way canadian snowbird are coming at the moment is if they fly.

[n2916s]

For the past 15 years, I have been able to escape Miami in the summer, mostly working in Yellowstone.

This year, we stayed home. I had completely forgotten what Miami was like in the summer. The heat and humidity are horrendous — and the bugs, the bugs...

And you get to sweat out the times when there are 5 named storms.

I guess I am a snowbird now. I will head north next summer if the coast is clear. I believe I won’t be alone.

[DaveG]

Originally Posted by Daquenzer

The money is coming from the BEST economy in our lifetimes, EVERYONE's income is up.
Let's keep it going, rising tide raises all boats, now you see it's true

56% of the people say they are better off since 2016. The people that have done badly during this pandemic are people that make less than 40,000 a year; espeically those in the entertainment area. I know I’ve had one of the best years ever. I am a real estate appraiser and I’ve not seen anything like it in 23 years.[/QUOTE]

My 2 cents - Comment - not all believe the economy and the stock market are the same thing. We all have our own economy. Fact - Borrowing is very cheap right now. Observation - Result of Covid we had a sudden drop in the market and high unemployment. Prediction was a V shaped recovery. The shut down started to end and many jobs came back, we started back up and the bottom of the V formed. But some of the startup faltered and others were left behind. At the moment we have a K. I've read a number of trailers have become shelters from fire or flood, some have become offices, some have become mother-in-law suites, some classrooms, and others have yet to be delivered. Some have been delivered but there isn't a TV or an equipped vehicle to tow yet. The ability to be independent and be mobile has a strong appeal. The next 36 months will be interesting. Maybe we will know sometime in the future and say, "well that was obvious, why didn't I see it at the time"?

[uncle_bob]

Hi

At least according to an email I just got, the state parks in Montana saw a record number of visits this year .....

Bob

[azflycaster]

We are currently on a 2 week trip in Southern Arizona. 4 of the 5 campgrounds are az state parks. They have all been full every night. The other stop was Lazy Days in Tucson which was about 50%.

[nvestysly]

Record numbers of RVs on the road. Some campgrounds full with no reservations available for months.

Back to the OP's comment on will there be a glut in a few years... my guess is yes. The selling may have already begun - see the post below:

https://www.airforums.com/forums/f53...ml#post2422907

[mefly2]

Originally Posted by uncle_bob

Hi

At least according to an email I just got, the state parks in Montana saw a record number of visits this year .....

Bob

We can attest to that ... it appears many folks with much higher incomes than we have around here have decided that this is the time to shop and buy property in MT ... gads they are annoying with their big town manners on the roads. The roads are FULL of out of state RVs.

[Shiny16]

Can’t stand those big towners. Manners and all.

[smithcreek]

Originally Posted by Daquenzer

RV’s are crazy in my area. Could be the East Coast. I think people are staying put in their home states quite a bit. Interesting observation though.

As an update to my previous observation, I still see very few RVs on the road compared to a normal camping season. But, the state campgrounds in the NE are FULL every weekend. For every person/family that bought an RV this year I'll bet twenty bought a tent and sleeping bag. I saw it coming back in April/May. I wonder how all those new trailer owners feel when they can't find a campsite?

[zapper]

Originally Posted by smithcreek

As an update to my previous observation, I still see very few RVs on the road compared to a normal camping season. But, the state campgrounds in the NE are FULL every weekend.

This is a little off topic so forgive.

So RV road travel is down, but weekend state campgrounds are full in NE? Locals traveling to the state Pks.? What's the RV traffic like on Friday and Sunday afternoons? They've got to travel to and from somewhere. Right?

We are going to be traveling to Austin TX in late November early December this year. I am going to pay attention to RV traffic volumes during the week; weekends and RV park densities along the way. Usually when we travel to Texas this time of the year is a mixed bag due to weather. It will be difficult to to ascertain small changes, but large differences should be apparent. Maybe we'll see where the new mystery AS owners are going or not.

[donrogers]

We spent 20 nights in the Michigan UP in September. We stayed mostly in state parks, county parks and a few nights in independent parks. All campgrounds were full or nearly so. We didn’t make reservations more than one day ahead and several times we got the last spot available. We didn’t find our experiences to be especially restrictive, as most offices were open, as well as restroom facilities. We had a great time!

[Safetyfirst]

Originally Posted by mefly2

We can attest to that ... it appears many folks with much higher incomes than we have around here have decided that this is the time to shop and buy property in MT ... gads they are annoying with their big town manners on the roads. The roads are FULL of out of state RVs.

Friends in Montana are telling us that California people are buying homes, after only seeing them online, and moving up to live full time. The locals figure some number of them will only make it through one or two winters and leave if they can't afford to maintain two places. Hopefully, the ones who stay will remember why they left California and not try to recreate it. Tourist areas, like Big Sky, are more used to them. Away from there....not so much. We're seeing the same in Florida. While summers are hot and humid, it's not as tough to deal with as blowing snow and black ice on the roads.

[matthewk]

Originally Posted by Safetyfirst

Friends in Montana are telling us that California people are buying homes, after only seeing them online, and moving up to live full time. The locals figure some number of them will only make it through one or two winters and leave if they can't afford to maintain two places. Hopefully, the ones who stay will remember why they left California and not try to recreate it. Tourist areas, like Big Sky, are more used to them. Away from there....not so much. We're seeing the same in Florida. While summers are hot and humid, it's not as tough to deal with as blowing snow and black ice on the roads.

People have been fleeing to Texas from California for the last several years. Numerous attempts to put new property tax laws in place. The state is now 3% away from turning blue. This should be an indicator.

[uncle_bob]

Hi

An underlying driver to all of this is that there are still a big chunk of people hitting "retirement age" ( however you define that ). They may be 45, they may be 75, but they have decided it's time to quit working at whatever they have been doing. At that point, you look around and decide where you *want* to live.

Over the last 4 decades, > 90% of all new US jobs have been created in 5 large cities. That's a bit scary, but that's what the data shows. A *lot* of people live in those cities simply because "that's where the job is". Once freed of the connection to the job, they get to make a choice.

Once you look at taxes and property costs ( no need to get into the rest of the cost of living stuff ...) ... would *you* decide to stay in one of those urban areas? .... probably not.

Do you grab an RV and go "full time"? Some do. Do you buy a second / third house and hop between them? Some do that. Do you move out and live full time in a new house? That's an option as well. Indeed, there are a percentage that stay put and live where they always have lived.

Lots of choices and lots of drivers .....

Bob

[Grisban]

Originally Posted by Grisban

With Airstream posting record sales for May, June, July, and probably August I'm wondering if in about two years we'll see a huge glut of Airstreams for sale.



Thoughts?

So it's three years later now. I just checked my local Airstream website and looked at their inventory. They have pages and pages and pages of used Airstreams. Most are 2020, 2021, and 2022. Time to go shopping!

[Hans627]

Originally Posted by Grisban

So it's three years later now. I just checked my local Airstream website and looked at their inventory. They have pages and pages and pages of used Airstreams. Most are 2020, 2021, and 2022. Time to go shopping!

Indeed it appears as though the time is right to go shopping. Let us know which one you pick.

And welcome to the forum!