Condo living with an Airstream

[drobbjr]

Last year we bought an 18 ft trailer, really liked it. Sold it last fall and bought an
Airstream 25' Flying Cloud. We presently live in a home with a driveway and room to park the trailer beside our driveway. Easy to pack when going on a trip and unpack when finished. We see ourselves taking 4 day trips so lots of coming and going. We both work full-time/part time.
We think we would like to sell our home and buy a condo. I know that I can rent close by to store the trailer. But, we like the convenience of having the trailer in a driveway to load and unload. A condo would not let us do that.
Can anyone pass on their experiences with owning an Airstream and owning a condo or townhouse that does not allow parking an Airstream in your driveway.
Thanks

[Lily&Me]

There are condos with RV garages including hookups, attached.

Many, if not most, of us store our rigs away from our homes.

Eminently doable, if not the most convenient.

Maggie

[LBOskiBear]

This is exactly my situation - I live in a downtown high-rise condo. There's no room to even temporarily park nearby to pack/unpack. Since I've never had it otherwise, I don't know any different. It presents some annoyances, but it generally works for me.

I live about 40 miles away from home. My storage facility is in the middle. It also happens to centrally located in my region so I'm typically not backtracking to leave work on a Friday to pick up the AS and head out. My storage facility has a secure pick up and drop off area for afterhours. Also, I can do a car swap so that my partner and I can meet up at the facility and leave one car for the weekend while we're out. Eliminates having to go home first to pick up one person and then drive back.

Lastly, we've gotten to the point where virtually everything is in the AS. The only thing I end up bringing are clothes for the weekend, linens, and a bit of fresh food. It's now down to a cooler and maybe one of those big blue IKEA bags - if even that.

On the weekends when we aren't out in the trailer, I can go by the storage facility during their open hours and fiddle around inside/on the trailer for maintenance/repairs.

I'd love to have a driveway for it, but this works with my living situation.

[AWCHIEF]

I lived in a condo years ago. Not a week went by that cars and trailers parked on the property were not broken into. I had an MG Midget that had the batteries stolen twice and all the brake lines cut.

[Ruffn It]

Condo Suburb/HOA living with an Airstream

Younger me: this neighborhood is awesome, so tidy and neat looking
Current me: why are we paying HOA dues for a pool we never use ... and storage for the camper we're not allowed to keep at home?

Filed under "Stuff younger you Just Wouldn't Understand"

[mixedpuppy]

Or...sell the house and live in the Airstream

[Mollysdad]

Condo fees + storage fees for the AS might make the condo less desirable.

[FCStreamer]

I live in a condo. I keep my AS in an RV park. We use it almost every weekend without having to tow it. We've gone to several places, but the wife and I both work so our time is limited. But our weekends are reserved for Airstream living.

If you find a nice RV park within less than a 2 hour drive of where you live, you can make great weekends out of it. We bought our lot outright, and have to pay $200/mo in fees plus electricity. Not cheap, but definitely worth it for us. YMMV.

[TwoSporks]

Before we started full-time in our Airstream, we lived in an urban neighborhood with tight streets. We stored our trailer about 15 minutes away for about $50 a month. While it will be an adjustment for you in terms of convenience, packing a stored trailer isn't that big of a deal. We would make one trip in advance of our departure to bring over things like cleaned linens, seasonal items, etc and turn on the fridge. We would bring fresh food along on the day we left for our trip. In all, this added about an hour of extra time for each trip - maybe annoying but not really a big deal. We also quickly decided to have a set of Airstream only things which quickly cut down on packing time.

[Bob Frapples]

Check out an RV Resort like Superstition Views, (Over 55) in Gold Canyon, AZ.
Custom Manufactured Home with a Driveway, Custom overhang or Garage built right next to your house!
Awesome Park!

[lkm4321]

Our condo community is made up of single story duplex units. The association rules allow you park an rv in your driveway for 48 hours. Since we typically take multi week trips it works out great. We pick up the AS from inside storage ($130 mo) Bring it to the condo to pack. Only problem is the 27' AS Is too long to fit in the driveway so we just leave it hooked up to the TV and park in the street. Not a busy street and the neighbors love our AS, so I guess.its.not.really a problem

[Star Ship]

We've lived in our townhouse in Boise on the river for over 21 years. As some have said, we can't keep our RV or boat here and we do have HOA fees. However, I don't have a yard to maintain nor do I have to paint the siding and the HOA does an awesome job of keeping the buildings in great shape. We don't have a pool, which we wouldn't use nor do we have a common building, but we do have common areas. This works really well for us. As for the Airstream (in our case our Lance currently and other "toys", I have a heated shop that is 4 miles away. Everything is secure as this is a complex of 80 "man caves" with security and a common area with restrooms. Everything stays clean and its a great place to work on things, wax vehicles, or just hang out. For us, this works perfectly and I have no desire to have a single family dwelling ever again. So, I guess you have to see what you want out of a condo or whatever you choose and try to find one that fits your needs as best it can. Ours does!

[MickeyC]

You might consider an RV port if they have them in your area. That's going to be my next move. The RV ports around here have an enclosed RV storage and small living area combined. Most of the living quarters are 1 bedroom and you use the RV for extra space when people come to stay. I see them in Florida where the RV storage is outside, I guess it depends on where you live. Anyway, its something to consider.

[Alluminati]

The convenience of urban life outweighs the inconvenience of $100/mo covered storage 30 min away.

We're on a main thoroughfare and street parking can be tight. If there's no room in front of our house, we park on a side street until there is. The trailer has to stay on the hitch when it's parked in front. I don't know of any rules prohibiting us from parking more than a day, but I try to avoid it anyway. It takes four hoses strung together to cover the distance from the spigot to the trailer. Though the storage lot has full service dump station, I still prefer to fill the fresh water tank at home. I usually fetch the trailer 24 hrs before each excursion. That's enough time to check the systems, crank up the fridge and fill 'er up. The neighbors think our trailer looks cool, so we don't get much heat about it.

When we come home, it's a mad dash to empty and unload. I usually like to drop off the trailer immediately after each outing.

Work on the trailer usually happens at the storage lot, OR, plan a working vacation. Take a project with you when you go camping. Plan a day of work at the campground.

[m.hony]

You've got a food situation now.
Why not just stay where you are?
I store my trailer at my house.
Easy to load/unload, come and go.
Easy to wash and do maintenance.
No HOA fees/dues.
No camper storage fees.

[LBOskiBear]

Ultimately, I think the House/Condo decision would be driver in your decision-making versus the Airstream? After all, isn't the cost of the permanent home many multiples of the cost of the Airstream?

[KJRitchie]

There are a bunch of condos around the Branson, MO area many which are affordable but the darn monthly HOA fees are almost as high as the principle and interest of our house mortgage. HOA fees always go up and I'd be afraid of getting bad neighbors and many owners rent them out during the season so we'd want a unit on the top floor. I would imagine these multi-story condo buildings are built like apartments and you can hear everyone above you if you didn't get a top floor unit so condos are off our list of retirement dwellings. We'd sooner live in a park model with the Airstream parked next to us preferably under a cover.

Kelvin