Bought a motorhome, pictures added.

[jbox]

Even though propane is liquid when in the tank, it is under a lot of pressure.

<pedantic>
I think you will all find that sentence goes the other way around. It is because of the high pressure that the propane reverts to a liquid. 
</pedantic>

[daywane]

nope. frdge door removed still will not fit out my RV.

Some one said ...I can not believe the RV is built around a fridge.
ever try to get a tub out of you house?
Had to gut a out side wall to get my tub out and a new one in

[SirPeale]

Take it out in pieces.

[HaRuMaN]

Peale, your avatar is disturbing. 

[USSEnterprise]

It looks kinda....sexual.

[nostrebor]

Bah!

All those sit-ups are making ME tired.

I would imagine that you are in the advanced stages of physical training to do your sit-ups in the tub. I'm sure it fires some additional balancing muscles or something

[ChadTower]

All it would do is put all your weight onto your tailbone on a hard surface.  Ouch.

[paigeoliver]

Back on the motorhome topic.

One of my buddies called me this afternoon, he spotted an "RV spaces available" sign in front of a small park in an awesome location. This one is actually in St. Louis county, very few trailer parks still in St. Louis county, not sure of the laws, but I believe St. Louis county currently only allows legacy parks, no new mobile homes, but RVs are still OK, or something like that. I drove around the place and nothing seemed newer than about 1990.

The location is absolutely awesome, right next to the highway exit, only 5 miles from work (currently live 13 miles from work), there is a quick trip right across the street, and (best of all), there is no other residential area in the immediate area, so I don't have to worry about ghettofication of anything other than the trailer park, and the trailer park (being a legacy park), is probably going to be mostly older people, not the younger "trailer trash" types.

I'm hoping the rent will be low, should be, since the owner is ONLY able to accept RVs now, and people just aren't willing to pay as much for an RV slot as they are for a trailer slot.

[paigeoliver]

I went back over again on my motor scooter and cruised the whole park. Really quiet, mostly senior citizens, but there are a few younger people. I saw two spots open, a larger one (might be a singlewide spot), and a smaller spot that is obviously an RV spot. The smaller spot has a great location, it is at the end of a row on a corner, only immediate neighbor is an old man (he was in his yard). Only saw one child, and there were not a lot of childrens toys evident, so my initial guess that the park would be mostly older people was correct.

Oh, and complete bonus, there is an RV service and repair place right next store, and they fill propane tanks there, so I won't have to go far to get my tanks filled, and if it ever breaks down then I won't have to get it towed to a repair place, since that one is close enough to tow-strap the sucker in first gear with my Suburban.

[pointdablame]

wow, that almost seems too perfect.  Make sure it's not infested with zombies or something.....

Good luck, hopefully the rent will be nice and low.

[paigeoliver]

Ok, lot rent is NOT nice and low. The guy wanted $325. When I balked at that he offered $300.

I was thinking more like $200.

I am still considering it at that price though, as it is only 2.5 miles from work (actually drove it to check the mileage), and that saves me 100 miles of commuting per week from my current location, and probably 150 miles per week of commuting from the area I figured I would be moving to.

It also has a quiktrip right across the street, no gas wasted on those soda runs I tend to make, and the grocery store, wally world, fast food and highway are all closer as well (this place is right at the exit).

So basically it is $100 more than I wanted, but I couldn't ask for a better location.

[TOK]

I have to say I was pretty skeptical of the whole plan, but this does sound like a good setup to save some money. The location sounds appealing, which I didn't expect from my typical exposure to mobile parks.

I think my attitude came from the way I was raised. I've been in hunter/gatherer mode since I was in my late teens, always looking toward getting out on my own, getting a better car, a better motorcycle, and eventually getting a house with a garage...  If I was a single guy, I think this setup you have might appeal to me, but I'm whacked in the sense that I'd do it back-assward Rat Race style like everything else and put something like this on the lot.

Definitely gotta have a dirt bike and .45 in the back, and drive it off the lot every couple of weeks to stay in the mountains to shoot and ride. 

I say go for it, but wish you good luck with whatever you do!

[paigeoliver]

Rear engine bus chassis diesel pushers like that are nicer than most people's real houses. Those old people who live in them full time driving around are living in style. I'd love to get one once the value on the older ones of that style starts dropping. I am not sure when exactly that style came around, but none of the old ones I see are ever that style, usually they are the more tradition camper on wheels style.

[daywane]

that style is out of my price range!!!

[DrewKaree]

The "cheaper" versions of those are $100k on the lower end, and used, those are starting to sell ~$75k near me, which is still out of my price range and out of my comfort  zone as long as I have kids still in the house. 

I've been inside of some of the $500k ones, and I've helped work on a custom job that cost a bit more than those, and lemme tell ya, the people buying those are the kind who have no idea what "stuff" really costs, and are THE  WORST people in the world to work for, or to DO work for.  I was ready to punch the guy, and luckily for me, since it wasn't my business, but a friend's, I simply told him I was going home until that guy left before I turned another screw or nut in that thing.

If any of you happen to be one of those kinds of people, I'm sure you have a nice personality and all, but you help to slow down any progress of the people working for you, and help to inflate the price you'll pay for good work.

[JackTucky]

I paid a moving company $9000 to move me from NJ to Indiana.  There were up to 7 guys moving my crap, in 98 degree heat in NJ.

I setup a cooler full of water, bought them lunch, then around 4pm, a large gatorade and $40 each tip.

One of them said, you sure are a nice guy to work for.  Most people just yell at us and complain.  Mind you, they did an excellent job.

My response was, "Well, just because I'm paying someone to work for me, doesn't give me the right to be rude."  He said, "I wish more people thought that"

It's so true.  You get better service when you treat people with respect.

Art "still not in his new house" T.

[Zakk]

Wow, $9000.

[paigeoliver]

Wow, $9000.  And I was all pissy at the $2000 + beer + pizza + tips I paid for my move.  However, I did pitch in and help them a lot.  However, I gotta say I'm impressed with professional movers, they really know what they're doing (not one mark on any wall, except for the ones I put there!).

-This trailer thingy sounds cool, but I do wonder Paige, You said you had at least $5000 going into this...isn't that enough of a downpayment on a house?  I mean, here we can get you 107% financing on a house, which means you actually get money back (and yes, pay BIG TIME for it in the long run).  Not trying to say anything bad about your purchase, since it seems pretty neat, just the realtor in my head talking

Income isn't large enough to purchase anything outside of a home in a slum.

[Zakk]

Wow, $9000.

[paigeoliver]

Serviced as in "do they cut the grass and such?". I didn't ask, but it has to be, because the grass was all uniformly cut everywhere. Or do you mean does it come with utilities? It comes with water, sewer and trash (same as most rentals). I can't imagine I'll use much electricity, not sure how much I'll spend on propane though.

As for my income, I am not talking about being able to get the financing, I am talking about paying the mortgage. I won't spend more than 33 percent of my take home pay on rent or mortgage/insurance/upkeep. That gives me a budget of $500, that just isn't going to buy me anything around here outside of the ghetto.

[TOK]

The "cheaper" versions of those are $100k on the lower end, and used, those are starting to sell ~$75k near me, which is still out of my price range and out of my comfort  zone as long as I have kids still in the house. 

I've been inside of some of the $500k ones, and I've helped work on a custom job that cost a bit more than those, and lemme tell ya, the people buying those are the kind who have no idea what "stuff" really costs, and are THE  WORST people in the world to work for, or to DO work for.  I was ready to punch the guy, and luckily for me, since it wasn't my business, but a friend's, I simply told him I was going home until that guy left before I turned another screw or nut in that thing.

If any of you happen to be one of those kinds of people, I'm sure you have a nice personality and all, but you help to slow down any progress of the people working for you, and help to inflate the price you'll pay for good work.

Yea, thats me. I'm the worst kind though, since I'm not wealthy. I'm a pain in the  butt then stiff ya when it comes time to pay up. 

Just kidding. I'm a regular dude. My comments on the high end motorhome were given from my perspective of doing that vs. my current mortgage, not in Paiges' context of living lean to save for the future. I have a regular old 1800 square foot Cape Cod, nothing special, that would be about the value of one of those mid-line motorhomes. My real point is that I've so structured my life around obtaining crap that the whole concept was kind of alien to me at first. I'm not vapid and materialistic, but I work hard and I'm always trying to improve my standard of living. Hope that makes sense!

[paigeoliver]

I have also spent much of my life optaining crap, but it wasn't raising my quality of life, it was lowering it.

I broke my self from the television habit years ago, now I plan on breaking myself from the consumer habit as well. Too much of our money (and hence are life, as you trade a piece of your life for every dollar you spend), is spent on worthless junk that is never used, duplicate items, impulse items, or things that can be had much cheaper elsewhere.

[Zakk]

Serviced as in "do they cut the grass and such?". I didn't ask, but it has to be, because the grass was all uniformly cut everywhere. Or do you mean does it come with utilities? It comes with water, sewer and trash (same as most rentals). I can't imagine I'll use much electricity, not sure how much I'll spend on propane though.

As for my income, I am not talking about being able to get the financing, I am talking about paying the mortgage. I won't spend more than 33 percent of my take home pay on rent or mortgage/insurance/upkeep. That gives me a budget of $500, that just isn't going to buy me anything around here outside of the ghetto.

That's it.

[paigeoliver]

Serviced as in "do they cut the grass and such?". I didn't ask, but it has to be, because the grass was all uniformly cut everywhere. Or do you mean does it come with utilities? It comes with water, sewer and trash (same as most rentals). I can't imagine I'll use much electricity, not sure how much I'll spend on propane though.

As for my income, I am not talking about being able to get the financing, I am talking about paying the mortgage. I won't spend more than 33 percent of my take home pay on rent or mortgage/insurance/upkeep. That gives me a budget of $500, that just isn't going to buy me anything around here outside of the ghetto.

That's it.  We gotta get you married to a woman who makes lots of scratch. 

Thats one reason I am saving, if I can HOPEFULLY marry a woman who doesn't come with a lot of debt, then we will be fairly set to do whatever we want to do, provided that I am making the financial decisions. Ideally we would purchase a house in a smaller/cheaper area with cash, and be family orientated, not career-orientated.

[Zakk]

Heh, don't limit yourself.

[Tailgunner]

Out of curiousity, when inquiring about the spot in that RV park did you tell the owner/manager what you had for an RV?

"Thats one reason I am saving, if I can HOPEFULLY marry a woman who doesn't come with a lot of debt..."

Heh, the toilet paper bills alone negate that possibility.

[paigeoliver]

Out of curiousity, when inquiring about the spot in that RV park did you tell the owner/manager what you had for an RV?

"Thats one reason I am saving, if I can HOPEFULLY marry a woman who doesn't come with a lot of debt..."

Heh, the toilet paper bills alone negate that possibility.

Nope, sure didn't. He didn't ask. I assume if he cared then he would have asked. From what I understand "What year" is pretty much the first thing out of the mouths of the park owners who have age restrictions on equipment.

Most of the stuff in the park is pretty old, I don't think there is a trailer there newer than about 1989. many are 70s vintage. There are a few newer RVs, but there is also one tiny little Dodge Van RV that is easily as old as mine. Mine is going to be the oldest Class A motorhome there though, easily, but there are only a few of them there, the park is 90 percent 70s-80s singlewide trailers.

Really, once you set the sucker up, unfurl the awnings, put a few potted plants and patio chairs up it isn't going to look any different than anyone elses.

[Tailgunner]

That's cool. Most RV parks around here have age restrictions which is why I asked.

[paigeoliver]

That's cool. Most RV parks around here have age restrictions which is why I asked.

Yes, which are of course anti-poor laws.

Chatter on the RV forums suggests that eventually there will end up being a class action lawsuit about age restrictions in RV and trailer parks and that they will end up going away.

Someone needs to set up a class action suit against the park owners for price gouging anyway, charging 66 percent of the price of a 2 bedroom apartment for a parking space and water/trash is real gouging. I'll eventually find another park, but this location is pretty nice, I might end up going way rural and moving to one of those $100 parks later on.

[USSEnterprise]

but dosent a cheaper park generally mean more 'trash'?

[Bones]

Someone needs to set up a class action suit against the park owners for price gouging anyway, charging 66 percent of the price of a 2 bedroom apartment for a parking space and water/trash is real gouging.

A trailer park would take up some land, land that might otherwise be developed residentially and sold for big dollars.

People who own parks would have to charge enough to offset the amount they could return if they chose to develop the land and then put the sale money in their bank accounts earning interest.

On top of this they have to cover the cost of maintenance, insurance, amenities, bad debts, loan repayments and then return enough to pay their wages and return a profit otherwise there would be no point in the exercise.

Where I live, my land is worth 2/3 of the total cost of my property. If this was a vacant block and I hired it out, just to break even I would have to charge an amount comparable to my total mortgage.

Food for thought.


 

[DrewKaree]

Someone needs to set up a class action suit against the park owners for price gouging anyway, charging 66 percent of the price of a 2 bedroom apartment for a parking space and water/trash is real gouging.

A trailer park would take up some land, land that might otherwise be developed residentially and sold for big dollars.

People who own parks would have to charge enough to offset the amount they could return if they chose to develop the land and then put the sale money in their bank accounts earning interest.

On top of this they have to cover the cost of maintenance, insurance, amenities, bad debts, loan repayments and then return enough to pay their wages and return a profit otherwise there would be no point in the exercise.

Where I live, my land is worth 2/3 of the total cost of my property. If this was a vacant block and I hired it out, just to break even I would have to charge an amount comparable to my total mortgage.

Food for thought.

The new eminent domain laws are starting to be understood by Aussies?  Heaven help us!

[paigeoliver]

Oh, I know the land has a value, but I live in the midwest, the land isn't worth much, if it was then there wouldn't be thousands and thousands of vacant frontage acres on the exact same road as the trailer park.

What I meant by gouging is the fact that the trailer park owner pours some concrete pads, runs utilities and is done with it. Sure you need to run the place, and you would have SOME maintenance (not much, as there isn't much anything to maintain other than the grass), but that is a far cry from an apartment owner who has to build actual buildings (and maintain THOSE) on the same spots.

I don't KNOW what either apartments or trailer spots cost to build, but I am going to guess that the cost per unit of 2 bedroom apartments is 10 or 20 times the cost per unit to build trailer pads.

[Bones]

Here's a suggestion then....

Could you buy one of those vacant blocks and set-up there with your motorhome? Does your council allow that?

At least then the money you are paying is going towards owning something that you can later sell or build on if you choose. 

[paigeoliver]

Here's a suggestion then....

Could you buy one of those vacant blocks and set-up there with your motorhome? Does your council allow that?

At least then the money you are paying is going towards owning something that you can later sell or build on if you choose. 

Oh of course not.

You have to go rural to set up a trailer or RV on your own land. Very few places in the vicinity of the bigger cities allow this.

With that said, I have been checking listing for rural land with electric. Found some lakeside lots with electric about an hour away from here, going from $4000-$6000.

That would be a definite possibility for me. The only utility I would NEED on my land would be electric. I wouldn't need water or sewer as long as I was conservative with my water (I'd have to go out once a month to dump the waste tanks and fill up my water tank).

[Tailgunner]

Oh of course not.

You have to go rural to set up a trailer or RV on your own land. Very few places in the vicinity of the bigger cities allow this.

With that said, I have been checking listing for rural land with electric. Found some lakeside lots with electric about an hour away from here, going from $4000-$6000.

That would be a definite possibility for me. The only utility I would NEED on my land would be electric. I wouldn't need water or sewer as long as I was conservative with my water (I'd have to go out once a month to dump the waste tanks and fill up my water tank).

If you were actually buying land, you'd do better to have a well and a septic tank dug. Both would directly add to the property value, and you could flush the toilet after every use.

[daywane]

to put your RV in your own land here in Lawrenceburg KY.
you have to buy 5 acres.  per unit!

[ChadTower]

5 acres of unused land here will run you $350,000.  Put a trailer on THAT.

[paigeoliver]

Got my plates on it today. Had to have an exhaust leak repaired to pass inspection though.

The guy who fixed the exhaust leak also pointed out a hairline crack in one of the exhaust manifolds that is going to have to be dealt with eventually. I'll wait until I have the sucker parked in the RV park before I attempt that repair.

[paigeoliver]

Oooh, even better, they actually make something for fixing those cracks without replacing the manifold! I do have to drill 2 holes and v-groove the crack, but after that I just fill it in, let it sit for a day or two, turn on the engine for 15 minutes, then let it cool down and sand it.